Being honest – The impact my announcement of atheism had on Facebook

LoveIsHonest

Different words that stupid people hate.

 

Honesty was always an important virtue to me because if you aren’t good enough to keep what you say true, you aren’t worth a fucking shit. We all know that’s true, too. No one likes liars. No one likes people who hide things or won’t admit to something. Well, I have been on this path for sometime – 30 years – and I finally had the courage to admit to all of the people in my life – including my Facebook friends – that I’m an atheist. That’s when the fun began.

I was a Christian for my entire life – since I was a young child and my mother had horrified me with stories of a “rapture” and the people who weren’t saved going to a fiery, burning torture inflicted pit full of demons and monsters, known of course as hell.

God's way of loving you.

God’s way of loving you.

Once my mind was sufficiently scarred, I then was told the only way I could KNOW I wasn’t going to hell was to have “that feeling” or “the feeling of the Holy Spirit in you.” I never had a fucking feeling and it wasn’t for lack of trying, since I tried before I stopped believing in the tooth fairy till I was past 30. The reason is because Genesis never happened, meaning original sin never happened and the rest of the Bible was phony as fuck as well. None of them had any idea what they were talking about. I’m going to post a page of STUPID BIble verses soon. You’ll see. But I always thought that stuff was real and it was just me who wasn’t getting the feeling but of course, everyone who has had the realization that the bible is a fictional book knows that isn’t the case. I was being traumatized by a god-brained parent. My father didn’t shove it on us. My mother – with 7 divorces to her name today – did.

So, when I finally had the courage after my entire life to admit to folks that I was not a believer in Christianity, the Bible, the Christian-God or ANY God, what happened? Well, the people I was friends with had a beautiful response to it that I think is great. From Christian friends, who admired me for being truthful with noble intentions, to my atheist friends who knew what a big step this was for me – all the people I actually considered friends were supportive, even if I knew they didn’t agree.

The second layer of reaction were the people who, I think, are internally skeptics but scared of admitting that they’re skeptical. They said they were interested in reading more of what I was saying, perhaps with a prayer or encouraging word to go along. Some told me stories about how they or their father didn’t ever believe pastors. I genuinely appreciated this response, too. It was like me just a few months ago. Lots of people are battling it out in their own minds with this stuff they’ve been indoctrinated with their entire lives.

However, there was of course, the negative part of the reaction. You just knew this couldn’t go smoothly if I was formerly a Christian, didn’t you? No, this part was one of the most interesting, at times angering experiences I’ve had recently. I was asked if I was gay twice (I’m not. That’s apparently a reason to be atheist now, thanks to Christians making gay people hate the Biblegod). I’ve been asked if I was on drugs once (I’m not, never used drugs. I’ve smoked weed, which my church pastor said wasn’t ‘a big deal’ and would be legal in a year anyway). This isn’t drug-induced, gay-induced (whatever that is) or some attempt for attention, as was also said to me! This is what happens when someone is HONEST, with themselves and with others. Why? Because if someone had done this for me, I’d have told you I was an atheist 5 years ago. I’ve always had it in me but was surrounded by 100% Christians. Yeah, I don’t have an atheist friend in my life, besides some people I chat with online that I’ve never met. What’s it say when one of your own, who was raised by Christians, only knows Christians and is in church every Sunday and Wednesday, becomes an atheist because he read the Bible?

Here are my favorite comments, copied and pasted, by people claiming they’re good little Christians.


“I would have great respect if you not try and twist Scripture to prove a point to me.” – In response to me posting a scripture with NO comment about it.

“If this is how you believe, you can take your beliefs all the way to hell.” – Christian.

“This is disgusting, insulting, and frankly idiotic.” – Christian.

“Ok, that’s your opinion. So keep it to yourself. You’re looking like a fool, and losing friends. Some times people delete people cause they are being assholes, it’s not just because they disagree.” – Christian. Also asked me if I was on drugs. Piece of shit.

“Are you gay?” – 2 times

MORE TO COME!

 

This entry was posted in Atheism and tagged atheism, christianity, christians, jesus, religion is dumb, the bible. Bookmark the permalink.

2 responses to “Being honest – The impact my announcement of atheism had on Facebook

  1. Someone I know posted an article the other day about atheists being drug addicts who run around sleeping with everyone they can get their hands on while being bitterly miserable. There are a lot of weird ideas about atheists. The nice thing about being open about it is that now, you can counter those strange myths.

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  2. I had a similar experience at age 20. No internet back then but I had been a Christian involved with Christian youth groups and had gone to a fundie high school then went to a state university and finally just told everyone it was all BS. I’ve lost friends and gained friends. I’ve alienated family a little, but mostly they accept me for everything else that makes me who I am… we just dont talk religion. If they throw religion at me, then I am honest with my thoughts and they get all upset at how I am “attacking them and their beliefs!” Funny how that happens… so I usually try to keep quiet to avoid another family meltdown. A couple years ago I used facebook as a soapbox… I no longer have that facebook account. There were too many people in my life that were offended and I really didn’t want to offend, just discuss or even debate. My Christian friends didn’t see it that way… they see it as hostile. Admittedly some of their feelings were not worth the effort but some I truly regretted offending. I still don’t believe in gods or the supernatural but I found religious humanism at a Unitarian Universalist church to be a good way to focus on the positives of humanity (at least a little more often). I also found the Council for Secular Humanism or CFI to be pretty good intelligent humanism group. Free Inquiry magazine was good to help my thoughts evolve. Good luck with your new outlook. You are not alone. (I recommend the book “Godless” if you haven’t read it. Also, is that graphic above from the opening of Constantine? lol)

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