Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Cindy Blakeslee on April 6, 2009 at 9:40am

Don:

I appreciate the time your took to reply, but I still don't identify with your experience. You have made a rather sweeping generatlization that "atheists are private people..." I do not at all seek to be private, and only am because my views have not been well received on those times I have expressed them. Chicken and egg, maybe.

Perhaps you could acknowledge that your experience of Vermont's hinterlands is yours and not everyone's?

Thanks.

Permalink Reply by Little Name Atheist on June 13, 2009 at 9:13am

yet one's experience in such things depends to a large extent on the circles one moves in.

Also, I would think where one lives. Even very tolerant areas can have pockets of idiocy. In Marshfield back in the early 90s (or was it late 80s?), a group of fundamentalist Christians moved in, and then tried to take over the school board, the library board, etc... I'll have to ask a friend in Marshfield if she can give me more information about her experiences during that time.

I'm certainly not "out" to my neighbors as an atheist, but if it ever comes up, I won't hesitate to state my affiliation. However, I'm friends with my neighbors on either side of me, so I don't feel like they're going to suddenly dig a moat around their home and fill it with alligators once they find out.

I found this interesting wee historical snippet about the history of religious tolerance in Vermont. Haven't yet found anything on Vermont's history of Freethought or atheism.

Permalink Reply by Little Name Atheist on April 6, 2009 at 11:04am

Welcome to the group, Cindy! Good to have you here.

Until I joined Atheist Nexus and found this group, I only knew two other atheists in Vermont... the man I live with, and a friend I met via the now defunct Secularity.com. I'm hoping I can make a few more friends via this group.

Permalink Reply by Tracy on April 7, 2009 at 3:25pm

It seems that a lot of Vermonters don't really care what you believe or don't believe. They do become uncomfortable when discussing belief/non-belief. This is a sort of "don't ask, don't tell" thing; I think it’s more of a case of “good manners”. I rarely have anyone bring up their faith in most social situations, nor do they ask for my beliefs.

We were going to a UU church in St Johnsbury, but have fallen out of the habit. There were quite a few atheist/secular humanists. Of course there also tends to be a lot of "woo woo" believers. The past few years I have become involved in skepticism and have become less tolerant of any sort of magical thinking. As a result, I am fighting the pull of cynicism.