13 responses so far ↓

• 1 Craig // Oct 28, 2009 at 10:22 am

  I got so tired of hiding my sexuality, that the thought of hiding any other aspect of myself or my beliefs makes me shudder in horror.

  Then again, I rarely talk to or see people who would have a problem with me being an atheist.

  In essence, I agree it’s sad that people are so afraid of the very real negative consequences that they feel they have to hide what they believe from friends and family.

• 2 EBrown // Oct 28, 2009 at 4:54 pm

  Die Gedanken sind frei, wer kann sie erraten,
  sie fliegen vorbei wie nächtliche Schatten.
  Kein Mensch kann sie wissen, kein Jäger erschießen
  mit Pulver und Blei, Die Gedanken sind frei!

  If we live in a free society, why must we cower and scurry? Die Gedanken sind frei!

• 3 Chandelle // Oct 28, 2009 at 5:11 pm

  I still hide myself as an atheist. Partly, I hesitate to use such a definitive label because I like to leave a little cushion for my constantly shifting self. But if I really get down to it, I am pretty definitive about my lack of belief. So yes, I am an atheist, but I don’t always like to put myself forward as such. I feel like it will cut off conversation before it begins. I like to explore spiritual ideas. I don’t like to instantly shut others down just by labeling myself.

  I am coming to realize that I might be helping to marginalize my own minority by being quiet about my lack of belief. That I explore Buddhist philosophy is especially confusing for some people. I try to explicate that I do identify as an atheist and my interest in Buddhism is not spiritual or religious in nature, but it doesn’t really translate.

  Honestly, these “New Atheists” make it kind of hard for people like me, who aren’t antagonistic to religionists even if I have only negative opinions of religion itself. When I was Mormon, I always felt that I had to assert myself as “different” from common conceptions of other Mormons, lest I be considered a bigoted upholder of the patriarchy. I feel the same way as an atheist, albeit on a smaller scale – as if I have to disclaim, “Hey, I promise I won’t scream about how ignorant and destructive you are for praying. Just FYI.”

  Finally, there are family issues. Aren’t there always? If I openly self-identified as an atheist, it might be the last straw for my in-laws. Which would be GREAT for me! Happy day! But not so great for my partner’s attempts to reconnect with them.

  Excuses, excuses. I admire people who openly identify themselves as atheist and I hope to reach a point where I feel that comfortable.

• 4 Rainey // Oct 28, 2009 at 7:41 pm

  I think of myself as an agnostic because my truest feeling is that it’s not possible for me to prove one alternative or another even to myself. But, I neither make it public randomly nor hide from it. I discuss my non-belief frankly when the topic comes up. But it comes up rarely in ordinary discussions where policy and day to day events are more common.

  The big philosophical issues are much more likely to come up on the internet where it’s easier to gather a group interested in grappling with topics that require such long-term exploration. OTOH, I guess if someone is in a university environment, such things might come up more easily. But I’m not and they don’t for me.

• 5 TGD // Oct 29, 2009 at 8:04 am

  In my ultra religious upbringing it was actually much harder to come out as atheist than it was as gay. They still will not accept the atheist part.

• 6 Craig // Oct 29, 2009 at 8:08 am

  I actually have no idea what my parents think about my atheism. They’ve never mentioned it or even come close to bringing up the topic. I think they’re afraid of what I’ll say if they do.

• 7 eBrown // Oct 29, 2009 at 1:39 pm

  What’s really refreshing about conversations with people who were raised as atheists is that the religious perspective just doesn’t come up. I must admit, there is a subset of atheists who “convert” to religionism, but the strength of the tide is in the other direction.

• 8 Boris // Nov 5, 2009 at 3:52 am

  Interesting! I always have dreamed of a secret society, so secret that nobody was able to join the group…
  Maybe your friend is successful on keeping the group as secret, even if the cost is that nobody else will know about his/her ideas.
  All the best.

• 9 JC // Nov 5, 2009 at 5:25 am

  This actually sounds quite depressing. I wouldn’t wanna live this way. To my mind, this whole thing is a question of your mindset rather than a question of acceptance. I don’t care what others might say about my beliefs, they are real to me. Sure my parents amongst other people don’t like it but they don’t have any choice other than to accept my decision.

  Oh, just for the record: I’m an agnostic.

• 10 Eric // Nov 10, 2009 at 12:38 pm

  Proud Skeptic/Agnostic with atheist tendencies

• 11 Eric // Nov 10, 2009 at 12:50 pm

  Here is something your group might enjoy discussing when you do have your secret meetings:

  http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/featured_articles/skeptic13-2_Kuhn.pdf

• 12 Feminist Article of the Day | Mind on Fire // Dec 23, 2009 at 11:17 am

  [...] Underground Atheism [...]

• 13 MikeB // Dec 27, 2009 at 10:09 pm

  If I prayed then I would do so every day – a prayer to whatever steered my life to a place where I remain as close as possible to being unaffected by religion and it’s bastard offspring.

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