Why people are reluctant to call themselves atheists | CNN
www.cnn.com
Many people are hesitant to identify as atheists because of the social stigma they may face, making it hard to pinpoint connections and differences among this group.
  • @EdibleFriend@lemmy.worldEnglish
    78•9 months ago

    Just not even really worth ‘coming out’. Why deal with all the arguments that are likely to crop up from it? When I was the angsty teenage atheist I got off on that shit. Now…im over it.

    • DojanEnglish
      16•9 months ago

      It’s a bit sad that “coming out” as an Atheist is even a thing. Where I’m from it’s basically the assumption. I’ve met a few people that mention that they’re religious before and my reaction is always an astonished “but they seemed so normal.”

        • DojanEnglish
          2•9 months ago

          It’s a tiny town called Finspång. I hate it here.

          Sweden overall isn’t that bad though, if you can put up with the long nights and long days.

          • @Cosmicomical@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2•9 months ago

            I see, thank you for the heads-up. Anyway, I’m booking a plane ticket :D

            But jokes apart, it’s incredible that especially a small town has so many atheists. That’s very cool.

            • DojanEnglish
              1•9 months ago

              Religion here tends to be something people keep more private. It’s not something you announce loudly, or even subtly in many cases. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone wear a cross or anything like that.

              Not saying there aren’t proselytisers - my old workplace was literally next door neighbours to a JW church (and they were assholes), so there are exceptions. But they feel comparatively few and far between.

          • @beardown@lemm.eeEnglish
            2•9 months ago

            In many ways, Sweden is currently the greatest country on earth.

            You should consider yourself to be fortunate

            • DojanEnglish
              1•9 months ago

              It is a pretty nice country. The climate is woeful, but even so we have a lot of good things going for us.

              • stinerman [Ohio]English
                1•9 months ago

                I could only imagine the worst thing about your country being “it’s cold and dark a lot” instead of “we think some groups of people shouldn’t have rights.”

                • DojanEnglish
                  1•9 months ago

                  You’ve not experienced cold and dark. It’s one thing to hear about it and another to live it.

                  There are other problems too. Like the nazi party being the second largest party in parliament.

                  I think the absolute worst thing is seeing what happens in the U.S. and then see our right wingers go “we should do this.”Stop and frisk was a big talking point last election. And you should see how our war on drugs is going.

    • @bus_factor@lemmy.worldEnglish
      26•9 months ago

      Yeah, it’s not like you’re changing anyone’s mind anyway, so why waste the energy and social capital? I’ll sometimes ask follow-up questions to get them thinking, but no reason to poke the bear by announcing that you’re the devil.