Welcome to the forum! May we be your safe harbor from the stormy sea of believers ...
Hi, I am a newly "converted" atheist, I am 31 years old, and was born a pentecostal christian.
Congratulations! And, you have my sympathies.
I am married and have 2 young children, I have yet to tell my wife that i am an atheist, as the one person i have told acted as if I had admitted to having given him an STD (friends, go figure). Needless to say he promised he wouldn't tell anyone else but no longer wishes to have anything to do with me.
He won't be the only one. The best bet for your family is to plant seeds in your wife's mind that she should be skeptical of what she hears ... and make it seem like the skepticism was entirely her idea.
I feel this was a very personal choice and i didn't make it without serious thought.
The problem is that most of the people around you do not think seriously, but rather, emotionally.
Even though I know that god doesn't exist and the bible is on par with the national enquirer I don't feel as if i have to shout it from the rooftops.
Wise, considering your circumstances.
I will have to eventually tell my wife i suppose ...
Scratch that idea ... see above. Otherwise, your nuclear family might be missing a proton soon ...
... but both my parents are missionaries to Peru and the telling them that i think they are wasting their time and accomplishing nothing would be equivalent to hanging their poodle up by its tail, setting it on fire, than beating it like a pinata.
Which is why you say nothing at all. Cling to the adage: if you can't
say something nice, don't say anything at all.
So i will most likely avoid that conversation.
Agreed!
Anyhow, this is basically where i am, I've been reading the posts here for awhile and like the generally intelligent and respectful conversations. Hopefully now ill be able to throw in my two cents every now and then.
Oh, you can tithe more than two cents. Throw in a couple of sawbucks now and then.
And, you will find a lot of people who declare that you should be open and honest with your family about your lack of belief; however, I view believers on the same level as alcoholics and drug addicts (and the more they believe, the more deeply they are into their addiction), so sometimes honesty is not the best policy. If they drink a little, you can show them where you store the vodka; if they drink a lot, you're not going to tell them how you found their supply and removed it from the house.