leftofpunk Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 How were some of the ways that your parents and/or friends reacted to you not being a christian any long? I'm writing a screenplay about a guy's deconversion an myths about atheists (it's actually a bit more complicated than that but just FYI) and I want true examples of reactions. I never personally got reactions cause while I was raised christian, it wasn't very strict so I'm looking for good juicy traumatic stories to use in the script. I wanna use all actual events so no one can come back on me and say that it was too extreme or "that would never actually happen" So what are some excepional stories you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightbearer Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 Check the thread Athiesm is for the Weak in the Lions Dend area of the board. There are some stories about athiesm and athiests. I told a story about being hounded by my co-workers for being an athiest. I had a friend threaten me for being an athiest saying I should be on my knees begging for God and that he didn't want to be my friend anymore. But he still is my friend. My grandmother freaked out when I told her I was antheist. She is a very religious woman, but she came around and just accepted it. She gives me lectures every know and thing. I have some pretty traumatic church stories but... I haven't had the time or energy to share them yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFriday Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 They get this terrible look in their eyes. At first it's like they just stuck their head out the window of a plane. What you are saying blows their mind. They are in shock. And then you see their eyes start darting side to side like a minnow tossed on the bank out of water. You can tell they are desperately trying to think of something that will "make everything right." A magic sentence that erases your doubts and questions, and makes everything whole again. But they can't because there are no answers to those types of questions. my mom told me later that she cried for a week, that it felt like someone had died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 I've been an atheist for more than 10 years now. My parents know, but refuse to discuss or even mention it. Today I got an email from my aunt asking that I pray for my cousin, who is a pilot deployed in Afghanistan. The implications here are that my mother has not even told her own sister that I am an atheist after all these years. Understand that they have a close relationship and they gossip about family members with one another. I pity my mom. Her stupid belief system has put her into a position where she has to be ashamed of her own son, whose only sin is that he is not gulible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minstrel Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 My daughter and wife were the first to get the message. I thought my daughter took it well...while my wife acted like her life had just ended. Later, my daughter told me that...while I was telling her...and telling her why...she felt all the wind go out of her...where she was almost paralyzed...and was almost entirely deaf for a couple of minutes. My daughter quickly saw the reasons and rationales, and experienced her own deconversion within the hour. My wife, though, remains a skeptic. I've not told my parents, as I don't want to turn their latter years into latter days. Likewise, I haven't told my siblings...though anyone of them would find out if they ever visited my website...so, it isn't like I'm hiding it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeiPassion Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 Well, I'm not an atheist but I do know people who are atheist and they tell me that their families had shunned them in some ways. Or when people findout, they get very dirty looks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftofpunk Posted August 14, 2006 Author Share Posted August 14, 2006 Wow, this is all really good. Thank you so much. Anyone else wanna speak up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirac Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 Anyone else wanna speak up? Mine is pretty mundane. Brought up in the home of charismatic Christian parents. My parents are really nice people, they only thought they were doing what's best. I was essentially forced to go to church until I was sixteen, which was easily long enough to undergo extensive indoctrination. Looking back now, my church was pretty cultish in some ways. My parents are disappointed, but they point out that I'm an adult now, it;s my life and thus my decision. Would they prefer I went to church? Yes. Am I ever going back? No. It's not really an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groggen Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 In case you didn't know about this resource- www.exchristian.org has a vast number of deconversion stories. Might be some drudgery to sift through them but at least you can sort them in different ways. Like yours, my particular story is lacking in drama as my parents/family were too laid back. How were some of the ways that your parents and/or friends reacted to you not being a christian any long? I'm writing a screenplay about a guy's deconversion an myths about atheists (it's actually a bit more complicated than that but just FYI) and I want true examples of reactions. I never personally got reactions cause while I was raised christian, it wasn't very strict so I'm looking for good juicy traumatic stories to use in the script. I wanna use all actual events so no one can come back on me and say that it was too extreme or "that would never actually happen" So what are some excepional stories you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godlessgrrl Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 When I first deconverted, I went from Xian to pagan. At the beginning of this year I had another shift, from pagan to agnostic atheist. I inadvertently came out of the broom closet to my parents when I went from Xian to pagan. I'd been pagan for awhile but was still solidifying my beliefs, so unfortunately I didn't have a particularly well-organized explanation for them, which might have helped. Each of them had different reactions. My mother got a shocked and despairing look on her face; my father got a kind of bemused look. He made some comment about how I'd eventually "come to my senses"; I don't really remember what my mom said. The funny thing is, my dad isn't actually Xian. He isn't anything that I know of. I suspect he thinks that religion in general is just kind of ridiculous, so I don't think his response was coming from a Xian place. My mom, on the other hand, was a devout Xian at the time. She and I converted around the same time and our Xian journeys were closely intertwined. We went to Bible study together, went to church together, even got baptized together. So I think her initial shock had a lot to do with feeling betrayed or at a loss, because I would no longer be believing the same things she did. But I really lucked out. A little while after the initial confession, she called me up and asked me all kinds of questions about paganism, because my wedding was coming up and it was definitely a pagan ceremony - blatantly and without apology. She wanted information. Since then she's politely disagreed with me on religion, when it comes up. But it really doesn't come up very often. In fact it comes up so rarely that I don't think they know I'm an atheist yet. If and when they find out I'm sure they won't be surprised though. As I said, though, I got lucky. My family has had plenty of freakouts in its time, granted, but my religious status wasn't one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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