Failure for having an autoplay video on the front page, whoops.
So how many of you out there have taken the brave step and told your parents that you didn’t believe in their easter bunny santa clause baby jesus anymore? How did they handle it? Anyone have any tales of whoa woe in dealing with their admission of intelligence?
tons of my friends are athiasts, and their parents know about it, and their parents didnt really care, they just dont get them nothing for christmas anymore, but the thing is about people these days, is the fact that they use religeon as an excuse for their actions, people need to respect the religeons of other people, no matter what if they believe in a steamy pile of dog shit outside on the sidewalk or chuck norris, because, if you arent respectful of other people they wont be respectful of you, same with religeon
agree?
lol i dont get anything form my parents for chrsitmas anyways stopped asking my stupid parents 3 years ago.
and are you talking about the mom screaming cuz he doesnt “believe” anymore?
quote @colin–“people need to respect the religeons of other people, no matter what if they believe in a steamy pile of dog shit outside on the sidewalk or chuck norris, because, if you arent respectful of other people they wont be respectful of you, same with religeon”
The thing that cracks me up about Religionists is they are often, inwardly cruel. Take this kid’s mom; she starts shrieking at him and takes away “Christmas”. I don’t believe in God, but I still spend a crap-load of money every Christmas getting presents for my friends and family.
The main argument Religionists make is “People wouldn’t be nice to each other without the threat of eternal damnation and hell-fire”. Like, without the threat of hell I’m going to start killing people and stealing money. Guess what: I can love people, buy them presents, and be a perfectly normal nice person without going to church on Sunday. Really.
Something I have to warn about being ‘respectful of other people’ is where do you draw the line? Should we really allow people to convince others that their god tells all people that women should be subservient? That their god demands that they follow these 10 rules, no more, and no less? That their god says particular classes of people aren’t really people, and don’t deserve the same treatment as others?
Simply put, you cannot be respectful to someone that thinks they have an inside line to an imaginary friend in the sky. You should look at them in the same light as someone who claims to truly believe in santa at age 40. Yeah, you don’t have to pick a fight, but there’s no reason to be respectful to them.
Tell them how it is, not how you wish it could be. I’m sure everyone would LOVE to have an ever loving Magic Man, who would solve all problems, but he simply doesn’t exist.
I “came out” as an atheist to my family last summer. The maternal side of my family is very devoutly Catholic, so when I made the mistake of mentioning at a family party that I intended to go to grad school to study evolutionary biology, a large argument broke out, mostly between myself and an uncle who claimed he could disprove evolution right there (mostly by spouting out facts from a decade old book by Michael Behe). Unfortunately I was rather drunk at this point, finding alcohol to be my only solace against the dire boredom of this family’s gatherings, so my argumentative strengths were a bit weakened. Still, it became abundantly clear to everyone that I am a resolute atheist and that I find all religions to be a cruel joke. I do recall hearing a different uncle murmuring to someone else about me being “ensnared in Satan’s grasp” and about “the problem with these atheists”.
On the ride home I had to explain to my parents that yes, I am indeed atheist and no, it’s not a direct result of me wanting to study evolution but yes, they go hand in hand. I also had to explain that no, I would not be reconsidering my position and rediscovering spirituality ten years from now. I was relieved to hear them say that, while they weren’t happy with it, they would support me no matter what I believe. I was also shocked to later hear that my grandfather, who is a no-nonsense stoic but also a strong Catholic, said he doesn’t care what I believe as long as I can back those beliefs up with sound reasoning.
So, I guess what could have been a rough situation eventually worked out to be ok. So I guess it wasn’t as exciting of a story as you were probably looking for. Oh, and I still got Christmas presents (though my mom did ask if I was going to come visit on Christmas because I don’t believe anymore).
I don’t talk about religion to family members. Its just easier for everyone that way.
Just saying “i don’t believe in god” doesn’t quite cut it. Check out Penn Jillette’s essay at NPR. That’s how to drive home atheism.
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5015557
I concur.
It’s hard to muster up respect for someone who believes fervently in something for which there is no solid evidence.
lol, I love how he’s wearing sunglasses inside. Kudos for telling his parents that he’s making a choice, but really.. sunglasses inside?
Heh, I’m Athiest and I still get presents for christmas. I think of it more like a family thing than a religion thing for me.
I was lucky enough to grow up in an mostly-atheist family, so I never had to go through something like this or deal with awkwardness with my family. I give this kid a lot of credit for what he did, sunglasses or no.
As far as the respect thing goes, I’d like to agree with colin, but I think giving equal respect to people who live by religion and people who live by reason is doing a great disservice to those who live by reason and apply thought to their philosophy of life. I also have to agree with Sam Harris in his book “The End of Faith” that religion is the single most dangerous thing facing humanity today.
I confessed, now my aunt shuns me.
I was raised in an atheist family. My parents are atheists, my grandparents are atheists. Unfortunately, my in-laws are Southern Baptist, but for some reason they think I am Jewish since I never have a Christmas tree or any religious paraphernalia up at any given holiday.
However, my parents always gave us presents and such. They said that the mindless consumerism that is Christmas is as far away from any religious doctrine that they know of, so it would be sort of anti-atheism if we didn’t do it.
It is sort of weird living in a “Christian nation” and having almost zero knowledge of the Bible. I feel a little embarrassed when I have to ask other people about certain satire because I do not understand the religious references in it.
Ando, i realize what you are saying, but if you cant respect what people believe in, no matter what it is, you needn’t deserve respect from them because you cant learn to accept other people’s differences.
Colin, there’s no reason to respect the beliefs of someone that’s completely off their rocker. Yes, I believe there’s a teapot in orbit around mars. Having said that, if you know that I believe in said tea pot, are you going to trust anything else that I believe in? Be it either Norse thunder gods or underwater monsters? If there’s zero proof for a belief, that’s when it becomes unfounded, and dangerous. Thor and Nessy both have the benefit of being widely accepted as non-existant, and thus do not exert their influence on people from a tender young age.
I would rather have children be taught the benefits of self reliant thought, and problem solving skills then be dependent on a non-functional god figure in their life for all of their major decisions.
The easiest part of this argument is that there is absolutely no evidence of an active all powerful being that wants to influence our lives, for the better, or even for the worse. Amazingly, there’s ample evidence that the bible was written by normal people, who had normal goals and desires, and only after the fact decided that they had been used by god to write his word.
Who can look at these two facts and not come to the conclusion that organized religion is a crock of shit?
I don’t know about you Colin, but for me, respect isn’t something I dole out to the deserving. it’s automatic.
If someone believes in fairy tales I’m going to have less respect for them.
I don’t think it makes them bad people, just mildly retarded.
Tiki, Nessy is just as real as Cthulhu. =( -secretly hopes one day she can ride on a Nessy-
I think everyone in my family knows I’m atheist. Except for my great uncle but he’s too damn old to change. He blamed the notion of taking “In God We Trust” off of money because of “THEM DAAAYUMN ATHEISTS”. Har har. I wonder what would happen if people in my family found out I was pan sexual. =/
I get a pretty Christmas tree because it smells so damn good and it keeps Clock Spider at bay. You sometimes even get some cats with your tree.
haha so shocking
if i had super religios parents id choose my words more like simply “i dont believe in god”
calling yourself an atheist just makes it harder for those crazy parents, cause that makes you not only apart from their organization but also a member of something else.
Totally agree with not always respecting others belief. However, the church was just as “crazy” as Islamists and those caste thingys we hear about in India, some few hundred years ago. They just need to modernize. We kinda pulled them thru into the west with wealth and stuff and they didnt get their dark ages (middle age whatever) to shake off all that misanthropic bullshit they preach.
however, mostly its going well. i guess most muslims today are even more civilized then the majority of christians. or “atheists”. i tried to give a friend of mine pork tho but he said he didnt eat it cause it had white worms in it. now thats 1-0 to the muslims! just google “pork and diet coke”!
TIKIGOD, DAMN YOU. You bastard, have to go and change my life like that. Damn it all.
I don’t think respect is automatic…you respect people because they’ve done something to deserve it. That’s why you get that old adage about respecting your eldersâ€â€it’s not their beliefs, but their experiences that have shaped their beliefs, that matter; the assumption is that they’ve had time to consider their world and make informed decisions about it. In the video, I wouldn’t respect the kid’s beliefs because he’s young and probably hasn’t done much reading, and is just trying to piss off his parents. Neither, however, would I respect his mother’s opinion because she obviously is a bit ignorant herself, which I get from her stance on taking a kid’s Xmas presents away to teach him a lesson about the existence of God. On that note, believe what you want, as long as it’s made with an informed sensibility behind it, and you’ll get the respect you deserve.
Myself, I’m agnostic. I like Buddhism. I had 12 years of Catholic school and I’ve told my parents my beliefs several times, but they don’t overreact, probably because my mom thinks I’m joking and my dad figures that if there’s a god up there, he’ll find out about it sooner or later. It doesn’t stop me from reciting Ezekiel 25:17 (by way of Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction) for the Thanksgiving prayer, if called upon. Mom looks quizzical when I do. Dad turns beet red with laughter.
take a look at the chart
ccannizzaro.com/images/iq_vs_religion_lg.bmp