I tend to nod my head and smile.

yeah, i'll echo hamby's response.  a lot of people know me in this area (plus 80% of the google hits for my name involve atheism) so it's not that big of an issue - personally.  if i'm in a situation where i feel uncomfortable saying something about my atheism, it's probably in a scenario where none of us should be discussing religion anyway.

on occasion i hear from someone i haven't spoken to in 10 years.  typically these are people that went to catholic school with me.  if they still maintain their faith i usually don't even have to say a word.  one look at my profile and they block me... sometimes it's more shocking to them than my wheelchair (only had it for 5 years).  now that really tells you something about a person, doesn't it?

I have no problem with letting people know that I am an atheist, nor do I have problems discussing religion and my viewpoint thereof.

If they have a problem with me because of my belief's and they choose not to interact with me anymore then that is their problem, not mine.

Yeah...

So, they get to ostracize you, call you an evil person, and then tell you that you ought to shut up because you're the one going to hurt someone's feelings.

In psychology, that's called projection.

Damn, Kathie.  I thought I was the only insomniac on at this hour!

Anyway, yeah, I get that all the time.  At least I believe in something!  You atheists believe in nothing!

Besides being absolutely, totally, and in all other ways, inconceivably stupid, this argument is also really insulting.  First, the inconceivably stupid part.  It's a false dichotomy, asserting that believing in religion is the only alternative to believing in nothing.  Obviously, I could believe that there is no god, but that aliens are watching us from invisible spaceships hovering just inches above earth's atmosphere.  I could believe that everything is natural, and that everything conforms to real, objective laws of science.  I could believe that I am a brain in a vat, and everything I perceive is illusory.

The point is, there are many things to believe in, and a lack of belief in religion means only that.  It doesn't necessitate or imply what other beliefs a person might or might not have.

Second, how the fuck do you believe in nothing?

Third, how insulting!  This whole line of thinking suggests that I am somehow empty, and that my life is meaningless.  How dare they tell me I have no meaning when they have no idea what gives me happiness!?

By the way, if you haven't checked out my author section yet, you might like this article:

For New Atheists: Is This Really All There Is?

Once you get past the stuff about NDE's, there's a nice explanation of where and how atheists derive meaning from life, and what we are perfectly justified in believing.

We're much cooler than them, anyway.  We're hawt atheists on teh interwebs.

Ignore them only extremely rude people bring up religion (or atheism) for that matter in general conversation. There are times of course when its appropiate like at a church , an internet forum ,RE ,science lecture or discussing the news perhaps but to randomly bring it up really isnt needed

Welcome to the club.

I've just never found mornings to be remotely satisfying, and two decades of working until 3AM have left their mark.

If you like the article, feel free to trick your theist friends into reading it.  I love when theists try to argue with me about stuff like that.  Most of them are smart enough not to, unfortunately.

I usually ask a simple, practical question that gets everyone to laugh as a defensive response to being shown the utter irrelevance of such discussions. "If your car stalled and someone stopped,  is it more important that the peerson believes in God or isn;ta serial killer?".  I usually vary the question depending on the company like if I'm with a group of guys I ask "whats more important?  That she believes in God or that shes willing to give you a blowjob?"  That usually halts any discussion on religion becuase some guys try to act pious by claming they would not think to have a girl do such a thing and then the whole signifigance of blowjobs discussion begins which is much more relevant to what we do as human beings.

"the Force" doesn't exist??  That sucks, man! What's going to keep me from lasing through my leg on the quick draw...

You ignite the light saber BEFORE you draw it out . . . dumbass   And the Force doesn't, necessarily determine your light saber skill.  It can just enhance it by allowing you to see a few moments ahead while in a fight . . . . . . anyway . . . so the Lakers had their asses handed to them huh?

Aristotle might have believed that "essence" was the nature of a thing.  Little did he know that essence was merely a red spicy powder used to season various meals.

Some people think I'm atheist because they think I'm pissed off all the time.

I thought you were an atheist. I mean, you ARE pissed off all the time.

Do you have a blue shirt and a grouchy look? Ah? Closet atheist? You know you want to stop believing stuff. C'mon. Join the dark side. It's ... pretty much the same, except for the hot chicks. I'm talking 72 vir-- ... okay, they're not virgins, but who wants to deal with a woman who doesn't know what she's doing, right? Am I right? Am I right or am I right?

Let's recap.

Theist women: So conflicted, which is kind of hot, but ultimately annoying in a tedious way. No idea what she's supposed to do with her hoo-hoo. Also, she calls it "her hoo-hoo". Fuck.

Atheist women: Hot and bothered total bitch. Y'know that bitch-in-a-good-way bitch? Yeah. If she yells, "Oh God", she's talking to YOU, dude.

Theist men: Ew. Fucking ew.

Atheist men: That infuriating jackass prick son-of-a-bitch you always hoped would bring you the multiple lobotomy-class orgasms from the heavens you've been dreaming of. That's right. It's right here on the badge, baby. How you doin'?

"You went from God being as obvious as my foot in your ass to being as mysterious as Carmen in Sand Diego within 5 minutes? Buh Buh BIZZAM BOI!!!.  And one more for your mother! oo ooOO OOO BAM!"

Cocky, aren't we?

At the very least I should be able to provide you with audio. Gimme a couple of days.

I am quite upfront.

How does looking pissed of make you Atheist??

If there were more theists than atheists, it'd probably be the other way around. Where do you work that's so godless?

Not a day goes by in my office that I don't hear the G-bomb (in a praising sort of way, though I say it vain behind my closed office door almost constantly).

I think my friends realized I was an atheist before I did. I never gave a second thought to dissing religion in all it's forms.

I always spoke my mind about what I thought about theism even before I intentionally questioned faith.

For me the great realization of atheism wasn't that I didn't believe, it was that so many other people did.

As a result, my usual reaction to  theism rearing its head in conversation was/is akin to "Oh, That Crap?"

Ok, so it's not polite.

They should make a t-shirt that says something like "be the 4th person to bring up your religion to me today and win a free kick in the taint."

And besides, they wouldn't like us when we're angry . . *tries to turn green* . . . one day . . . it will happen.

Where I live, there are many atheists. And theists are usually not serious about their beliefs. Nobody gives a fuck anymore lol

But there are still blind believers (the sort that never picked up a bible) who will say dumb shit. And since we're at it, there are atheists who won't know why there are still monkeys on the planet if we evolved from them.

Religion rarely comes in a conversation, and when it does, it's normally constant mindless bashing. I don't hang around with very intelligent people, I must say.