Stuck in the bible belt....ugh
Offline I'll get my certification for respiratory therapy by next summer and the school I'm attending in Southwest Virginia has been all too happy to make much more annoying than need be. From what I can tell (crosses on necks, earrings, t-shirts, office photos of jesus) well over 90% of the proffessors and hospital staff are mind bogglingly christian. This makes absolutely no sense to me, working where you see death almost on an hourly basis and somehow every one of these people are getting coached into heaven as they're sounding out their death rattle. My teachers are constantly (probably without realizing they're doing so) saying things like "why did GOD make are trachea like this?" or "What did GOD have in mind when HE made us negative pressure breathers?" What the fuck?! is that even legal? My fellow students are just as religious and use the term athiest as a means a derogatory term towards people with say...dyed hair...or a metal shirt. My favorite story so far is during a pop quiz I said "WTF" didn't even say fuck..said..double you tee eff...someone asked what it stood for. I told them by saying eff...not fuck..and was then accused of corrupting her inoccence.hahaha yeah it's hilarious. So that being said here's my problem...do i continue to stay silent and just put up with this or politely ask them to refrain from religious references because we don't all share the same beliefs. I've stayed quiet so far because I have another year and a half with these people and I dont think I would become an outcast and have to try doubly hard to keep my 4.0 ...I KNOW I would become an outcast and would have to double check every assignment and question why it is I didn't earn the A. These are good people for the most part and are quite capable of providing a quality education, I just don't need the 8 lb 6 oz baby jesus teetering over my degree.
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p.s. my spelling and grammar have always sucked and i typed that post in about 3 minutes without editing it so please be nice when it comes to the our instead of are and the i before e's
Yikes! That many Xtian psychos and you're not even that deep into the Bible Belt [click for a photo]!
It's surely not ethical, but probably legal since you're in a secondary private school...
First you say these Xtian Bible Belt Psychotics suffering from a more severe and debilitating level of religious psychosis [a severe mental disorder in which contact with reality is lost or highly distorted] have been making their Xtianity annoying, and "use the term atheist as a derogatory term" in verbally attacking others different from themselves. Then you seemingly contradict yourself at the end by saying "these are good people for the most part".
They will remain 'good', or at least pleasant to your face only if they think you are like them - a religious psychotic. If you boldly fess up to being what they despise most, an atheist, they will surely no longer be 'pleasant' to your face and ridicule you behind your back. At least that's what I encountered on a short 1 year stint in TexAss, #1 State in America for Xtian Identity NeoNazi Groups! It’s a state ranked #1 in all the US of A for far right wingnut Christian identity Hate and Bigotry groups just a tad further right than the national GOP itself - more famous for its acronym as God’s Own Party, and now more than ever the Gay Old Party of Xtian-GOP Pedophiles
There in TexAss, the Xtian psychotics, like I noticed in Floriduh, are incredibly xenophobic about anyone different, meaning non-Xtian, and especially someone from a 'blue' state like Cali or NY where I'm from. In TexAss, I was frequently informed by 'good old boy bosses' that all Californians are 'faggots' and New Yorkers are theives. Most would be 'pleasant' up front, but typically deride me behind my back. Give me that up front and in your face more honest New York attitude ANY DAY over the phony Xtian personas I ran into in Floriduh or TexAss!
Back to your present problem. It's a tough call you'll have to make whether or not you 'come out of the closet' as an atheist to this 90% populace of Xtian psychotics. These 'good' people will obviously no longer become what you could call 'good' if you come out as an atheist given your previous observation about their xenophia labelling anyone different, or strange to be their dreaded atheist.
Personally, given my more 'outspoken' opposition to this mental illness called Christianity since the dawn of the 21st Century, I would not only inform them of my atheism when hearing their demeaning comments about non-Christians, but would demean them right back again.... You're grades might suffer unduly from their retribution..
If there was a God, Man wouldn't have had to invent him [reversing Voltaire's famous quote].
Yeah, that's a tough one. I'm very outspoken as an atheist, but there is some truth to that saying, "discretion is the better part of valor." I dunno what I'd do in that situation. Probably change schools, honestly. I guess that's not an option for you?
For me, eventually, someone would ask me to pray with them and I'd say no, and the cat would be out of the bag, because I just refuse to lie about my beliefs.
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
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I'm wondering what you're referring to when you mention that they are using religious referrences? You didn't mention anything specific in your post, so I can't give my best judgement as to what you should do.
I am, though, from SW Virginia (Roanoke), and in general I'd suggest you bite your toungue and not broadcast your atheism. If you have close friends with you there, that is a different question though. Maybe you could gauge them
The Enlightenment wounded the beast, but the killing blow has yet to land...
sigh....i'm going to school in roanoke....the religious references are when they explain...not always but sometimes the general anatomy they first ask why god structured it that way....and to respond to a previous post i have yet to go against being in athiest in that the one time i was asked to go to a church activity i said that i dont go to church and it was left at that. if they go as far as to pray then the cats outta the bag but until then i think mums the word for the sake of my own convenience.
How they wear crosses all the time reminds me of what Lenny Bruce said - (paraphrased for today) "If Jesus had died 70 years ago, Christians would be wearing electric chair necklaces."
Matt Shizzle has been banned from the Rational Response Squad website. This event shall provide an atmosphere more conducive to social growth. - Majority of the mod team
I think its best if you don't do anything right now. I know it must be hard not to say anything, but if you want good grades I think it would be best not to say something that would make change their mind about you. I know how unfair that is...but I don't see any other way.
OK everyone in fundy schools, you all have a new assignment!!!!
Keep a journal of your personal experiences at these schools. Document the students, as well as the faculty you encounter.
I would like to see the work of many eventually compiled into a big fat book on the behavior of (young adult) theists.
...Or has this been done already?
We must favor verifiable evidence over private feeling. Otherwise we leave ourselves vulnerable to those who would obscure the truth.
~ Richard Dawkins