Hello! Fully atheist 79+ over here. I grew up in a Protestant Christian home, even taught Sunday school, but somehow never really caught the bug. I flirted with a mother goddess/earth spirits flimflam for a while when I was in a hippy phase, but soon came to my current stance: I’m glad some people find comfort in myths and fairy stories, but I don’t buy any of it. Death is the end, there is no soul (I mean, look around you!), no afterlife, no heaven or hell. It’s all methods of social control or (at best) self-soothing.
Luckily I’ve never had to deal with being ostracised for my atheism. The closest I’ve come was a friend chastising me for blasphemy. I pointed out that you had to be a believer for it to count as blasphemy. She also tutted about some Mexican-style skull decorations in a cafe, and I had to break it to her that it was some weird Christian thing, a bit like the Roman torture device she was wearing, lol.
Hello! Fully atheist 79+ over here. I grew up in a Protestant Christian home, even taught Sunday school, but somehow never really caught the bug. I flirted with a mother goddess/earth spirits flimflam for a while when I was in a hippy phase, but soon came to my current stance: I’m glad some people find comfort in myths and fairy stories, but I don’t buy any of it. Death is the end, there is no soul (I mean, look around you!), no afterlife, no heaven or hell. It’s all methods of social control or (at best) self-soothing.
Luckily I’ve never had to deal with being ostracised for my atheism. The closest I’ve come was a friend chastising me for blasphemy. I pointed out that you had to be a believer for it to count as blasphemy. She also tutted about some Mexican-style skull decorations in a cafe, and I had to break it to her that it was some weird Christian thing, a bit like the Roman torture device she was wearing, lol.