Fellow atheists: Atheism out there in the real world?

Have any of you every discussed your atheism to any non-atheists outside of the Internet? For example, an argument with a colleague or just innocent chatter with a friend? If so, what did they think about your atheism? How did their reaction to it compare to the reactions we see from Christians on Yahoo?

Usual reaction: Ah. So you've chosen to do things the HARD way.

No. I'm pretty sure most people I see are atheists and anyway no-one talks about religion (that I bump into anyway)

yes, but only when they brought up the subject and i knew they would be able to respect my decision.

In the UK it's well accepted outside of diminishing church groups.

No. It's private.

Over here in the UK, people are far more tolerant than they are in the states. I am often quite surprised about how closed minded religious Americans can be. Religion, or not as the case may be, is not a big deal here, apart from when it's used as an excuse for war. Then it becomes repulsive.

How can someone take a life in the name of their god and say it's right?

My colleagues and myself talked about it over lunch before, found out that none of them were religious.

I have and they are considerably less hostile than some of the lunatics on here.

They are actually not pricks about it like they are here. And I respond in kind.

Who are you talking to? Atheists don't exist. God says he has made himself evident to all men, and God never lies. So that makes those who claim that he doesn't exist; those who believe their own lies, liars. So you are a liar, talking to liars. Enjoy your time on earth, because it's all you'll get. You have chosen a path to destruction. It is not God's will that any perish, but he will defend your right to choose all the way to hell if that's what you want.

The thing with Y!A R&S is that the theists will almost always be deluded and at times quite amusing extreme fundamentalists. In reality most theists acknowledge that their position is one of faith and are happy to keep to themselves. Only extremists will try to argue using only their faith as evidence, as they'll inevitably lose miserably.

Most people in society don't see atheism as something to react to. Here, it's the majority (or at least it almost was a few years ago, I assume it's passed over 50% by now but if it hasn't then it must still be close) and the default.

I live in Denmark and over here people would find you weird if you ARE christian... Most people here are atheists or at least agnostics

I often discuss this with my husband. He is a theist (he says he is a "Christian" but knows nothing about the religion). We have respectful conversations all the time. We are never rude to one another about it and we take the time to hear what the other has to say.

Whenever there's a relevant discussion, I express my disbelief in god/gods and listen, in turn, to what other people say.

Only rarely have I been criticized and no ones made a genuine effort to convert me.

I'm sure some of them have had deeply murderous thoughts about me but, unlike here, they'd actually have to deal with the consequences of their actions if they took to condemning me to a 'fiery lake' and the like.

They tend to assume that everyone believes in a Deity and atheists are all just somehow upset with god. In my experience they can't fathom atheism at all.

Most of my friends generally aren't bothered by it. Or at least they hide it well.

But I did have a coworker who called me a devil worship per. I noted the irony and then went on with my business.

I play football with some friends who are deep believers. They believe in God more than most theists here on Y!A. And they know that I don't believe in any God and we have discussed about it, but they didn't react the way the people on Y!A react. They accepted my view and they still have me as a part of their "gang" and team. We are good friends, actually.

Yes, with a couple of close friends of mine and my sister.
They seem to think I'm atheist because I lack understanding of the Bible and it's just a phase. Mostly just innocent chatter with a tone of debate. I trust these people for a reason because they are going to love me and accept me no matter what. Their reactions are obviously different than people here. However, If a stranger told them they were atheist i think they would be a lot more judgmental about it.

They know that I'm not a "sinner" or an unethical person, but they can't seem to apply that logic to atheists who are also strangers...and satanic.

There is only one person I have ever even remotely hinted to that I am an atheist, my cousin in Louisiana. Rather than acting like the Internet Christian, she was kind and understanding, going through a very similar stage in her own life. She said she'd keep me in her prayers, and that she was available to talk to if I ever needed to.

If there was ever a person that could convince me that there is a loving god out there, she would be it.

Some of friends will call be a heathen for fun. But among my friends we respect each other for who we are. The minister of the local church knows I am not an evil person because he sees all the charity and volunteer work i do.

I have with my family. We argued about it. but not in like a mad way, it;s just my sister's and I like to debate. And so does one of my sister's husband, but oddly he was quite most of the time.... Eventually it became a joke for the sister that lived with me and my father to make comments to me, and me to her. Eventually she saw it as going "too far" when I made a comment about the show she was watching about some guy selling his soul to the devil to be a werewolf. (this is suppose to be reality t.v.) I jokingly said, "I'd sell my soul to the devil to become a werewolf. It's more then what I'd get for it from Jesus or God." That and something about my father erasing a picture of a villain I had draw off the message board in then kitchen. He thought it was suppose to be Satan. So he put, "Satan isn't welcome in this house." I then erased the "NT" and then my sister got all freaked out and moved out and in with my other sister, and my father ripped the message board off the wall.......

I've had several conversations about belief and non belief that were face-to-face, including one yesterday. Although the reactions are generally less incendiary than those I encounter on Y!A, there seems to be no pattern to the responses.

Yesterday, I was talking to a woman who made frequent and repeated references to praying, thanking God, going to church, etc. She asked me at one point if I was praying about something (I think it was the crisis in Japan), and I mentioned that I wasn't religious. She didn't raise her voice or change her tone, but told me that religion was something that was just for show, and that belief was what mattered. Oddly, she then told me that I believed because I was a good person. I told her that I did not, and that I was a good person based on personal philosophies, and those did not line up with many of the Bible's teachings. She replied that my philosophies were there because God gave them to me, and therefore by abiding by those philosophies I was a DE factor believer. She went on to say that God must have made me (yes, "made") believe in that way to protect me from the Devil's influence. I was stunned.

My fiancee is Catholic (-sh), and I am an atheist. We talk about religion frequently, and we're both mindful not to disrespect one anther's belief/disbelief. Her children have been raised to be religious, and occasionally they ask me questions regarding religion. When the questions pertain to my beliefs, I try to speak in terms of what I know (nothing) versus what I believe. When the questions involve religion in general, I try to answer them in a way that she would, since I don't feel that it is my place to interfere. Our family has a very open and loving relationship, and the differing feelings about religion do not adversely affect us.

The most outspoken that I generally get regarding my disbelief is during the course of political discussions. Politicians legislating according to religious beliefs is a sore subject for me, and many times I've found myself in a heated debate over abortion, the teaching of evolution in schools, or the like. As yet, I've restrained myself from challenging someones religious views directly, although this gets difficult at times. I do freely challenge certain components of religious views when they interfere with politics, and with my own life as a result. Oddly, any facts and logic that I bring to the conversation have never swayed the opinion of the person that I was debating. Even with the olive branch of "you can believe however you want, but you can't legislate constraints onto others based on your own beliefs," no religious-based opinion has ever yielded so much as a compromise. Arguments over constitutionality, ethical pleas, non-religion-specific alternatives; nothing has ever affected a political stance based on religion.

I used to but after losing friends and positions, having parents forbidding their children to speak to me, being shunned publicly for being a "Satan worshiper" and people insistently trying to preach at me trying to "save" me I stopped. I live in SE Texas