r/atheism

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I’m a very logical and rational type of person.

So, I met two of my friends yesterday — well, not exactly friends, they’re more like brothers. They were talking to each other about how many times they had been chanting God’s name that day and all that. Of course, I wasn’t saying anything.

Then one of them said, “He doesn’t know about any of this, right?” And the other one said, “Yeah, he’s different. He probably won’t understand these things.”

Basically, they were making it sound like I’m missing something because I don’t believe in all this. They were telling me, “You don’t know how much power meditation has,” and all that.

And honestly, I know that meditation can help calm your mind and stuff, but when they start talking about “power” and all that, I just don’t really believe it.

So I asked them, “Okay, then tell me, what are the benefits of chanting God’s name?”

One of them said, “What a stupid question. The question itself is wrong. Do you do everything just for the benefits?”

And of course 😭 I was like, bro, yes? I literally do things because there’s some benefit to them.

Then the other guy said, “Look, if you start doing this, initially it’ll be very difficult. You’ll feel like some negative force is stopping you from doing it, and you’ll feel like quitting. But slowly, you’ll start enjoying it and your mind will get used to it.”

That part honestly sounded really weird to me.

Then he said, “As for the benefits, eventually you’ll forget words like ‘benefit’ and ‘loss.’” 🥀😭

And I was like, “Bro, I don’t want to forget the difference between benefit and loss. What am I supposed to do after forgetting that?” 😭

And then they started comparing me to some uneducated guy and saying, “You talk just like him.”

At that point, I was honestly getting really irritated. 🥲

"faith-based homeschool support for military families" "faith-based initiatives supporting Department-wide suicide reduction and Total Force resilience" "contracted services from faith-based non-Federal entities"

Hilarious as fuck. Gonna shove this in the faces of anyone who wants to try that "muh tax dollars" bullshit with me ever again. Paying for religious homeschooling, religious contractors, and routing the military suicide crisis through faith-based programs instead of evidence-based mental health care. The memo's own carve-out saying nothing shall compel religious participation is like... what?

The Director reports directly to Hegseth with no intervening authority, realigns the Armed Forces Chaplains Board under this political appointee. Meanwhile, per AP, the Pentagon's recognized-religions was drastically reduced. Atheists, pagans, and humanists were largely removed (because apparently love for humanity is incompatible with sucking Trump's dick)

The new Distinguished Military Colleges officer-commissioning cohort is LSU, Hillsdale College, Liberty University, Mississippi State, and Tuskegee. Hillsdale and Liberty are explicitly right-wing Christian institutions and Liberty in particular has a long history of scandals (not just the Falwell stuff).

The hypocrisy is actually the point. They want us to be enraged. They want us to be driven insane. I refuse to be driven insane.

The suicide-prevention line is the part that should really alarm you. Military suicide is a real bipartisan crisis. Replacing evidence-based mental health care with faith-based initiatives isn't just unconstitutional, it's dangerous. They try to replace shit that works with shit that doesn't work, and that doesn't work at all. Existence is resistance.

US Atheists: there is about to be a faith-based department of the US military. We are already way farther down a path that breaks separation of church and state.

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Hi, i’m an Agnostic Atheist. And just ten minutes ago I asked my religious mom why it is a sin to be gay, and I got hit with ’its not natural’ and the ’Stick and a hole’ argument.

I obviously don't believe that it's a sin to be gay. But moving on, our conversation somehow shifted to abortion.

I asked her, if I would get raped, would she not allow me to get an abortion?

Her answer was it's my choice. But I stated multiple times that I was asking for her opinion whether it's bad or not. I hate it so much whenever religious people try and avoid answering a question they can't. Just say you can't.

She said ’what if the baby was aborted 5,000 times before it was born, and you would be the one to break it by not getting an abortion?’

I was speechless. So she's saying that you shouldn't get an abortion, just because God wanted to punish you by getting forced to have a child?

I stated various times to my mom that I feel anxiety and fear when hearing about the majority of religions for some reason. And my mom kind of thinks it's a phase. And that I have a chance of changing. But I don't think I ever will.

And I just need help with creating an answer for our next (maybe) upcoming conversation. Every time I try to prove it wrong to my mom, she always diverts the question to a whole different topic, not answer directly, and it frustrates me. She also gives me answers that don't make sense at least to me even in a religious way.

I want help with giving her a proper answer on why abortion is not bad, and why being gay is also not bad, while trying to sound smart which is the kind of thing I'm struggling with. If anyone can help me out with this, please do.

Like no, I don't want to leave home for 2 years to spread propaganda and give more control to the church. I am 13M (Almost 14) who lives in a Christian family. My church is basically forcing us to go on a mission and it's pissing me off. "sERvE tHE lORD" "hElP pEopLE fIND hAPiNEsS" No, I'm not serving your imaginary friend and spreading lies. I'm the only atheist in the family too. between my older sister and my parents. How do I tell them that I'm not changing my mind or attending seminary It's sad that schools which are supposed to provide education tell kids to study a fairy tale and pass it off as real I stopped beliving in this crap ever since I was 12 And it's sad that my family is just blindly following it.

Edit: No, I'm not being forced I just want hen to get it through their head that I am not going on a mission and I'm not changing my mind

Got to vent for a moment. When I hear that and I hear it often, I have to bite my tongue. I do a lot of volunteer work. I don't do it because of any god. I do it because I know that no God is going to do it for you. Me, or anyone.

No god is going to fill the foodbanks or mow my elderly neighbors yard. God isn't going to donate blood.

We do it. We struggle and we act out of compassion for others because we know no else will.

A US billionaire exploited foreign Sharia law to secretly divorce his wife, pay her only $50, and dodge civil property division—forcing her into a 13-year court battle to overturn it in Texas.

Why do secular courts ever grant comity to religious rulings that strip people of basic civil and property rights?

My take: Secular legal systems should automatically treat any foreign or domestic religious personal law as void the moment it conflicts with equal civil rights and due process. Allowing religious legal carve-outs only invites forum shopping to abuse vulnerable spouses.

What is the threshold before secular legal systems reject religious arbitration entirely?

His documentary from 1974 details his conflict and coming to terms with being an evangelist who's essentially faking it. The movie's been posted to this sub a number of times.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068924/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjoe