Being an Atheist in Ireland is a Cnut

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My mam is up in my house for the weekend and it being Sunday morning, she tried to make me go to mass with her. I refused, using the old "but I'm an Atheist" reasoning to broach the subject. So off she went, noticeably indifferent to my proclamation of faithlessness.

She returned an hour later with some of her friends for tea and a Chocolate Kimberley in my kitchen. I went in to feed the dog and mam said to her friends "he says he's an Atheist, so he wouldn't go to mass with me". The other women laughed, and basically dismissed that such a thing existed.

I tried my best to explain my position on the whole religion thing, and even quoted Darwin. It had little effect on them.

One of the women is a real Jesus freak, and part of the parish brigade. She looked visibly shocked at what I was saying and didn't even crack a smile.

Do any of you experience such rejection of your views by family or friends?

MagicMarker

Don't mind them, they're retards.

Kev_ps3

Who cares, you know your right.

Gazza22

I remember on the last census, i ticked Atheist or whatever the equivalant was in the Religion question. My mother told me a few days later she changed it to Roman Catholic afterwards :eek: I was like wtf, my family aren't even that religious!

At the moment, yes the elders in society seem to still hold onto the religious ethos of Ireland but give it a few years and it will all change. Hopefully the Catholic church and every other religious order for that matter, fades away.

Mr.Lizard

You should have told those filthy catholics to get the place-that-doesn't-exist out of your house with their beliefs and such!

Futurism

Upward Spiral wrote: »

My mam is up in my house for the weekend and it being Sunday morning, she tried to make me go to mass with her. I refused, using the old "but I'm an Atheist" reasoning to broach the subject. So off she went, noticeably indifferent to my proclamation of faithlessness.

She returned an hour later with some of her friends for tea and a Chocolate Kimberley in my kitchen. I went in to feed the dog and mam said to her friends "he says he's an Atheist, so he wouldn't go to mass with me". The other women laughed, and basically dismissed that such a thing existed.

I tried my best to explain my position on the whole religion thing, and even quoted Darwin. It had little effect on them.

One of the women is a real Jesus freak, and part of the parish brigade. She looked visibly shocked at what I was saying and didn't even crack a smile.

Do any of you experience such rejection of your views by family or friends?

You.. even quoted Darwin and they didn't understand? Heartless freaks.

brianthebard

there's an atheist forum for this stuff...

zeppe

Do you know what really cracks me up? The f**kin "immaculate conception". WTF! It sounds like something Mary made up on the spot to Joseph, as a bare arsed sandal salesman legs it out the back window..Oh yeah, it probably was.

ATHEIST and proud

Denerick

The saddest thing about all of this is you quoting Darwin to your mother and her friends. Its a different generation, with different values and from a time in Irish history where it wasn't OK to logically think these things through.

I'm the same, still get asked to go to mass when I'm at home. Its such a joke and I'm always feeling guilty about it even though I know its a pack of superstitious old nonsense. Can't tell your folks that though! They believe it so let them be in ignorant bliss - there's a lot to be said for being in ignorant bliss!

Mr.Lizard

brianthebard wrote: »

there's an atheist forum for this stuff...

OP probably doesn't believe in using that forum.

Mr.Lizard

Denerick wrote: »

I'm the same, still get asked to go to mass when I'm at home. Its such a joke and I'm always feeling guilty about it

See, you still have a bith of catholic left in you.

TPD

zeppe wrote: »

Do you know what really cracks me up? The f**kin "immaculate conception". WTF! It sounds like something Mary made up on the spot to Joseph, as a bare arsed sandal salesman legs it out the back window..Oh yeah, it probably was.

ATHEIST and proud

Was it not Mary that was concieved in the immaculate conception? Born without original sin so god could slip it in?

tony1kenobi

I think it's all just books and ideas.

I've yet to find any concrete evidence that there even is a Darwin.

Dolbert

zeppe wrote: »

Do you know what really cracks me up? The f**kin "immaculate conception". WTF! It sounds like something Mary made up on the spot to Joseph, as a bare arsed sandal salesman legs it out the back window..Oh yeah, it probably was.

ATHEIST and proud

The Immaculate Conception refers to when Mary was concieved, not when Jesus was concieved.

Mr.Lizard

Dolorous wrote: »

The Immaculate Conception refers to when Mary was concieved, not when Jesus was concieved.

Exactly. Jesus was concieved when the first of the Gospels was written.

Dolbert

Mr.Lizard wrote: »

Exactly. Jesus was concieved when the first of the Gospels was written.

So was yor... never mind

zeppe

The Immaculate Conception refers to when Mary was concieved, not when Jesus was concieved

I'm probably wrong(memory of religion class a bit hazy) but wasnt the Immaculate Conception when the angel Gabriel visited Mary and said you have a baby coming who would be the son of God?

Lockstep

zeppe wrote: »

I'm probably wrong(memory of religion class a bit hazy) but wasnt the Immaculate Conception when the angel Gabriel visited Mary and said you have a baby coming who would be the son of God?
I'm probably wrong though and if so I stand corrected.

No.

It's when Mary was born without original sin.

Upward Spiral

Upward Spiral wrote: »

My mam is up in my house for the weekend and it being Sunday morning, she tried to make me go to mass with her. I refused, using the old "but I'm an Atheist" reasoning to broach the subject. So off she went, noticeably indifferent to my proclamation of faithlessness.

She returned an hour later with some of her friends for tea and a Chocolate Kimberley in my kitchen. I went in to feed the dog and mam said to her friends "he says he's an Atheist, so he wouldn't go to mass with me". The other women laughed, and basically dismissed that such a thing existed.

I tried my best to explain my position on the whole religion thing, and even quoted Darwin. It had little effect on them.

One of the women is a real Jesus freak, and part of the parish brigade. She looked visibly shocked at what I was saying and didn't even crack a smile.

Do any of you experience such rejection of your views by family or friends?

Who cares
My gmother is probably the same and asks each week will I go to mass
don't bother arguing or explaining your position, they're not going to listen

Lockstep

I've been pontificated to be atheists many times more than I have been by theists.


I worked with an agnostic once who would bitch about atheists all day, he found them far more self righteous than any theist he'd met.

Gummy Panda

OP I'd be more concerned about them eating all your chocolate Kimberley

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

mike65

The good news is they'll all be dead soon enough.

dublinario

I just can't wait to arrive in atheist heaven. It's an amazing place. With no sheriff (God), it is far more wild-west than goody-two-shoe religious heaven. Plus, the canteen is apparently outstanding.

Dave!

This thread is thtupid... Get a blog, nobody cares about your life...

Micky Dolenz

OP do you mind me asking what age you are?

you will find as you get older people won't care what faith you practice or what you like to do on a saturday night. I know many people and couldn't tell you if they belive in God or not...because no-one really cares.

I do agree there is nothing worse than someone harping on about their beliefs, this includes all people.

I would not call someone with strong beliefs a retard only that they are stuck in their ways just ensure you don't fall into the same trap by rubbishing people with a different way of thinking/living to you.

shamblertine

Dolorous wrote: »

The Immaculate Conception refers to when Mary was concieved, not when Jesus was concieved.

Ignorance is bliss for atheists. All their beliefs are based on half baked ideas with no evidence to back them up. I really can't stand the smug self righteousness of atheists trying to force their beliefs on everyone.

MagicMarker

shamblertine wrote: »

Ignorance is bliss for atheists. All their beliefs are based on half baked ideas with no evidence to back them up. I really can't stand the smug self righteousness of atheists trying to force their beliefs on everyone.

You have got to be taking the piss?

shamblertine

MagicMarker wrote: »

You have got to be taking the piss?

you are if you're trying to dispute anything in my post

Dudess

What I find objectionable is certain atheists acting all self satisfied in a "that showed them" kind of manner - it's not rebellious or shocking to be an atheist. Ditto people who attack the catholic church. If you think the above is sockin' it to the system, you are 13.

Captain-America

I was in town yesterday with two friends, and these two preachers came up to us, both in about their fifties, carrying their bibles and holy Mary chains and all this ****e. Starting asking us questions about do we pray and God is great and all this. Said to my friend: "Do you believe?" to which my friend replied "No, sorry, I'm atheist." Completely ignoring what he said she goes on about prayer and how lovely and dandy it is and God will save him or something.
Then she started on me, explaining to me that prayer stops people commiting suicide and people who pray have less psychiatric problems. So predictable was she that I started guessing her next words, which I don't think she was best pleased at :pac:
Eventually, they fúcked off. I was well pleased with myself for being such a sarcastic cúnt. Had to refuse the things they were trying to hand out three times aswel.

Dangerous people.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

I killed an atheist once, and I'd do it again.

Sam Vimes

shamblertine wrote: »

Ignorance is bliss for atheists. All their beliefs are based on half baked ideas with no evidence to back them up. I really can't stand the smug self righteousness of atheists trying to force their beliefs on everyone.

lol

Sam Vimes

MagicMarker wrote: »

You have got to be taking the piss?

He's either trolling or brainwashed. Either way there's no point getting sucked in

son.of.jimi

shamblertine wrote: »

Ignorance is bliss for atheists. All their beliefs are based on half baked ideas with no evidence to back them up. I really can't stand the smug self righteousness of atheists trying to force their beliefs on everyone.

Where's Yore proof? lol?

Sam Vimes

son.of.jimi wrote: »

Where's Yore proof? lol?

An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.[2]

shamblertine

son.of.jimi wrote: »

Where's Yore proof? lol?

proof of what?

Dudess

I don't see it as trolling, necessarily. What (s)he says is very much applicable to some atheists, as well as to theists.

I think both positions are far too absolutist, despite insufficient evidence to support either - it's part of the reason why I'm agnostic.

Disease Ridden

Dudess wrote: »

What I find objectionable is certain atheists acting all self satisfied in a "that showed them" kind of manner - it's not rebellious or shocking to be an atheist. Ditto people who attack the catholic church. If you think the above is sockin' it to the system, you are 13.

Exactly. Maybe up until the 1940's or something atheism was considered something noteworthy and even something to be admired as a sign of a free-thinker. Nowadays all it is is something internet geeks revel in, thinking that most other people actually do believe in things like the literal interpretation of the bible. They DONT. I would hazard a guess that quite a large percentage of the adult population of this country dont believe in any religion or god at all, but they dont go on about it like its a big deal. I also think lots of non-believers take their children to mass simply so the children dont feel different from the other children.
The atheists think they are extremely intelligent for not beleiving in god, even though there is loads of literature available to assist a person in becoming an atheist these days and they simple formed their beliefs from this literature. I'm an atheist myself and I'm very happy with my beliefs but it annoys me to hear geeks trying to convert believers; sometimes I think its because the geek is annoyed that he cant believe and so the best he can do is rob the belief from another person who dosent want to be told the truth.

Dave!

Dudess wrote: »

I don't see it as trolling, necessarily. What (s)he says is very much applicable to some atheists, as well as to theists.

I think both positions are far too absolutist, despite insufficient evidence to support either - it's part of the reason why I'm agnostic.

You keep saying this... Are you agnostic about fairies etc. also? No... But there's no evidence for them, so you don't believe in them. You're an a-fairy-est. I'm sure if you're presented with evidence for them, you'll believe. But you're not ag-fairy-stic are you?

I don't get why you'd condemn atheism in the same breath as theism, it doesn't make sense to me. Nobody can say for sure that fairies or leprauchauns or god exists.

Sam Vimes

Dudess wrote: »

I don't see it as trolling, necessarily. What (s)he says is very much applicable to some atheists, as well as to theists.

I think both positions are far too absolutist, despite insufficient evidence to support either - it's part of the reason why I'm agnostic.

The part I'm saying he's trolling about is the bit where he says atheist beliefs are half baked and based on no evidence. That is demonstrably not true of atheism and equally demonstrably true of theism

Stercus Accidit

Atheism is about not believing the pack of yammering superstition perpetuated by generations of those unable to understand the world.

Its not cool,

its not fashionable,

Its just religious beliefs are entirely illogical, and nonsensical.


There is no evidence to support these beliefs, therefore there is no reason to believe they are true. You don't need evidence to the cotrary, you need to prove your ludicrous assertions about the world for people to adopt them.

By that logic, any catholic for example would have to disprove every other existing religion, cult, random view or rambling lunacy to believe their own.


There is no evidence of a god of any description, but there are countles instances of religion being wrong.

But maybe I'm just revelling in my fashionable 'beliefs' on the internet, to be cool and get out of mass, or just not one to believe such tripe at the drop of a fictional hat.

Dinner

Dudess wrote: »

What I find objectionable is certain atheists acting all self satisfied in a "that showed them" kind of manner - it's not rebellious or shocking to be an atheist. Ditto people who attack the catholic church. If you think the above is sockin' it to the system, you are 13.

Similarily the self satisfied manner in which some christians attack atheists with wild generalisations and an air of smugness is equally as bad. As below.

shamblertine wrote: »

Ignorance is bliss for atheists. All their beliefs are based on half baked ideas with no evidence to back them up. I really can't stand the smug self righteousness of atheists trying to force their beliefs on everyone.

SoWatchaWant

Upward Spiral wrote: »

My mam is up in my house for the weekend and it being Sunday morning, she tried to make me go to mass with her. I refused, using the old "but I'm an Atheist" reasoning to broach the subject. So off she went, noticeably indifferent to my proclamation of faithlessness.

She returned an hour later with some of her friends for tea and a Chocolate Kimberley in my kitchen. I went in to feed the dog and mam said to her friends "he says he's an Atheist, so he wouldn't go to mass with me". The other women laughed, and basically dismissed that such a thing existed.

I tried my best to explain my position on the whole religion thing, and even quoted Darwin. It had little effect on them.

One of the women is a real Jesus freak, and part of the parish brigade. She looked visibly shocked at what I was saying and didn't even crack a smile.

Do any of you experience such rejection of your views by family or friends?

Well, the undeniable truth of evolution doesn't rule out all religion. What it does rule out is ****ty self contradicting Bronze Age primitive scripture claiming to be the word of God. So that rules out Christianity then.

Dudess

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

Atheism is about not believing the pack of yammering superstition perpetuated by generations of those unable to understand the world.

Its not cool,

its not fashionable,

Its just religious beliefs are entirely illogical, and nonsensical.


There is no evidence to support these beliefs, therefore there is no reason to believe they are true. You don't need evidence to the cotrary, you need to prove your ludicrous assertions about the world for people to adopt them.

By that logic, any catholic for example would have to disprove every other existing religion, cult, random view or rambling lunacy to believe their own.


There is no evidence of a god of any description, but there are countles instances of religion being wrong.

But maybe I'm just revelling in my fashionable 'beliefs' on the internet, to be cool and get out of mass, or just not one to believe such tripe at the drop of a fictional hat.

I agree people who say "you're only questioning god's existence/not believing to be cool" are gigantic pains in the hole... but people who are atheists, critics of religion etc who act as though they're really rebellious and outrageous are also pains in the hole.

Dudess

Sam Vimes wrote: »

The part I'm saying he's trolling about is the bit where he says atheist beliefs are half baked and based on no evidence. That is demonstrably not true of atheism and equally demonstrably true of theism

I think what (s)he means is, despite the evidence atheists have, there is still no solid evidence there isn't a deity.

Dinner

Dudess wrote: »

I think what (s)he means is, despite the evidence atheists have, there is still no solid evidence there isn't a deity.

But that's not how the world works. I know it's a cliche, but we don't believe in fairys or santa or thor because there is no evidence that they exist. Similarily, there is no evidence that god exists so I have to treat god as I would unicorns and conclude that he probably doesn't exist.

If I'm agnostic to that god then I have to be agnostic about every other god past and present as well as every fairytale character because, afterall, there is no proof that they don't exist.

Stercus Accidit

Dudess wrote: »

I agree people who say "you're only questioning god's existence/not believing to be cool" are gigantic pains in the hole... but people who are atheists, critics of religion etc who act as though they're really rebellious and outrageous are also pains in the hole.

I find most atheists that could be described as such are just being dismissive of the arguments and beliefs being thrown at them, in debate, the arguments used by the theist camp are often illogical, well, allways, and are treated with distain and a lack of respect such notions deserve.

I firmly believe that you can respect someones right to believe, but you do not have to respect the fact that they do believe, or the beliefs themselves.
The problem is many theists can take it personally, to have what they claim to believe being questioned, hence this 'atheists are condescending' bull. I don't respect organised religion, its preaching, the beliefs of its followers, and I lump believers into two categories, those who 'believe' by habit but could sway either way, and those who have thought it through, are aware of the inconsistencies, but believe out of self delusion, the worst of these go on quests to convert others, to bolster their own nonsence.

Dave!

Dudess wrote: »

I think what (s)he means is, despite the evidence atheists have, there is still no solid evidence there isn't a deity.

There doesn't need to be... If there is evidence for something, you'll believe in it. If there's not, you won't. Why would you require evidence against something in order to 'not believe' in it? There's no evidence against fairies or leprauchauns...

JC 2K3

Dudess wrote: »

I think what (s)he means is, despite the evidence atheists have, there is still no solid evidence there isn't a deity.

See Dave's post about a-fairy-ism etc.

Whether you're agnostic or atheist is largely due to whatever meaning you apply to "belief". I think a lot of agnostics would have the exact same beliefs as a lot of atheists, but don't identify with the word "atheist" because of the stigma surrounding the term.

Dudess

Dinner wrote: »

we don't believe in fairys or santa or thor because there is no evidence that they exist. Similarily, there is no evidence that god exists so I have to treat god as I would unicorns and conclude that he probably doesn't exist.

If I'm agnostic to that god then I have to be agnostic about every other god past and present as well as every fairytale character because, afterall, there is no proof that they don't exist.

Meant to get back to Dave! earlier on that one:

That argument doesn't cut it for me. And the reason is: while there is no solid evidence that god exists, I think there is evidence that a deity could exist - not a kind, loving one looking after us (I certainly believe, just thinking about how ****ed up the world has always been, that that's utter bollocksology) but literally just a higher power that's simply "there" - neither benevolent nor malevolent. What's the evidence? The universe, living things... why are they all here? How did they come about? They can't just have emerged from a vacuum.