Have your beliefs been met by disbelief among friends?

I was at work when a co-worker mentioned how all we could is just believe in god. I replied (nicely) that I didn't. She responded by saying, "of course you do!"

She then responded that I was a nice person and I couldn't be an atheist because I was nice. "atheists are evil because they can do anything they want. You are nice, you can't be an atheist".

I explained that I indeed was an atheist and that by not accepting an afterlife, I regarded life as more precious.

She responded that, "You are too smart. You think too much. You confused yourself". I explained that I regarded thinking too much as a compliment.

She ended the conversation saying that she wanted to set me up with her beautiful niece... but that she couldn't because of my lack of faith.

We're still friends... but she really surprised me with her responses.

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I should also mention that I have had many other experiences such as this. I have had women dump me because they didn't want me near their children after they found out I was an atheist. I had an "intervention" by co-workers because they feared I would be going to hell. I was taken to revivals. I had girls take me out, tell me that they wanted me... but only if I converted.

At work two ladies started talking about religion beside me. They do it all the time. I finally snaped and started telling them how they sounded as I pulled up information on my PC to make sure what I said was accurate and nnot clouded by my anger.

They asked a few questions that I answered with referances I pulled up on the computer. They ran out of things to say quickly and evaded until I had calmed down.

Now they avoid talking religion arround me. By the way one is a litteral bible beliver. Young earth and all. Crazy.

They are friends but also very misguided about the world arround them. They tried to get others to come talk to me over a few days but everyone shyed away except the non-theist that seemed to come out of no where. I didn't even know there were that many non-theist where I work.

when i started studying the Bible, many thought i had gone mad, one of my closest friends, literally asked if i was having a nervous breakdown! I understand that they dont believe and that is up to them, i never pushed my beliefs on them, but at the same time i made sure i answered any questions they had.At the end of the day i dont know what upset them more, the fact that i started studying the Bible, or the fact that i no longer wished to get drunk etc, funnily enough, i dont remember them wanting to spend time with me, just to talk or anything, so perhaps i was never more than a drinking buddy anyhow? People are often scared of change, no matter what it is!!

Yes, more than once. It was shocking in some cases. And not only about religion! For example, I'm a great opposer of bullfighting which is a great tradition in my country. I contended it's unnnecessary suffering just for the "fun" and enjoyment of a bunch of gory, brute viewers. And most people present were in some way connected to raising bulls and horses for bullfighting, including my inlaws. So everybody was against me and almost lynched me, metaphorically speaking of course, but I resisted well and put up a brave fight. But in the end I was appalled and disgusted at their claims (like "bulls need to shed some blood for their own health", and "if bullfights ended, bulls would be extinct too because nobody would raise them").

Another time my nephew-in-law who had been attacked and robbed by a group of color youths was violently speaking against color people, how they should go back to Africa etc etc, and I tried to shut him up by saying things like the obvious "not all are alike, the great majority are not criminals, they are har working ppl like you and me, but really they have been discriminated into ghettos, and some are rebels just like there are young white criminals etc etc" and the discussion was heating, my nephew-in-law was arguing that no, they are just stupid and have lower intelligence than whites, and I was like, no, there are color doctors, lawyers, politicians, professors, etc, it's not a matter of intelligence but of opportunities in life, and suddenly I realized my whole family was against me, and the most shocking part came from my hubby who sarcastically said (which I will never forgive him for!) "when you are raped or robbed by a black you will change your mind".

Well I have been in conflict with a lot of people and sometimes I am proud of it.If you visit a country like India or Egypt and see the real problems the people have there and then come back and start to listen to friends that complain because of their boy/girl-friends you will also be mad.

One day I was in a country where people really starve in a cab and a girl who was visiting the country with me started to complain about her extra-weight.What would you say if you were in my place? I am not saying I was right to start a fight but just think about it...

I've had this happen all the time.

Religion-wise, i was raised Chrisitan, but I learned that a majority of the Christians around me were terrible people who ironically judged everybody else for ALL of their mistakes. So I chose a different religion. I chose Wicca. I loved how it was so peaceful, and that anyone I met who was wiccan was really nice, calm, positive thinking, and rational- unlike their Christian counterparts that I'd been raised around. My mom was with it, until a friend or hers found out (a pot-smoking, STEALING, lying, bible-beater.) My mom then acted like I had hidden my change, and told me I was worshipping the devil. I calmly told her that Wicca had no devil, and all other facts I had learned. She and a few friends had an intervention. I was appaled. Even a good friend of mine said she couldn't hang out with me or my other frends until I had found god. I eventually stopped being Wicca, and just stopped believing in a god all together.

A few years later, a Chorus teacher (bible-beater) brought up religion. A girl in the class was Wicca, and so she talked about it, and the teacher was discusted. In my school it is not allowed to discuss religion or politics outside of a teaching invironment. That means, that a child can gpo on and on about devil-worshiping, and the teacher can say NOTHING other than proven educational facts. But this b**ch teacher started talking about wiccans being devil worshippers. So I told her "When you look at anothr culture or religion, you can't compare it to yours. Wicca has no devil or devil figure, that is a Chrisitian figure" and her reply was that "you get you power from god or the devil, and that's all i'm going to say about that" Well, that was a pretty loaded statement. When I went to tell her off, she and the entire Christian-Catholic room were at my throat. Every single one of them was missinformed at every turn. I tried to teach some of the students later, and some of them had thought that wiccans GOD was satin. They had some crazy ideas that made me laugh.

Another example is how I liked the place I work, until I learned that most of them were racist. Where I live, there are billions of Mexicans. I'm okay with this, but everyone around me is beaner this or da*mn mexicans that... "They're stealing our jobs.." What, you wanted a position at the chicken rendering factory?!? I makes me angry. And then I learned that my MOM was racist. She grew up when they were joining the black and white schools, and she blames blacks for a lot of her problems. I thought she wasn't like that, but I learned differently.

people are hypocrites. sometimes they ridicule others beliefs just to show off.

in India among Hindus we have a custom of a puja before starting any business or entering a new home etc. not necessarily a big affair. many people just lit a little lamp and offer some flowers and coconut. like inauguration by praying to god first.

a relative of mine a chemical engineer went on criticizing how he ridiculed a factory owner and stopped his pujaa (worship) which he tried to do before starting machines in his newly constructed factory. he called factory owner superstitious and that he was a fool who was wasting those 10 minutes for pooja. he kept on boasting how he does not let anybody follow such silly rituals. i said i do not see any harm in it, and if he did not believe in it its fine but others have a right to do things their own way. but he instead started making fun of me saying that I was stupid to believe in it.

later he accepted that though he gets jobs because people like his work he had noticed that on inauguration day most people give him wrong time. if they are starting it at 10 o clock they tell him it is 10:30. he said with pride that people avoid him because they can not prove him wrong.

i call him hypocrite because at another time he had called me careless because i did not tie a black thread on my son's waist. i found out that he also believes in black magic and now and then seek helps of such priests who claim to perform them. that i call real superstition.

Yeah, that happens to me all of the time. Most people I know are astounded that I believe in science, rather than myths. They do not even begin to understand evolution or other scientific concepts. It's pitiful.

my boyfriend(a doctor) said he accepted and respected my belief,i took it for granted. one day i was talking about God when he just snapped and started saying that if that person really existed then he was unkind and un loving because he had just seen how innocent babies suffer from hiv/aids in africa and the general suffering in africa and such things,then he said can some one who loves his children allow them to live in pain?

CHRISTIANS GET THIS ALL THE TIME AND WE ARE TOLD THIS WILL HAPPEN AND THAT WE WILL BE HATED IN THIS WORLD FOR WHAT WE BE LEAVE IN SO WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES IS NOT UNUSUAL.yours in J.C. p.w.l.