Wait, what? Who met? Oo

I was reading this topic and, did I miss something? This uptadate seems to make no sense. Wasn't this about telling your parents you're an atheist?

Am I going nuts? :P

Oops! Hahaha, you're right. I meant to post this in the Help! Need Advice on Repeling Girls!!! thread.

Ha, that makes more sense :P

Anyway, about this trhead, ahve you told them already?

Nope Bart, I've decided to do it when I'm out of the house and living independently. They may not throw me out, but they'll certainly make my life a living hell if I tell them.

Sure, they'd rather have their son live in hell for a lifetime than an eternity lol :P

Anyway, good luck, and whenever you do come out, I'd say if you want it to work you should be able to understand their reaction as much as you'd like them to understand your choice, no matter how stupid you think their faith is. From their point of view, yours is even worse, and much more damaging. Also, whatever you do, don't preach.

I always hated preaching, even when I was religions. They can believe whatever they want (though when they say that humans and dinosaurs coexisted and the world is just a couple of thousand years old I can't help but cringe).

Sure, but what I meant was a bit more subtle than you walking in (on christmass eve he) and trying to de-evangelize them.  Sometimes people will preach you, and your natural defense will be, in essence, to counter-preach. You're actually just trying to explain your position, but in doing so logically you are automatically making an argument for your point of view and against theirs, and that's a really bad idea.

Of course it's a hard thing to avoid since if you do it wrong you'll just come of as either insecure about your disbelief or a coward, but knowing just how to avoid such a situation should make everything that much easier, and the key to that is understanding how tey will feel and why they will. And maybe a little white lie :P

LOL, don't worry I won't come out at Christmas time (though it would be such an outrageous and funny thing to do). I'll have a little more diplomacy.

As for the counter-preaching part, it's been shown that polemic arguments only work when your audience is equipped with the necessasy knowledge to understand them and analyse them critically. From my personal experience I've found this to be true.  I've noticed that most religious people ignore rational arguments, ultimately dismissing them with something along the line of "faith needs no argmunets", hence there's no point in me wasting my breath.

More than that, it would be internally inconsistent for them not to :P

Anyway, if you do decide to come out on christmas eve, please make sure to film and upload it :D

Oh, have you ever thouhgt about some bullshit along the lines of "I just can't feel God anymore. I gave this a lot of thought and decided that this is something I must find out by my own means. I'm sure if God is there, he'll show me the way back. But until then, I need to be able to see things from other perspectives and reflect on them. I'm, sorry, I hope you will understand, but I really can't to this any other way."

Now, seriously, if you really think there's a chance they'll kick you out, try talking in confession to your priest or something and explaining your situation as someone suggested earlier. He'll be able to understand the situation better than any of us here and I bet he can help.

More than that, it would be internally inconsistent for them not to :P

Well critical thinking may point out faults in some ways of thinking and in some beliefs.

Anyway, if you do decide to come out on christmas eve, please make sure to film and upload it :D

If I did that then I'd also have to work on subtitles (seeing as the conversation would be in Romanian). But I'd probably do it on Christmas morning, not Chirstmas eve (when we're all opening our presents). That should make for some good family (comedic) drama.

Oh, have you ever thouhgt about some bullshit along the lines of "I just can't feel God anymore. I gave this a lot of thought and decided that this is something I must find out by my own means. I'm sure if God is there, he'll show me the way back. But until then, I need to be able to see things from other perspectives and reflect on them. I'm, sorry, I hope you will understand, but I really can't to this any other way."

Really great suggestion. I'll definately think about maybe using this. And it's not necessarily not true, as I never "felt" God even when I was religious. Maybe I'll even pretend to join weird cults to freak them out

Now, seriously, if you really think there's a chance they'll kick you out, try talking in confession to your priest or something and explaining your situation as someone suggested earlier. He'll be able to understand the situation better than any of us here and I bet he can help.

I don't trust priests. Never felt comfortable about talking about anything to them. And I think a priest would more likely share my parents sentiments rather than my own.