I am new to this site and to online communities of similar nature. Although I discarded blind faith years ago, the only means i have of communicating with people who possess a similar set of beliefs (or nonbeliefs, rather) is by watching the content of atheist YouTubers and reading the books of famous skeptics such as Richard Dawkins and Carl Sagan.
The more I contemplate the logic of media of nontheistic nature, the more frustrating I find it that my southwestern Missouri high school, both students and teachers, seem to dedicate their lives to cramming Christianity down everyone else's respective throats. Not only are my views on theism met with unbridled rage with over 90% of people i see on a daily basis, my political views are met with the same nonsensical hatred. I can't imagine what it must be like growing up in a town like mine and not being straight. The amount of conversations I have overheard involving disgust and contempt for people of differing sexual orientation would likely shock someone raised im a more liberal setting.
I could go on to describe the numerous other atrocities I have to deal with when living in Republican Town from Brian's political conversion song on Family Guy, but you've heard the stories. Most of America is a pile of human waste, and I happen to be one of those unlucky people who live in a giant turd. I guess all I'm asking for is a little support. My entire family and nearly everyone I know thinks that I should be tormented for all of etetnity, so I think It's fair to say I feel a bit despised by the human race.
Maybe offer some success stories if you have overcome a background of ignorant hate mongers to find friends and loved ones who support, or at least tolerate, your views. Thanks!
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Zackary, I encourage you to "hang in there". I am probably more fortunate given that I was born and raised in California but I had something of an opposite problem. I went to public schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the high school I graduated from was not exactly in the Bible Belt. I was a Christian fundamentalist and I can sense some antagonism there so I largely kept my mouth shut. It gets easier. I don't know which grade you are in but if you can apply to and get accepted into a university that is in another state and in a more liberal area, it will get better for you. If you go to a liberal arts college or a secular university, you feel more comfortable in your own skin and you'll start making friends. In the meantime, this website is probably going to benefit you the most.
Welcome to AR zackary! Feel free to vent here, you are among like minds.
Hi Zackary,
Until you can move away to a more liberal and accepting place as MatthewG suggests, think of Stephan Hawking. Physically he is mostly confined to a sedentary life in a wheelchair, but his mind is free to explore the universe to the center of a black hole and back. By mathematical thought he can unravel multiple dimensions. Use your mind to explore the possibilities.
You don’t have to fight or convert these people around you, you can move quietly in their midst.
A couple of lines of folk wisdom:
The bamboo stands because it bends with the wind (Chinese saying)
The willow turns its back on inclement weather (Paul McCartney)
(You get the idea.)
Welcome Zackary to AR!
I suppose it must be difficult for non-believers in many US schools but I expect acceptance is easier on leaving and among adults.
I offer no advice, just a contrast. I went to R Catholic schools in the UK (decades ago). Among the 15 teenage boys in my class there was one who said he thought he believed in god. That was the one occasion I recall any mention of god or religion. Brits may seem more religious than they are. There is comparatively little serious belief and still less interest in 'god swill'. Religion (UK) is big amongst Muslims, immigrants and in some ethnic minority areas.
Well, you certainly sound like an outlaw from here and, having the freedom to paint yourself one way or the other, it sounds like you're happy to be one.
Open your mind up just a bit, though. You're quick to admonish an entire nation and unless I'm wrong your town does not fairly represent one. It might be your lot to experience a disenfranchisement from the little box you think they keep you in but that all starts in your imagination and stays there until you have courage enough to prove yourself right or wrong. Fact or fantasy? Step up to the challenge and ferret it out. Long has there been people who never left their heads and died there unfulfilled in life. You sound like you're practicing to follow in their footsteps. Prove me wrong.
Encouragement is something that a good plan gets. You do not have one yet, or at least you neglected to enlighten us with it here. So, my encouragement to you is to make one. It's all about you, not me or anyone else, and your plan needs to ensure it stays that way.
My son just graduated high school, a misnomer in my opinion, and has enrolled for his first term at a local college. He's been an atheist most of his rational life. His older brother is also atheist. Their mother is a theist. It has developed into a healthy tolerance but she knows their logic and knowledge of the archeological record for theology far exceed her own. She does not want to know any of that stuff. She only wants to believe her life is purposeful and that a better place awaits her. She needs it to make sense of her life. We do not take open exception to that with her and that's what responsible atheists do.
You have a responsibility to atheism to let theism exist in your company. You cannot accept the notion of a god and theists can't accept the notion of life without one. Who are you to stab another in the heart with your orientation? No one, that's who. You have no more privilege to burden someone with your orientation than they do you. That much is a given. In a culture where that equity is absent then tolerance rules the day until a plan is hatched to change it for the better.
What's your plan? Focus on that instead of feeling sorry for yourself. Chin up.
Zackary I think you're great. Awesome and humble. As a high school student, I suggest you keep your grades sky high and start looking at colleges and scholarships ASAP. Not when you are almost ready to graduate. You need to know the requirements early so you can get what you want.
Why am I telling you this? So after graduation you can set yourself up to move and experience a life with the free thinkers that you want to be around. All this is in your grasp. Just be patient with your current situation but do what you can NOW.
I agree with Secular^. I grew up in a very liberal state, but when my parents moved towns, this new town and school were all rednecks. I felt like I didn't belong for many reasons. They all went to church, and Jesus camp, and Bible school, and thought it strange that I never did. The moment I graduated high school, I moved to NYC. I was with like minded people and for the first time in a long time, I was really home. I've moved since then, but I've never been back to that town and don't regret it one bit. I suggest you do the same.
You're ahead of your time. Many of your peers will lose the dogmatic beliefs if and when they attend college.
I grew up in a town much like yours in the bible belt of Appalachia. If you apply any level of critical thinking, it alienates you from and oftentimes angers your peers. I told the kids I went to school with that I practiced voodoo just for the sheer amusement of it. My father lives on the Missouri/Arkansas border and I did visit, once. This is an area where the rebel flag flies proudly and I would like to say, "it gets better", but not always and maybe not in your area. It may seem like you are in a shit house without any drains, but if you are already in high school, you've made it most of the way. Study hard and try to get a job out of town :) I moved to Austin, TX and it is pretty great.
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I read books by Richard Dawkins and Carl Sagan. The position of the authors is interestingly described.