.. as an atheist. But I'm afraid to tell my parents. It's terrbile! I can't keep living a lie! I can't keep pretending to be someone I'm not! I'm tired of the atheist closet! It's cramp and there's barely enough air to breathe.

But I'm afraid they'll reject me and throw me out. I don't wanna live on the streets. I'll never be able to compete with the professional hobos.It's a tough world out there and I have 0 street cred.

And what if the force me to see a priest and try to "fix" me. What if they take me to some Christian camp where I'm bombarded constantly on how I'm living a sick twisted lifestyle and that I'm gonna burn in hell? What if they try to brainwash me???

Has anyone here had to tell their (very religous) parents that they became atheist/converted to another religion? How did you tell your parents? How did they take it? All advice/stories are welcomed.

I had to tell my parents, who are mildly Christian based, that I had converted to the Wicca religion. It wasn't nice and pretty at the start, and I had to deal with a load of bad stuff coming from them in the first days.

Eventually they grew to accept it, because that's who I am and what I believe, and they (as I) found that there is no reason why the two beliefs couldn't co-exist.

My grandparents (from my father side) were another whole story. They are fervent religious people, they have a gigantic cross on their backyard and have had priest do mass on their house. I was called child of the devil, witch, Satan himself and threatened by them. 

Since then I haven't talked to them, if they chose not to accept me for what I believe then it's their loss, not mine. I will always respect them and accept them for their choices, even though their attitudes really go against what the Christian religion supposedly represents.

wait, thats a big deal?

my parents have known im an atheist since I was like 14/15 when I became one, lol

Well Spock, my parents are fundies. You should hear what they say about people of other religions (and by this I also mean other Christian religions like Catholics or Protestants), let alone about atheists.

Hrm... for some reason, my experience has shown me that being gay is more acceptable than being an atheist. Whenever I tell those idiots who push religious crap on you I'm a gay atheist, it's the atheist part they latch on to. And when I came out to my family, my mom reluctantly accepted that I was gay, but still won't see that I'm an atheist. If I were to guess, it has to do with how religion was more important in the older days, and older people, in search for the truth as their days are numbering down, fall into the trap known as religion.

I guess just don't make a big deal about it, but live what you think to be true. Whenever my family does something talking to "god", I'm quiet in respect to their beliefs, but damned if I'm going to be making specific actions.

really? wowza

my dad is agnostic (he was CofE as a kid though) and my mum is Catholic, neither of them seem to have any issues with my atheism though

Meh.. 21 is a nice age to leave the house..

Yeah... and live on the streets.

tht must have been hard for you. hopefully they will supprt u soon

It was harder for my dad, since he was a bit torn in that time. I really don't mind if they don't support me, it's their decision. It just saddens me to personally know people who know little of what is to actually love and comprehend all for what they are, closed in dogmas that have no sense nowadays.