<p>Quick poll:
Atheists and agnostics, what's your favorite deity?
Mine's Buddha. If I ever decided I needed religion in my life, Buddhism would totally be my route. I have a happy little green Buddha on my shelf and I rub his belly for luck. :D</p>
<p>(all deities count, including Roman, Greek, Norse, etc. and modern religions)</p>
<p>Hey, I know how you feel. My parents are young earth evangelicals, and I'm a non-religious geology major, so I'm sure you can imagine the conflicts. It's your life. Your religion (or lack there of) is no one elses business, not even your girlfriends.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Atheists and agnostics, what's your favorite deity?
Mine's Buddha.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Buddha isn't a diety and if you think he is you know nothing real about Buddhism.</p>
<p>If you think they would disown you and stop paying for your college then don't tell them. Sure you might have to lie to them but they deserve it if they would disown you.</p>
<p>As to the poll, I wouldn't really pick any of them. I do have a lot more respect for Buddhists though since the philosophy has very little blind faith and actually makes quite a bit of sense.</p>
<p>I wouldn't tell your parents. It will cause a major, possibly irreversible sh** storm, at little to no benefit to you.</p>
<p>You're girlfriend thinks it's cowardly? She sounds like she's the one with nonsense views.</p>
<p>Frankly, religious beliefs - or let's just call them "big beliefs about the meaning of the universe" - are a private matter. You do not have to share them with anyone. Including your girlfriend. Including your family. In fact, if everyone kept their religious beliefs private, only sharing them when they cared to (and NOT for purposes of debate) - a lot of belief-inspired problems would cease to exist.</p>
<p>Your atheist beliefs and who you share them with are none of your girlfriend's business. And you're family is probably going to be with you a lot longer than she is.</p>
<p>I'm up for Buddha. None of the self-denial stuff. Didn't the person that was to become Buddha die from eating too much pork or something?</p>
<p>Or maybe that's hinduism.</p>
<p>I wouldn't tell your parents if you think they'll withdraw their support but . . . is there any way you can get them to discontinue using their friend's religious charity money? I would feel bad about that . . . using their money when you have this fundamental disagreement of philosophy. Not that it's your fault, but still . . . awkward. </p>
<p>What if you told your parents you just weren't comfortable living off "charity" or something like that? Or that you thought the charities money would do more good elsewhere because you really feel lucky to have what you have in life?</p>
<p>Edit: Oops, after reading the first post again I see I misunderstood . . . Your parents roped in their friend by playing on her "Christian charity" rather than a non-profit charity being involved. Yikes. But still, the same solution might apply. Tell them you're not comfortable with that. Tell them you'd rather their friend donate to the starving kids in Africa. (And then point them to Heifer</a> International which does great work. ;) )</p>
<p>I don't understand you religious folk. Being atheist is the best. </p>
<p>Can't go to hell if you don't believe in it...</p>
<p>Tell her your gay to soften the blow then tell her.</p>
<p>when i told my mom i was agnostic she was like, "dammit, leah, why don't you just build a damned totem pole in the backyard and pray to that??"</p>
<p>that was pretty much the end of it, although she generally doesn't take too kindly to my irreverence haha</p>
<p>wow i'm so glad my parents aren't religious. i can't even imagine having such a petty and silly thing like religion get in the way of being accepting and open with my family</p>
<p>My mom is a hardcore Methodist and my dad isn't religious( at least from the outside, doesn't go to church).</p>
<p>My brother and I have been forced to go to church all our lives. However, I'm currently taking a "break" from church because of the ACT's. The past month however, I've been feeling a lot better than I have been attending church. Personally, I don't seem to have a connection with Christianity.</p>
<p>I am an atheist, but I have not told my family who is religious. Not that I'm afraid, but why would I want to cause them unnecessary grief? I don't pretend to be religious in front of them, but I have not explicitly mentioned my atheism. They would just worry about it.</p>
<p>Who cares what your GF thinks??? This is NOT her place at all. She has no right to tell you to tell your family.</p>
<p>Tell them to deal with it.</p>
<p>My dad found out I'm atheist after he asked why I don't kneel, do the sign of the cross or the eucharist at church anymore. It took a while before we started talking again.</p>
<p>Personally, from a religion standpoint, I always thought polytheism made wayyyy more sense than monotheism. The ancient peoples totally had it way more right than the Abrahamic dudes.</p>
<p>ThatPoshGirl, way to be kind of a b---h. Buddha's not technically a deity (as in, he's not a god) but there is, you know, a religion based off his teachings so it's kind of the same thing...</p>
<p>I would dump the girlfriend. She is manipulative. It's none of her business what you should tell your mother or not. This is not the time.</p>
<p>Are you actually atheist? See I always ask this question and never get a straight answer...</p>
<p>In college it is easy to leave your faith. You have much more supposed "freedom". Religion just does not seem to fit with our stereotypical view of college life. It condemns college parties, pre-marital sex and so forth.</p>
<p>Also becoming atheist seems to be more of "I am growing up and trying to seperate my self from my parents and my past identity" rather than actually becoming atheist. </p>
<p>I really suggest you carefully examine your situation. Atheism seems tempting. It seems easy. I have many atheist friends, and they are good people. But many of those friends eventually turn back to religion. </p>
<p>Maybe the religion you were in was no the right one. Talk to your mother about it in a calm manner. Tell her you are having a crisis of faith. Honestly I think that is what it is.</p>
<p>Also you want to identify better with your girl friend. Measure your relationship with her.</p>
<p>See if you are truly atheist, or is it her influence that has made you atheist. </p>
<p>Atheism is no less a religion than any other religion. Take an educated route on religion first before you condemn it all together. Extremism seems to be the poison that turns most away, combined with many other factors.</p>
<p>Give me a religion that is perfectly scientifically rational and I may consider it. My dad who is an engineer rejected christianity at "born of the virgin Mary." His response is that it is scientifically impossible to have a virgin birth. Maybe not now with IVF technology but do you expect me to believe that in a world that didn't have computers until 30 years ago, we had IVF 2,000 years ago?</p>
<p>I only believe in pastafarianism becuase it's fun to watch christians try to "save" you when you tell them you're pastafarian. And the Flying Spaghetti monster doesn't insist that I deprive myself of something for a month and a half, nor does it prohibit me from eating beef. And I don't actually believe in it, but it makes a hell of a good excuse to turn discussions away from religion.</p>
<p>So...who here has seen Religulous? Awesome movie :).</p>
<p>Atheism is indeed very different from religion, mainly because it is based off facts and observations i.e science rather than blind belief in an all-powerful being caused by the fear of the unknown.</p>