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who walks around saying "I'm an Atheist" it's a silly statement really. I'm not religious, had my enlightenment about 20 years ago now. But saying "I'm an Athei

who walks around saying "I'm an Atheist" it's a silly statement really. I'm not religious, had my enlightenment about 20 years ago now. But saying "I'm an Atheist" is like saying "I'm a non-whatever" It's just kind of immature. I mean if you're an activist speaking to people, I guess, but at that point you should expect to live in the space of constant criticism. You should expect outrage about gun ownership in california. Because you're saying that you are for taking people's rights away, or in general prevent them from something where the model isn't proven to necessarily be correct.

dalke 11y ago
My example was of someone who says "I'm an atheist", not someone who "walks around saying" that. I was thinking specifically of http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/tornado_survivor_to_wolf_blitzer_sorry_im_an_atheist_i_dont_have_to_thank_the_lord/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/tornado_survivor_to_wolf_bli... . The news reporter Wolf Blitzer asked a tornado survivor if she "thanks the Lord" for her survival. Quoting that article: > Vitsmun hesitates for a moment and smiles. “I — I’m actually an atheist,” she said, laughing off the awkward moment. This brought her into the spotlight, with Rush Limbaugh declaring she must be the only atheist in Oklahoma ( http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/05/22/media_elites_confounded_by_oklahoma http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/05/22/media_elites_co... ) and Glenn Beck saying it was a setup (http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/glenn_beck_cnn_interview_with_atheist_tornado_survivor_was_a_setup/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/glenn_beck_cnn_interview_wit... ). A better example would be teacher-lead mandatory school prayer, which has been illegal for decades, but it still occurs. Here's an example of a family which sued the school over mandatory prayer http://www.rawstory.com/2015/02/georgia-public-school-teachers-humiliate-kids-for-not-praying-to-god-our-father-lawsuit/ http://www.rawstory.com/2015/02/georgia-public-school-teache... . They did so anonymously for fear of retribution. Again, this is not someone who goes around saying "I am an atheist" but is instead someone who will likely face retribution for saying "I am an atheist" even once in public (or in private to a school official) in order to complain about illegal school practices. Neither of these two occurrences are "kind of immature" nor the result of an activist speaking to people.

dalke 11y ago

My example was of someone who says "I'm an atheist", not someone who "walks around saying" that. I was thinking specifically of http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/tornado_survivor_to_wolf_blitzer_sorry_im_an_atheist_i_dont_have_to_thank_the_lord/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/tornado_survivor_to_wolf_bli... . The news reporter Wolf Blitzer asked a tornado survivor if she "thanks the Lord" for her survival. Quoting that article: > Vitsmun hesitates for a moment and smiles. “I — I’m actually an atheist,” she said, laughing off the awkward moment. This brought her into the spotlight, with Rush Limbaugh declaring she must be the only atheist in Oklahoma ( http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/05/22/media_elites_confounded_by_oklahoma http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/05/22/media_elites_co... ) and Glenn Beck saying it was a setup (http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/glenn_beck_cnn_interview_with_atheist_tornado_survivor_was_a_setup/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/glenn_beck_cnn_interview_wit... ). A better example would be teacher-lead mandatory school prayer, which has been illegal for decades, but it still occurs. Here's an example of a family which sued the school over mandatory prayer http://www.rawstory.com/2015/02/georgia-public-school-teachers-humiliate-kids-for-not-praying-to-god-our-father-lawsuit/ http://www.rawstory.com/2015/02/georgia-public-school-teache... . They did so anonymously for fear of retribution. Again, this is not someone who goes around saying "I am an atheist" but is instead someone who will likely face retribution for saying "I am an atheist" even once in public (or in private to a school official) in order to complain about illegal school practices. Neither of these two occurrences are "kind of immature" nor the result of an activist speaking to people.