A person who was always nice to me told me this:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

"Below your YouTube it says 'leave a message'. Frankly, I find this being atheist thing ridiculous. Not believing anything. I was horrified, since, thanks GOD, in my relationships, I don't know anybody who's an atheist and preaches it. I get shivers, becoming aware of those people who are cold and seem to be from another planet. Sorry for the bluntness but that's my point of view."

Why, you say? Because I publicly put on this video that I found as one of my favorites in a social networking site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKk78OgZ6Vs

So, this is what it's like to be the target of prejudice. It feels like shit.

[cosmik debris]

1. Yep

Welcome to the club.

Be glad that they aren't coming to your house to deliver their message of intolerance.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. The fact that this is like 0.000001% of what other people have suffered

makes me :scared:

[cosmik debris]

3. When I stood up for my right to be an atheist

The good Christians of my community spray painted crosses on my house and car and called my home in the wee hours of the morning to threaten me and my family. That was 15 years ago, but not much has changed except that I am now well armed.

And even that is a drop in the bucket compared to what some have suffered.

[NMMNG]

4. I'm sorry you had to deal with that

So, this is what it's like to be the target of prejudice. It feels like shit.

Yes, it does. People can be so cruel, particularly when they feel they're justified in treating others like crap because their "deeply held religious beliefs" say it's the right thing to do and/or because society allows it. It's despicable and we need to fight harder to put it to an end.

[YankeyMCC]

5. "from another planet"

that is at the heart of all prejudice and discrimination isn't it...the dehumanization of the target so it becomes 'morally acceptable' to harm and hurt them.

My sympathies to you, it may have only been words on a web site but that kind of thing does sux and can be scary.

[moggie]

6. I've never found atheists to be "cold"

I'm sure that "cold" atheists exist, but not because they're atheist. But I've heard and read plenty of statements from Christians which have chilled me. For example, when someone believes that many people will be punished for all eternity after they die, and they're ok with this, or even relish the thought: that's pretty cold.

[skepticscott]

13. For some people

ANY kind of passion, even misguided, wildly irrational passion, is preferable to calm, objective rationality. To that kind of person, ANY kind of dogma that (they think) gives them a solid rock to cling to is preferable to the shifting and uncertain sands of truth.

[soleft]

7. If that an online or in person aquaintance?

I'm sorry someone you enjoyed interacting with had this reaction. I guess i've been lucky in that most people I know, if not atheist or agnostic, at least don't believe in an anthropomorphic diety. they believe in something but they are very open. And those who are more traditional, may fear for me, but they still treat me with respect.

Yet - when I see how politicians and public figures have to profess in being a god fearing believer or facer rejection - when I hear how others in this thread of been threatened, I realize being an atheist in some ways leaves me more open to prejudice and persecution than being gay. Yet, I hardly ever feel that way.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. She's the biological grandmother of my eldest child.

Mother of the deceased previous husband of my wife. As you may imagine, she's awfully attached to her granddaughter. My other kid, this one biological, has become kind of an adopted granddaughter too. In fact, both of them are at her house as we speak, until the school year begins in a week or so.

Not good.

[soleft]

9. I've experienced with my mother, who's 84, and my ex MIL

that it's really hard for that generation to let in ideas that are threatening to them. My mother truly believes that she's going to see all of her deceased relatives when she dies, and it scares her shitless that i'm not going to be up there one day.

If this woman has lost her son, then believing in God and heaven may be paramount for her.

Is it possible that she had a near jerk reaction and when she calms down things can go back to normal?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. Yes, it is possible. I hope so.

The ironic thing is, she and her surviving son are of different religions. Wherein the son's religion is of the kind that tends to badmouth other religions, while the mother's isn't.

[LynzM]

11. Funny what scares people, isn't it...

I'm sorry you're dealing with that... :hug: It sucks that people are so threatened by our non-belief, even when we're not asking them to not believe, yk?

I hope that the relationship can go back to some semblance of normalcy for you, since it's not someone you can easily write out of your life.

From another planet, indeed. :grr:

[Deep13]

12. Does s/he think god makes us warm?

Most of the coldest bastards I've met have been devout Christians.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. I don't know if she does, but Fred Phelps does.

The question is HOW warm.