Hello to all. It has been quite a while since I have been on the site, let alone posted anything, but I was intrigued by a couple of sources. One of them being the first thing I was reading on the forum today, here
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/forums/index.php/topic,25133.0.html, where in Reply #1 William responds to kin hell's opening post quite well. The portion I am focused on, though, is
The first problem is that many people who report they belong to a religion are in fact (if you could force them to be honest) nonbelievers conforming to family expectations and peer pressures.
I reported on census forms that I was RC for at least a decade after I was a thoroughly lapsed Catholic and for a further decade after I knew I was agnostic.
So quite a number of those "theist" criminals may actually be in our camp
A very thought provoking point because right now I am reading Guy P. Harrison's
50 reasons people give for believing in a god, and I just finished a chapter that touched on a very similar subject. On page 117, at the beginning of the chapter titled "I would rather worship my god than the devil" it attempts to give the reader some cultural affluence regarding these types of experiences with
Yes, for those who doubt it, there really are people who hold this view. I have met several of them. And people wonder why so many atheists keep quiet about their lack of belief. It is, to say the least, awkward and uncomfortable to be thought of as a Satan worshipper. How does one even begin to respond to such an accusation? Such careless thinking can't be excused, of course, but I do understand how believers might not want to carpool or live next door to an atheist when they start out with this assumption. It's sad, however, to think that many believers would keep a fellow human at arm's length for this reason. I encourage any nonbeliever who doubts this to go to Syria and strike up a few conversations at the souk about how wonderfully liberating atheism can be. Travel the "Bible belt" in America and see how warmly your atheism is received. Visit rural Tanzania and give a few public speeches on the merits of secularism. Good luck.
So, I was wondering (hence the survey), how many of us live openly atheistic lives, closeted ones, or somewhere in between. That is, "Open" being you hide it from no one, family, friends, employer, co-workers, etc. "Closeted" is obviously the exact opposite; perhaps one to maybe five or seven people you share you atheism in complete confidence with. Then "Balancing" is clearly somewhere in between those two. My hypothesis is that one likely doesn't hide it from their significant other or close friends and relatives, but at work or in foreign social relationship to where greater socio-economics is in play, it is hidden.
Poll