Do You Have Different Beliefs from Friends and Family?

Oh no, not at all I'm so sorry if you didn't understand what I was saying. I have a friend whom I adore and is also an atheist. She makes jokes because she thinks I'm below her. I have no problem at all with atheists, some of my best friends are, it's just this one friend in particular. I'm so sorry if you misinterpreted that!! I would never mean to be disrespectful to anyone

@ Kurtni
"Actually, I would say atheists make jokes about religion precisely because we know what a big role religion plays in life."

It's kind of like calling a mean gay person a 'faggot', basically? Just say the most hurtful thing because they deserve it?

dru vs. yzma 2016:

@ Kurtni
"Actually, I would say atheists make jokes about religion precisely because we know what a big role religion plays in life."

It's kind of like calling a mean gay person a 'faggot', basically? Just say the most hurtful thing because they deserve it?

I don't think making a joke is mean or "the most hurtful thing".

Being gay doesn't harm anything else, where as religion does, so I do think religion "deserves" criticism, whether it be in the form of jokes or legitimate critiques or protests. Beging gay is not the same as being religious. You choose to be religious. To me, making jokes about religion is no different than making jokes about racism or sexism- all things I don't believe in that I can take the piss out of through humor.

@ Kurtni
I find religious humor amusing, generally. I don't find hateful barbs about mental illness ("imaginary friend") to be the same thing. There's a difference between personal statements and broad statements. Attacking an individual over their faith is specific and personal, like when I mention I have belief and someone's all "say hi to your imaginary friend later" or "have you seen your doctor about adjusting your meds lately". Making a broad joke about Happy Zombie Day on Easter Sunday is general (and funny).

@ Kurtni
Yeah, I agree I totally didn't mean like all atheist jokes make me want to cry haha it's not like that at all, freedom of speech right? I was just talking about my one particular friend who likes to make me feel bad about being religious

writingismypassion23:

@ Kurtni
Yeah, I agree I totally didn't mean like all atheist jokes make me want to cry haha it's not like that at all, freedom of speech right? I was just talking about my one particular friend who likes to make me feel bad about being religious

No no, I understand... and it kind of sounds like your friend is making jokes about you personally (calling you names), instead of religion generally, and I think that's not okay. There is a difference between joking about a thing, and a person... joking about a person can be bullying.

dru vs. yzma 2016:

@ Kurtni
I find religious humor amusing, generally. I don't find hateful barbs about mental illness ("imaginary friend") to be the same thing. There's a difference between personal statements and broad statements. Attacking an individual over their faith is specific and personal, like when I mention I have belief and someone's all "say hi to your imaginary friend later" or "have you seen your doctor about adjusting your meds lately". Making a broad joke about Happy Zombie Day on Easter Sunday is general (and funny).

I get that, there is a difference between making a joke about a thing/idea and a specific person.

Still though, why is someone saying your God is imaginary so offensive? That's precisely what atheism implies- gods don't exist- they're imaginary. Whether I say it or not (in a joke or an essay or whatever), I think the same thing. If the idea that your god isn't real/is imaginary is offensive- you're offended by atheism, not the joke.

@ Kurtni
Okay hahaha I just wanted to make sure you knew I have absolutel noooooo problem with atheists stating their beliefs, I mean I do as a Catholic, so why can't atheists? It's just my friend in general who is giving me the grief. I'm glad you understand haha :)

@ Kurtni
I think it's said to specifically be hurtful. It compares me to a child or someone who is mentally ill. It's like me calling you a heathen. You don't believe that, so why say it? It's just hurtful. It's basically just find a way to dismiss something someone finds important in a rude way. I feel like a good example would be if I said homosexuality were imaginary. It's hurtful, doesn't need to be said to you (even if I believe it), and does not but create animosity.

I don't support creating anger and animosity 'cause it's "funny". It's not funny. There are funnier jokes.

@ dru vs. yzma 2016
I agree with you in the context of jokes about individuals, though I don't think that line of reasoning applies to much else.

A lot of religious people are hurt by general expressions of atheism (protests, monuments, books, speech, etc)... and I don't care about their feelings in that context. Even if it hurts someone, I think it needs to be said. Even if it creates animosity or anger, it needs to be said.

@ Kurtni
I think the idea of a Christian being hurt by the idea of Atheism is bullshit. (And by that, I mean those Christians are full of shit.) I believe in coexisting which means that everyone should just deal with their spiritual nature privately and without forcing it onto others.

I have quite a bit different views than friends and family. I'm pagan and worship two gods and one goddess, as well as practicing witchcraft. (I'm actually nearly everything they're against; transgender, gay, pagan...)

As for friends, either they're atheist or Christian. One is baptist (I believe that is what she calls herself, I hope I have the correct term...) and one, I believe, is agnostic.

@ the last painter.
What gods and goddess do you worship, out of curiosity? I've only ever heard of sun god/moon goddess, so I'm curious.

@ dru vs. yzma 2016

I worship Hecate most of all, as she was the first one I was led towards when I was learning about being pagan and such about it. I'd run across things about her somewhere and certain things just...clicked. Things she stood for and such that I do. As for the two gods, one is called Elios. It is possible he might be the sun god Helios, whose name is also sometimes spelled Elios, but I haven't found much to support that. But a friend of mine and I were searching up things on him to find clues and we came across this EBook called 'Seeds of Elios' and as I read about it, the things that were mentioned about Elios (who was a deity in the book) seemed to fit. It was really the biggest shock I'd had.

As for the other, well...I'm still in the process of figuring out his name. It's a bit hard to explain, but I'm supposed to figure out his name. Yet I don't have much information on him except certain traits as colors he prefers (red) and some bits of his personality.

I am super different from my family. Basically my sister and my dad are christians. Myself, I am a weird mixture of all religions. I basically think that every religion is right in it's own way, and due to this I feel free about going to a church, temple or mosque. I think that a religion plays important role in person's life, but some people have decided to focus on their life on Earth, instead of what happens after that.
I have been a muslim, although it wasn't exactly the life for me. I do agree with islam, like I agree with all religions. I believe in something greater than us, some call it God, some call it with other names. I believe in angels, reincarnation.. Just to mention a few. Most of the things in my "religion" come from christianity, buddhism, islam.. But from hinduism, wicca and a few others. I have found my way and my peace with religion and I'm happy just like this. (:
My friends are "all over", some are christian, some are atheist, some are like me, a few are buddhist, some are muslims.. But I don't really care about their religions, as I feel like I am "part of them all".

I am currently in a very weird in between state with religion right now. When I was a kid, religion was never a big thing, I only went to Sunday Mass/a religious club a few times, and that was actually tagging along with other families (because a friend was in the club, because I slept over Saturday night and that household went to Sunday mass too early to take me home beforehand) rather than my own. Nothing really clicked with me - I got bored of the club and dropped out, I don't really remember any of the sermons I listened to. Meanwhile, my parents fostered a very "educate yourself to the fullest potential" household, so my focus went on my scientific pursuits rather than trying to find a religion that fit for me.

In 10th grade, my teacher introduced me to Richard Dawkins via The Blind Watchmaker, and I really enjoyed that book, so I read some of his other ones. For a while, I was an atheist, and completely did not believe in anything but science. But while I still very much enjoy the scientific aspect of Dawkins, now I'm not so certain.

As a budding scientist, my logic tells me to believe in the evidence. That is how I've always guided myself, and why I wanted to pursue science in the first place. But my dad had always called me an empath, especially after I quit a job because the amount of people were giving me panic attacks (I said social anxiety - he said anxiety caused by my empathy being overstimulated). And then I started seeing figures. Everywhere. black, faceless figures, even during the day, and particularly at night in my parent's room. One was running full-fledged at me, poised to attack, and it was actually seen by another person that I was with at the time so I know it wasn't just me. I called my grandma, who is a total spiritualist (although I think her core religion is Christianity), and when I mentioned the figures I was seeing in my parent's room, she just said, "Oh Vanete. Your daddy's had those shadow figures around him his whole life." Before that moment, my grandma had never talked about shadow figures to me before, and only mentioned them after I described to her what I had been seeing.

It's making me completely rethink the whole concept of a spirit realm, for me. I'm still not sure about ascribing to one religion yet; so I've kind of just started to create my own beliefs based on what I've experienced so far. But I do find reading up on the different gods of religions interesting.

In terms of friends and family - my dad's a Satanist and my mom's agnostic. I've got a couple of atheist friends. My one friend wants to study theology, but I'm not sure what particular religion she prefers (like me, she likes reading about the different gods, but her family is Catholic but not strictly). Like I mentioned, my grandma is highly spiritual but I think she is mainly Christian but she also follows her spirit guides and is an empath. I am also friends with two non-denominational ministers and a very sensitive Wiccan witch.

@ consulting detective
I don't think things that can't be explained or seeing manifestations of the unseen world that exists all around us means that Christianity is real. All it suggests is there are things in this world we can't see and can't explain. As a scientific mind, you must understand that coming to a conclusion before you've properly sorted through the evidence and proof is not the right way to go about it.

@ consulting detective
Or perhaps it's something genetic and psychological?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparitional_experience
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinations_in_the_sane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peduncular_hallucinosis

There are a lot of possibilities that don't involve spirits or gods.

@ dru's sick and tired

That's not what I meant, though. My current bottom line on religious/spiritual beliefs runs: "Previously, I could only conceive of atheism and refused to believe in anything like the afterlife. Currently, certain experiences could be seen as evidence that would be contrary to this belief. Therefore, I would like to cultivate all possibilities, spiritual and scientific, before coming to a conclusion or merely dismissing these experiences."
I'm sorry if writing at 3 am gave my wording a touch of the dramatic - I think it's my sentence about the spirit realm that may have been confusing. And rereading it now, I realize that's not exactly what I meant. I don't suddenly believe in spirits and Christianity and God, now. But rather, that I'm allowing myself a spiritual possibility after 18 years of refusing to even acknowledge that idea. It's why organized religion itself doesn't appeal to me, whether it be Christianity, Catholicism, Wiccan, Paganism or anything (I was trying to word this gently because of the previous discussion of atheists offending people with religions by saying certain things - still, I don't want to offend) because I'm not a believer, and I doubt that I ever will be. I'm going to rewrite that sentence now: "It's allowing me the chance to open my mind for a while to think of things outside my 'science only' thought process, and to explore the idea of a spirit realm." That's really what I meant, especially since it was the idea of different 'beliefs' rather than purely religion in the title of this thread.

@ Kurtni

Yes, hallucinations are always on the forefront of my mind during these experiences, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if it was hallucinations and genetically passed down. But at least one of these experiences involved someone who I only just recently became friends with, and we're not related at all, and we both saw the same thing. So I'm not sure how the genetic factor would work with her.

edit: forgive me if I didn't do this quoting thing right, I haven't really been on Mibba in a while.

I'm an Egyptian Pagan, one of probably the rarest forms of Paganism in the world. My family is either Christian or Athiest, and I grew up between both of those "religions" but I couldn't see myself going into either, or believing in them with a full and heavy heart. So I left and found my own way, which I am now quite thankful for. Not everyone has the courage to break away from tradition, but the grass really is greener on the other side.

Most of my friends don't have a structured religion, or even a basic belief in God. A good amount of my friends either identify as atheist because of a lack of religious upbringing, life experiences that they interpret as chaotic and proof of no higher being, or because they value science and logic in such a way that it confirms to them that there is not God.

Religion is a sensitive topic in most cases, and is rarely bluntly discussed with the friends who are also my peers. I pull from my background in the Christian Protestant church, while also really appreciating Buddhism- and in addition to that, filtering it through human psychology. Often, I feel as if I'm spiritually missing something because of the lack of religious education I've had, but I'm still able to create faith, even if it isn't structured around one rigid belief system. Still, since my friends mostly all denounce God as possibility, I often find myself describing God as different things, like energy, emotion, experience, or other substitutes that won't make me feel awkward.

In my case, especially at the school I went to, religion is almost seen as a stigma. Those who are passionate about their faith aren't seen as credible, and are made fun of or undermined because of it. The intolerance of the young adults where I currently live is really hindering, and I feel the need to cover up "God" with some other explanation just to remain worth listening to. It's difficult though, because it's hard to fully experience your religious options when you are branded as ridiculous right away.

I'm sure that my friends themselves wouldn't do so, but it would be uncomfortable to discuss my personal religious beliefs because of that overarching mindset in my city.