roadrunner Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Well said RR. I was lucky enough to de-convert with my wife (2honest). What we found is that our 95% of our xian friends abandoned us before we considering "coming out" as non-believers. These seemingly deep friendships shockingly collapsed the moment we walked out the door of the church. Since we have now come out publicly, 4% of the remaining 5% have dropped us. how do you de-convert together? I am willing to lose friends but I refuse to throw away my entire family and life and start over.Thats all I need. Or at least that what it feels like. I do notice some church friends dont call since we stopped going to ALL 3 SERVICES. I agree with the agnostic comment. I actually described myself as agnostic to my pastor. But its simply based on the technicality. and the god who doesnt exist wouldn't care that you refer to yourself as an atheist instead of an agnostic. It just helps everyone here on earth cope better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackpudd1n Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Grand slam. I still think agnostic is the most PC way to go, but it almost invites conversion attempts. Agree....Agnostic implies to the evangelical that there is still hope...Athiesm for most christians is scary and stand-offish. I think it's because a lot of people see agnostics as fence-sitters. When people reply to my atheism with "you can't really know that there isn't a god!", I come back with, "yes, that is true. I am an atheist on the balance of probabilities, in which the odds are overwhelmingly in favour of there being no god. In the regard that due to my own human limitations I cannot be absolutely certain of there being no god, the only honest conclusion is that I am agnostic in that respect. As such, if you want to use the correct terminology, I am an agnostic atheist only in that regard." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblueep Posted July 16, 2012 Author Share Posted July 16, 2012 Well said RR. I was lucky enough to de-convert with my wife (2honest). What we found is that our 95% of our xian friends abandoned us before we considering "coming out" as non-believers. These seemingly deep friendships shockingly collapsed the moment we walked out the door of the church. Since we have now come out publicly, 4% of the remaining 5% have dropped us. how do you de-convert together? I am willing to lose friends but I refuse to throw away my entire family and life and start over.Thats all I need. Or at least that what it feels like. I do notice some church friends dont call since we stopped going to ALL 3 SERVICES. I agree with the agnostic comment. I actually described myself as agnostic to my pastor. But its simply based on the technicality. and the god who doesnt exist wouldn't care that you refer to yourself as an atheist instead of an agnostic. It just helps everyone here on earth cope better. You are definitely in a somewhat different situation because of you family. My wife and I came to our doubts at the same time and therefore came to our conclusions at the same. When we talked to our kids, our son surprising told us he never believed in god. My daughter sort of believed but it didn't take her long to come to the same conclusion as us based on a review of our/her life. Our parents and siblings are a different story, but we are working through that with them. They are all aware. Some of doubts and are asking questions. Some are standing firm in their beliefs. None have rejected us. Most friends have gone away, but that proved they were not true friends. Everybody's journey is different...that's for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kruszer Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Grand slam. I still think agnostic is the most PC way to go, but it almost invites conversion attempts. Agree....Agnostic implies to the evangelical that there is still hope...Athiesm for most christians is scary and stand-offish. I think it's because a lot of people see agnostics as fence-sitters. When people reply to my atheism with "you can't really know that there isn't a god!", I come back with, "yes, that is true. I am an atheist on the balance of probabilities, in which the odds are overwhelmingly in favour of there being no god. In the regard that due to my own human limitations I cannot be absolutely certain of there being no god, the only honest conclusion is that I am agnostic in that respect. As such, if you want to use the correct terminology, I am an agnostic atheist only in that regard." I call myself agnostic atheist too. Most atheists are. The hard-line atheists like Penn Teller who does assert to know there is no God, are few and far between. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackpudd1n Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Grand slam. I still think agnostic is the most PC way to go, but it almost invites conversion attempts. Agree....Agnostic implies to the evangelical that there is still hope...Athiesm for most christians is scary and stand-offish. I think it's because a lot of people see agnostics as fence-sitters. When people reply to my atheism with "you can't really know that there isn't a god!", I come back with, "yes, that is true. I am an atheist on the balance of probabilities, in which the odds are overwhelmingly in favour of there being no god. In the regard that due to my own human limitations I cannot be absolutely certain of there being no god, the only honest conclusion is that I am agnostic in that respect. As such, if you want to use the correct terminology, I am an agnostic atheist only in that regard." I call myself agnostic atheist too. Most atheists are. The hard-line atheists like Penn Teller who does assert to know there is no God, are few and far between. I would love to know for a fact that there is no diety. But it would be dishonest of me to assert that, and even Dawkins says the same thing. But the balance of probabilities is good enough for me, and I've certainly removed more than enough gods from the equation. If there is a diety "out there", it's certainly nothing like any of the ones that are described by the various religions in the world. Hence, in that sense, I am an atheist. I only bring agnostic into the equation when someone wants to get really technical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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