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Comment by Logan Grado on July 21, 2010 at 1:05am

Hey, I attended a catholic school for four years. It took all my self control to not tell everyone there they were idiots. I don't want to tell you the number of saturday schools I got for skipping mass (every month there was school mass. I hid in the theater and got caught a lot. I said it was civil disobedience. Didn't work)

Comment by Sicile on July 19, 2010 at 12:10am

Hang in there Laura. I can relate. My parents too are very religious and sometimes it is so hard for me to deal with it. Every comment seems to revolve around their religious beliefs. ("Look at that sunset .. how can anyone think there is not a god to create that?" - and such like that) They do not know that I am an atheist; I felt that it would be too traumatic for them to handle. They are that strongly rooted in their beliefs - it would kill them! Anyhow, it seems everything they say I disagree with them, but I have to keep my mouth shut.

I have lived with my parents until just this year when they retired and moved away. (circumstances dictated my staying with them until now) It has been these last few years (when I stopped going to church and their "red flags" went off) that have been hardest. They seem to find every opportunity to "remind" me of god's love for me and his handy-work all around me. I love them dearly, and I know they mean well, but we just see the universe differently.

On how to handle it - I just take what they say without arguing and then go process it - pick it apart - come up with my counterpoints that sort of thing. That way I have a better idea of why and what they believe. I have to look at it like I am observing some other culture or something. That's the only way I can get through it. My ENTIRE family is Christian (and it's a big family!) so it can be a real challenge!

Best of luck to you!

Comment by Jimmy Charles Nuckolls on July 18, 2010 at 8:41pm

I share your pain Laura. My wife and adult children all are subjected to my atheist rantings nearly daily. But my sisters and cousins are all fundamentalist christians in Kansas of all places and have never been exposed to anything else. Just their little homogenous christian farming community way of life. The fact that anyone can have a different view is beyond their milk toast comprehension. I can no longer even have a conversation with them let alone move in with any of them.

Comment by The Big Blue Frog on July 18, 2010 at 2:48pm

My in laws are all fundamentalist Southern Baptists, so I can feel your pain. I could never imagine living with them for very long. I did live with them for a month or so while my wife and I were dating. I think I blocked it out of my memory, because I can't recall how it went.

Comment by James M. Martin on July 18, 2010 at 10:25am

Hang in there, Laura! Learn to process the information in an intellectual way. Remember without exhibiting it, you are superior to them because when you do the right thing it is because this is what you do, not what "God" demands of you to get into a non-existent "heaven." Some of these people will tone down the rhetoric if they know about your disbelief. Have you tried explaining yourself to them. If you are completely "out" in your work environment, you can make them feel silly by reducing their dogma to its absurdities. Try asking them, if god is so powerful and so good, why does evil exist? If they say, "God works in mysterious ways," tell them science has explained all the mysteries, so why do we need "god"? If they say, "God doesn't allow evil to exist, he gave us freedom of will," ask them, "Why didn't he see to it we would always do good?" And if they say they are not faithful, they know God exists because it is in the Bible, don't say anything. Submit your resignation and get the hell out of there!

Comment by Petra Polovina on July 18, 2010 at 7:08am

I can definitely relate, even though I came back to visit for the summer voluntarily. Collectively, my family goes to church about five days out of seven and I'm expected to accompany them. They constantly grill me about getting baptized - they can't believe I'm on my twenty-first year and still haven't received the Holy Spirit and, furthermore, the Holy Spirit as it manifests itself in the "speaking of tongues." I can't really complain, though, because I haven't come out to them about my closeted atheism. But I just can't bring myself to tell them! Most people, even those of a faith, are open-minded enough to give some consideration to another idea or belief system. Fundamentalists are particularly infuriating for their inability to even consider something different. If I were to come out to them, I would be in line for an exorcism for my "demon of disbelief," among many others I'm sure. For the moment I just put up with it but they do drive me crazy... Relief will be here in about a month though, hallelujah!