I was raised in a good christian home. I went to church all my life, got "saved" and all that jazz. Recently, I've been questioning the whole organized religion thing and I have decided to become an atheist. I don't necessarily want to come of the atheist closet, but should my parents ever find out that I am an atheist, how should I handle it? How do you tell your devout christian parents that you don't believe in there, or any god?
I would not go for that.. for instance, if I told my parents that I am not a Christian and that there's a difference between being Christian and believing in God, or that he may not exist at all, or that all religions are about the same God, or that I am against priests and whatnot.. they would be so shocked I wouldn't want to be there. Anyway, do you think you'd be okay with not telling them? if you would, don't but if not, break it down to them easily and politely.. do not disrespect their religion. They might get furious.
I respect them enough to not insult there religion, and I'm not planning on telling them I don't believe in god anytime soon. If they ever figure out that I don't believe in god, I have no idea how to handle it.
Well.. I guess you could just calmly tell them that you are free to have your own view on the matter.
There is no arguing logic with a devout believer of anything. You will have to agree to disagree. What you could try is convincing them that since you accept them for their beliefs, they should do the same for you. There should be a reasonable chance for that to work.
"I'm an athiest." "No, you're not. You believe more than you think." "No, Dad. We've had this discussion before. I am an athiest. I do not believe there is sufficient evidence for me to believe there is a god or other higher diety." "But an athiest says there is no god, period." "No, Dad. Most Athiests are open to the idea of a god. We just haven't been presented with enough evidence linking religion and science." "No, that's what an agnostic is." "No, Dad. The term 'agnostic' is an adjective describing the person, in this case, an athiest. 'Agnostic' means I can't quite say if there is a god or not. 'Athiest' is the term for someone who hasn't been presented with enough evidence to believe in a diety" That was my final argument with my father before he finally accepted I didn't believe in a diety. Sometimes (though rarely) having religious parents (especially ones who like arguing) is fun. "quality time" is a good Creationism vs. Evolution debate. Trust me, I fretted over coming out as an athiest more than I fretted coming out as LGBT. And now, while my father is experiencing the harshness of what comes with religion, he and I have been having some fun debates. So, it'll likely be more frustrating to get your parents to understand the notion that you're not the "pretty little angel" your parents attempted to raise you as than it will be "YOU FILTHY DIRTY HEATHEN GO TO HEEEEEELLLLLL". Yet another reason why I say that people don't fit into pretty little boxes, unless they're custom-made.
