Living in an atheist world

[fifi669]

Anyone else find it difficult at times? My faith is unfaltering. I just find other peoples attitudes a bit draining sometimes.

I had a woman at work taking the piss out of Christians to me so I told her I was one. She looked at me like I had two heads. (She'd obviously not noticed the crucifix).

Constant stupid questions such as do you believe in the tooth fairy too? Come about once religion is mentioned. Sigh.

Unless asked a relevant question I keep my faith to myself and don't shove it in peoples faces. I don't see why people can't do the same with their atheism.

[BackOnlyBriefly]

a completely different tradition.

Well, quite different anyway. but where would you place the Hindu gods (A monkey, a woman with lots of arms and so on) or Thor, Odin and his lot.

It's just that the ones most people are accustomed to in the UK are on the same tree. Paul made Christianity as a branch off from Judaism. Mohammed branched off a bit later and called it Islam. From the Christian branch you've got branches for everything from Methodists and Baptists to Mormons.

It's not even the oldest tree. The bible warns the Children Of Israel about following any of those other gods.

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

Only "quite" different? Why? I'd say Hindu beliefs, and the Nordic gods, (along with Graeco-Romanic, Egyptian traditions etc) are completely different from Xtian/Abrahamic "One True God" religions but probably have more in common with a belief in faeries.

[BackOnlyBriefly]

Is the major difference that your god is real and they made theirs up?

I don't know how else to take the "One True God" bit.

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

Is that to me? I am atheist, raised Xtian (CoS) but with some knowledge of other belief systems, having had the blessing of a 70's comprehensive education. I view all traditions as equally made-up, but consider that animistic, pantheistic systems have more in common with each other than with the Abrahamic ones.

[curlew]

Are there still people who genuinely believe in the Norse Gods? I think I might be tempted away from a lifetime of atheism...........

[BackOnlyBriefly]

That's a relief. For a moment there I thought I was talking to a fundamentalist. I probably should have known, but am notorious for getting names muddled up :)

Anyway they all have interesting histories and origins, but are surely the same in terms of respecting the beliefs. The reason this came up was that the OP was saying that to compare her belief with the silly things other people believe is offensive.

So I'm making the point that if a Christian - for example - dismisses fairies, Islam, Paganism etc as nonsense then they must accept that others will feel the same about their religion.

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

My friend's teenager says he does, I'm not entirely convinced.

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

X post, quite agree BackOnlyBriefly. (My sister is Born Again.)

[BackOnlyBriefly]

curlew there might be a handful, but it can't be many. I've been using them as an example for years and never had one post from a believer.

Shame really cos they did sound more fun than god/allah.

[worldgonecrazy]

Curlew - yes there are. They usually call themselves Heathens and hold Blots. If you google you may even find a few local to you. There are definitely a bunch of them in the West Midlands.

[Greige]

Curlew - Google Asatru :)