In this bold and daring Youtube video, we see atheists facing up to the horrors of coming out in our society as atheists. Uh huh. Our society. Thin skinned lot. I especially enjoy reading the comments. Of course some folks point out that, like me, there was never any major backlash. When I professed my unbelief in college, not much was said. A few discussions here and there, but that was it.
Since the culture, and the university, were firmly in the post-Christian/post-religious era I had no real problems showing myself as a card-carying agnostic. Except for one campus preacher who would arrive to inform everyone that we were going to hell, I received no fire and brimstone. The only other case of disrespectful fanaticism and zealotry was, in fact, an atheist we knew who aspired to be a science fiction author. George was his name. Heaven help anyone who brought up anything about God, religious faith, or religion. So over the top condescending and patronizing was George in such cases, that I found myself taking the side of anyone arguing for God! That, ironically, was one of the many factors that set me along the path toward religious conversion. But that's for another post.
Right now, grab a box of tissues, and if you can endure the pain and suffering of these courageous freethinkers, plunge into the terror and sacrifice that they have made simply because they were finally smarter than everyone else and realized that everyone they knew was wrong - and all in 21st century America!
I mean, for the love of God. People in my country have no problem saying they are atheists or agnostics. My country is incredibly catholic. When I say I had a crisis faith to a friend I just met, she inmediatly assumed I would become an atheist, but she didn't say it in a bad way and didn't sound surprised. Atheists and non religious from the 18th century sure weren't like this. What they share with new atheists is just denouncing the evils of christendom, but they never try to pity themselves.
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