USAtheists - 2007/03/16 16:20Not being from "land of the free and the home of the brave" myself I can't really comment on this. But I thought you'd like to read it
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espaceman
User Karma: 2
Re:USAtheists - 2007/03/16 19:09Now if only more people could spell it correctly... but, I digress.
Yeah, it's a strange thing to be an American atheist (though I feel better described by "non-theist"; I'm mostly a laissez-faire agnostic who don't want no trouble from nobody). It doesn't help that I live in the south, and I can't say that I've worked up the nerve to come all the way out of the closet either. I wouldn't be afraid of direct retribution, but indirect consequences are another story. Workplace politics, etc.
Most people just don't know how to deal with it. Some actually equate it with Satanism, and even people who aren't very religious but who refuse to let go of the labels can't seem to deal with such brash declarations. I'm guessing that it's just too socially unacceptable for those types. Some of these people even get together to watch "the big game" even though they don't like sports. I pity them.
Anyway, I still can't help but feel like things are slowly going in the right directions. Most of the people I know, religious or not, seem to at least steer way clear of creationists, religiously imposed laws, and Bible-thumpers in general. They just look at you real funny-like when they see you enjoying a cheeseburger on a Friday during Lent, and I must say I rather enjoy that.
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enderwig
User Karma: 1
Re:USAtheists - 2007/03/17 00:36Fish fry be damned!
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Vlad the Impala
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Re:USAtheists - 2007/03/18 04:39Most USAtheists seem to have it bad in one way or another but over here in the UK it's the god-botherers who appear to be on the receiving end of a hard time.there is no possible use for a signature* except to demonstrate how funny/geeky/cynical/pathetic you are.
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Fishfarm2
User Karma: 3
Re:USAtheists - 2007/03/19 03:05I live in a town with under 3,000 people and at least one chruch on every road (my road has two), but I have never had a problem coming out.
I'm sure a lot of people would be glad to hear someone say it in this town, there are to many "I love Jesus and nothing else" jackasses here.
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Jabjabs
User Karma: 12
Re:USAtheists - 2007/03/19 12:39It a bit odd here in Australia, according to the stats only 4% of us are Atheist and yet almost everyone I know has some major religious background of some sort but they don't seam to be following it very strongly at the moment.
You question it but as soon as they start to think about it they run straight back to their religions and defend them greatly but when you don't bring it up they don't seam to follow them very closely.
Out of all my friends and relatives, the only other person I know who is in the same field is my house mate who is Agnostic (Lesbian as well so she lives what she preaches) so it's kind of odd as a whole down here.
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Vlad the Impala
Moderator Karma: 162
Re:USAtheists - 2007/03/19 13:084%? Are you sure?
I knocked this up recently for a friend and Oz is about a quarter god-free:
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freakaz0id
User Karma: 4
Re:USAtheists - 2007/03/19 15:18I live in Georgia, USA and the religious groups here run hard. There is a guy who hangs out at the pizza place i work at and he has done some background stuff for a few horror movies and seems like a really genuine person but once religion came into a conversation and i told him i was atheist he immediately told me that he felt sorry for me. i told him don't because i don't feel sorry for you about yourself believing in a supreme being. after much discussion i quoted Stephen Henry Roberts by saying, "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." he nodded and we ended the conversation. everyone in my family knows i am atheist except my father who i believe it would crush him and i enjoy our conversations. i bring up points about his life that contradict his personal beliefs and i leave it at that. his mother, when my brother and i told her that we had a friend that was buddhist she cried for a good 30 mintues....she never listened to the radio unless it was gospel.
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Krofinzki
User Karma: 24
Re:USAtheists - 2007/03/20 10:57I live in Sweden and here it's very different...
According to the most recent Eurostat "Eurobarometer" poll, in 2005,[50] 23% of Swedish citizens responded that "they believe there is a god", whereas 53% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 23% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force". Sweden ranks aside with France and Russia on having a large minority of its citizens who have no religion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden#Religion
That might seem low to you, but to me it seems strangely high. Because I have never in my life met a swedish devoted christian and the christians I have met are very... non-religious. They basicly just believe in heaven and and after-life and that's their whole belief and I don't really consider that christian. That could be any belief. Most people here just say that they believe in "something" whilst the rest say that they believe in nothing, there's no god, nothing supernatural, you die and then you're gone. All of my friends, and parents of friends, my parents etc, where all atheists.
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