Being an atheist involves a lot more than not believing in God, and most of the time, it means walking into conversations where people think they already know who you are.
The small test
It doesn’t matter how many times you hold the door for someone. It doesn’t matter how loyal you might be to your friends. Saying you’re an atheist changes the conversation. People start asking you where your morals come from.
Because, apparently, you can only have morals when you’re religious. Sure. It’s hard for atheists, honestly. They’ve got to deal with a dozen questions about how they can be decent people.
The rescue mode
Then there are those who don’t see it as information. No, they hear ‘I’m an atheist’ as ‘I’m a problem that needs to be fixed.’ You could be having a pretty normal conversation. But now you’re going to get invitations to church and receive sermons.
Don’t forget ‘I’ll pray for you.’ Because that never gets old. It’s not like you asked to hear any of that. But religious people assume there’s something missing and they’ve got to do something about it. Can’t they just say nothing?
The blank space
Life doesn’t get easier because you’re an atheist. Awful things keep happening. But they don’t have an answer for why this stuff happens.
They don’t get the relief of knowing that it was meant to be, or that there was some reason for it. They only have the thing itself. It’s just the pain and the unfairness of it all. It’s harder to deal with this stuff when you’ve got nothing to explain it.
The tone problem
Let’s be honest here. Atheists don’t all think they’re better than everyone else. But some religious people seem to think that. They hear that someone’s not religious, and they assume that person’s being arrogant. They assume an atheist thinks they’re smarter.
That’s not true. Unfortunately, not everyone gets that. Atheists can try to be the most respectful person in the room. Yet they still feel like they’ve accidentally started an argument.
The long explanation
A lot of atheists have to start conversations the same way. How? By explaining what they aren’t. They’re not angry at religion, and they’re not worshipping Satan. They’re not being rebellious. They’re not confused.
Being an atheist isn’t enough. People keep mixing it up with all sorts of other labels. It gets pretty tiring after a while because you get sick of having to explain the same thing over and over. Why can’t people accept it?
The waiting room
Ask any atheist, and they’ll tell you the same thing. They’ve heard a thousand times before about how they need to ‘wait it out.’ Because time is all it takes to change your beliefs. Yes, they’re supposed to give it a few years or wait until marriage. Then they’ll come back.
Life is supposed to scare you enough, and then you’ll supposedly become religious again. So many people treat atheism like it’s down to your age. It’s not. It’s all about conviction. Nothing more, nothing less.
The borrowed argument
Atheism doesn’t mean you’re non-religious. At least, that’s how believers seem to act. They act like being an atheist means you hate churches and hate prayer. You also hate tradition, religion, and Christmas.
Being an atheist lets everyone assign opinions to you that you never gave. You’re full of hate, apparently, and that’s the only reason you would ever choose not to believe in God. How unfair is that?
The public blame
You can count on one thing as an atheist. You’ll get dragged into the conversation whenever people talk about society going downhill. Family values falling? People being more selfish? It’s all happening because you’re an atheist, you know.
You’ve stopped being a person with different ideas. Now, you’re a symbol of everything going wrong in the world, and you’re meant to feel guilty about that.
The final exam
Being an atheist usually feels like being a student. Why? Because you’re constantly being tested. People ask you stuff like, ‘Who created the universe?’ or ‘How can you prove there’s no God?’ Good luck if you don’t have a perfect answer ready.
They’ll act as though it proves something. You’ve failed because you can’t answer those questions. A simple label apparently opens you up for cross-examination.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
Atheists want religious people to answer 15 important questions
Atheists come up with questions about religion all the time in hopes of finally getting some straight answers to beliefs most follow blindly.
Atheists want religious people to answer 15 important questions
