Hello.

[kurtzapril4]

Been an atheist for years. Recently "out of the closet" about it. No one has hassled me.....yet.

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Welcome.

[Ninjaneer]

2. Welcome to the dark side! : )

[trotsky]

3. Welcome!

Glad to have you here!

[cleanhippie]

4. Welcome aboard!

Glad to have you.

[dmallind]

5. yes welcome - you'll probably tend to find the personal hassling is variable dependent

Living in Seattle or Selma matters

Being "in your face" or private about your atheism matters

Environment matters. Other than a couple of silly "you're going to burn in hell" comments, casual discussions at the bar have seen no real shock in my experience. Work conversations on the other hand...

Age matters, but inversely to often expected. It seems that nobody outside their families cares if teenagers are atheists, but finding a silver-haired nicely dressed PBS type who is one gets people off balance.

"Class" matters. Depending on the milieu I can seem either to be in the comfortably off upper-middle socioeconomic echelon or one paycheck from a cardboard box home. In the latter environment I get more negative reactions. Not necessarily, although somewhat I confess this seems subjectively true, from poorer people, but more so when I appear to be a poorer person. Dunno why - maybe atheism is a luxury good, or maybe the idea of a lumpen proletariat atheist is too redolent of Bolshevism.

Anyway whenever you feel the need to share your godless experiences good or bad here's a good place to do it, and again welcome.

[mr blur]

6. Pull up a pew and relax, but remember -

No eating babies and Communion crackers in public, it upsets the theist lurkers and trolls. And stay out of Religion if you value your sense of Reality - the Xian Lurve on display can upset the strongest stomach.

[Goblinmonger]

7. Howdy

Glad you live in an area where people aren't hassling you. Hope it continues to go well.

Post here often.

[frogmarch]

8. Welcome, kurtzapril4!

It's nice to meet you. I hope you'll stick around and join the fun.

[Curmudgeoness]

9. Hi. Glad to have you here.

I am sure that you will realize just how much shit you have to take the more you read here. I was always mildly offended when I would go to a public meeting and have to be subjected to a prayer. But the more I come here to A&A, the more pissed I have become over all the little things we endure on a regular basis.

Few hassle me either, but I am just matter-of-fact about not believing and I don't welcome discussion. The only purpose for discussion is that someone wants to convince you that you are wrong....and win brownie points for converting you.

[JNelson6563]

10. Welcome to our hallowed halls!

I hope you stop by often and enjoy the discussion. Lots of wickedly good humor.



Julie

[kdmorris]

11. Hi and welcome!

Hope you enjoy your time here!

[EvolveOrConvolve]

12. Welcome!

We're often grumpy but never uninteresting.

[kurtzapril4]

13. Thanks for the warm welcome

Ladies and Gents. If someone asks what I believe, I tell them. If I hear someone trashing atheists, I rise to the defense. Otherwise, no reason to talk about it, unless I'm with other atheists.

The rest of 'murrica likes us less than them ay-rabs and them dang homos. I think we're in good company, then!

[madmom]

14. Welcome, I don't post often but lurk a lot. Lots of interesting reading here.

[onager]

15. Howdy! I welcome all newcomers with this bit of advice...

From "Alice in Wonderland:"

'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.

'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'

'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.

'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here.'

And if you're going to hang around the Religion forum very much, you'll also need this:

'It's really dreadful' She muttered to herself, 'The way all the creatures argue. It's enough to drive one crazy!'

[lindysalsagal]

16. Here you go!

You'll be needing these:



(Tails are optional.)