Religion

rug

(82,333 posts) Sat Jun 16, 2012, 06:40 AM Jun 2012

Atheist organization seeks 'closeted' unbelievers

By BILL SHERMAN World Religion Writer
Published: 6/16/2012 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 6/16/2012 5:28 AM

David Silverman, who will address the Oklahoma Freethought Convention on June 23 in Tulsa, said 15 to 16 percent of Americans are atheists, and nearly 30 percent of people under 30.

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When he was 6, sitting in the back seat of his mother's car, he said, he had an epiphany, realizing that God and Santa Claus and the tooth fairy were really all the same thing - myths.

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He went through his bar mitzvah at 13 as an atheist, "lying the whole time," he said, and cemented his philosophical position debating Orthodox Jews at Brandeis University, debates he says he always won.

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He said atheists can be found on both sides of the abortion debate, but are 100 percent behind gay equality.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=18&articleid=20120616_18_A13_CUTLIN993827

He should speak to the Prime Minister of Australia, who actually has the power to do something about it.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/love-is-not-about-marriage-says-prime-minister-julia-gillard/story-fnbzs1v0-1226393221211

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Atheist organization seeks 'closeted' unbelievers (Original Post) rug Jun 2012 OP

There are many closeted Nones. daaron Jun 2012 #1

daaron

(763 posts)

1. There are many closeted Nones.

Reply to rug (Original post)

Sat Jun 16, 2012, 09:48 AM

Jun 2012

My own journey to openly atheist started decades ago in H.S., when longtime friends shunned me, OT-style, and called me "the Devil" for saying, merely, "I don't believe in God." Nothing more - no defense of atheism or attack on religion. None of that. Just "I don't believe in God."

The only way I've found to avoid that problem was, in the end, to come out of the closet so that I wouldn't get emotionally attached to people who could so easily toss a friendship aside over something as trite as religion. Those sorts of people won't befriend me in the first place, now! Problem solved.

For me, it was that easy, because it was just a handful of friends - not my entire family, or some such. Other people don't just have to worry about a few friends turning up their self-righteous noses. Some folks have to worry about family, work, school, and more - their whole lives trashed in the space of time it takes to utter five little words.

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