We need to stand up and be counted.
Then again, I always wish that many religious people would not stand up so vocally and be counted so much ;-)
It’s your lucky day, I am brand new to this, (first post ever) I have absolutely no idea how I got here 🤣
Would you be so kind as to give me some idea of how to navigate around please?
Yes, the best is to watch a video I did about the Lemmy interface at https://youtu.be/5axSUJj0bBY. There are also quite a few other videos with how to use Lemmy. Visual is often easier than a long list of bulleted instructions.
In the winter, I wear an atheist pin on my coat, and I have a science-y t-shirt I wear occasionally. I’ve gotten some looks, but no obvious confrontations. Compared to the ubiquitous religious-wear I see everywhere, I’m actually surprised by that - I would have expected by now to have been accused of persecuting the Xtians with my brazen display of heresy.
You kid but one of the main points here is that they are hiding it when prompted and are suffering genuine mental health issues for it. Less about being preachy and more actively hiding a part of their identity to avoid negative social outcomes
I think it is more that in some countries, the culture is not to really talk much about religions, politics, etc. The theory being there is no real right or wrong that can be proven, and it really ends up being one’s own opinion (arguments that can’t be won). I tend to rather look at the outcomes of any behaviour, and rather than label it as being a priest or an Atheism who has abused a child, I’d condemn the behaviour itself. As the Christian religion says (applying to Christians too) let him (or her) who is blameless cast the first stone. Humans are humans, and someone’s politics or religion makes them no better than anyone else, despite them thinking so ;-)
I find it highly dubious that there are any cultures where there are no preachy people.
But even if I grant that, that’s still missing the point. There is little self organization for atheistic and related people in the US. Regardless of other countries (where the issue would still exist even moreso if people genuinely never talked about religion) in the US there is no community organizing. The entire point of this article is that while say, christians can generally find community easily and find broader community outside of their direct churches and sects, they also barely ever feel any stigma about admitting to being christian, regardless of how much they may claim that they are because they don’t live in a theocracy. On the other hand, atheists in most of the country, along with minority belief systems here, rarely feel comfortable sharing at risk of genuine social ramifications.
If your ideal of “nobody is right” were actually achieved, people wouldn’t care about sharing or not sharing religion, that’s the point of acceptance. You’re really missing the point here. I get it, you prefer when people keep their beliefs to themselves, that’s not really relevant to the point of the article, and is instead just furthering the negative stigma about allowing people who are non-christian to share and be open about parts of their identity.
If I want to go about my day without relatives or randos freaking out at me, I have to. I read a poll a long time ago that showed atheists are the least trusted minority group in the US. Atheists though, have the privilege on not having an issue hiding it.
I think it’s more to do with the fact that most atheists don’t give a shit what imaginary nonsense others want to believe in. We’re not out there trying to forcibly convert anyone to our religion.
I don’t really believe in anything, but I don’t care enough to talk about it. I still reference “God” in my language, like “the Lord only knows” because they’re just turns of phrase that have fairly universally understood meanings, and I grew up with them, so they’re just a part of my culture now, lol. I don’t know if I’m atheist or agnostic, and I don’t really care to put a label on it.
Being an atheist in a rural area is not easy. One of the first questions someone asks is -what church do you go to? People look horrified when you mention atheism. My employer says Christian prayers over employee meals, with the head of HR clasping her hands, lowering her head, and praying right along. Constantly awkward. Religion has an iron grip out here.
I had this same experience when I moved from Seattle to rural Iliinois a few years ago. Two of my neighbors invited me to their church, and another neighbor is a church. Luckily, my MIL who lived here (and is the reason we moved here) was a member of a different church, so I could beg off by mentioning that and avoid the whole atheism discussion completely.
To this day, I’ve never mentioned it to any of my neighbors.
Aye. Here it’s not “stand up and be counted”, it’s “stand up and be felled”.
So we continue to require the same closet that gays sometimes do.
In that case, we shouldn’t expect atheists to individually be out and proud until it is safe for them to do so.
I’m also curious how much hate-motivated violence is committed against atheists and pagans (compared to Muslims, who’ve been a target since 2001)
People look horrified when you mention atheism
So I guess The Satanic Temple is a no-no?
