I had a lady ask me if I believed in God and I replied, "Who's God?". The problem as I see it is not the belief in God but the belief that your God only has value if it or the belief in it gives you some undefined superiority over the ones who choose not to believe or believe in a different God.

Trump not the most politically savvy man around claimed to be a believer and had his Bible with him on his inauguration day. I could tell by his body language it was a stunt. Believer or not he needed to appeal to a country that does not take well to Atheism. Even non religious people bulk at the idea. Exceptions abound of course and varies State to State. So tred carefully if you don't want to upset them.

Personally if your not willing to lie then your silence is a better option. Its not fair but as an Atheist you must see the world as it is. If you disagree I will not mind. I like disagreement it stimulates my mind but I implore you to only reject this because
you think it is wrong not because you don't like it.

Why would you say you are an atheist unless someone asked you, I am 71 and I have never been asked.

“I am an atheist”?

If and when the topic comes up I find that I am most interested in revealing the fact that I am not Christian so that is what I say. That seems to draw less of a reaction than saying I am agnostic.

If they are strongly religious and I don't want to frighten them, I will refer to myself as a non-beliver rather than an atheist. For some reason it seems to be a more acceptable term.

I just tell them, I'm not terribly worried about what they think, and if they can't accept it that's on them.

I'm not saying it to people I don't know already, generally only been under certain circumstances,
or unless they ask me directly.

The last couple I had at the door, I told them I was 100% atheist. They said “oh” looked somewhat scared and walked away.

I never volunteer.... if they really push the envelope and want to know then usually all I have to do is to say "you don't want to know". That throw them off and cannot tell if I am joking or what.

The incredible thing is that they think it all means you know nothing about god. It was my studies that made me a non-believer.

Just say "I am yet to see compelling evidence for any supernatural entity". Most will dazel at your big words and move on to talking about something else.

If they want to start to convince you, I ask for a set date and time to debate. No one will take you up on it. I think many who claim religion are really on our team and are not at a place where they can embrace it. I am content to let them do as they like.

They ask what church I go to and I say "I don't".. Done

I don't start by telling anyone I'm an atheist. If a person who doesn't know that I am starts sharing about their beliefs but keeps it brief, I say nothing. If a person shares about their beliefs to the degree that it's obvious they want to keep the topic going, or makes an automatic assumption that I share their beliefs (not uncommon in my neck of the Bible Belt) I enlighten them by saying I am not a believer. For acquaintances who know that I am an atheist, but bring up the subject for more than 10 seconds, I make one attempt to change the subject. If they persist, I leave them to their own company. Life is just too short.

I'm a "devout agnostic", but I never volunteer the fact. I just smile and nod when religious beliefs cross my path.

My mom always taught me it's not the best idea to open with religion, politics, , or sex. if these people know you and are true friends they'll respect what you believe just as much as you respect their beliefs. Be atheist, or whatever you want to be, and proud teach others why you believe what you believe like they teach what they believe. Everything is a two way conversation and in the end you don't need to agree on everything.

As soon as any conversation turns to "god" etc , I just say, "I'm an atheist" and I usually find that most people are too, so it's pretty easy. I live in British Columbia Canada, and apparently most people here are non religious, so I guess I'm really not that brave LOL

When I was a (paid) construction supervisor for Habitat for Humanity, sometimes people would ask me. I talked about the work, how the ancients believed we should do our best work, even where it doesn't show, because the gods can see in there. But I believed that we should do our best work where it mattered, whether that is concealed inside an electrical box, or outside where it is visible. And I didn't care whether "the gods" can see in there or not.

Sometimes, if someone pressed me one-on-one, I'd admit that I was a "born-again heathen", which threw them because they (briefly) thought I was going to say something else. (To their credit, Habitat never asked me about my "faith" before I was hired. And it was a broad, major-metropolitan chapter of HfH which was non-sectarian and was not affiliated with any specific church. I don't think I could have worked for a specific-church-based group.)

In other contexts, I'm open about being an atheist, though I might say secular humanist first. I have complained that there is no "secular humanist" check-off on Matchdotcom, and if you are on there, you should, too. Sometimes I say, "I'm a Free-thinker, which is an old name for an atheist." "Free-thinker," because the word is so little-known today, seems less threatening to the religious believers. I might speak about freedom of religion, which I do believe in, and I say there is no freedom of religion unless there is freedom FROM religion. Everyone is an atheist regarding other people's gods. (If you're not sure about that, ask a Christian if they believe in Allah, or Thor.)

There is no telling what words might offend people, though. I recently told my sister "I'm not a religious man," which she surely already knew. (She was asking me to participate in a ceremony that I chose not to do so.) Her response was that she hated that word ("religious" ) and didn't want to hear it again (though it surely describes her and the upbringing she is giving her kids). My response was that I had said the same "I'm not a religious man" to our very devout, late grandfather, and he just replied, "I know."

Sorry for running on so long. Thanks for listening. I'm glad to be here.

I normally don’t share unless i am asked my religion or I feel that the person is open to talking to an Athiest. Some times I tell people I am a humanist, “good without god”. But Athiest has a stigma that makes it hard. Recently I have been telling people I am an Athiest, but it can get awkward. ?

Naturally they will try and say there is a gawd, I counter with asking what they learned about 1492 in school. After a few seconds the rhyme in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue will pop out. I then explain that in 1492 many people still believed the earth was flat, something we know today to be ridiculous. I then point out that 1492 was only slightly more than 500 hundred years ago. A long time, but not a real long time, and that if people were that naive that recent, just imagine what they would fall for 2000 years ago.
Then there's the whole issue of non-flying birds (Penguins) in Antarctica and how the Ark must have swung by and dropped them off. (Hey, anti-Ark-tica, thats funny)

I’ll tell you what absolutely floors me though. I am a hairstylist with a large clientele, most of whom I’ve become close to over the years, so naturally I have some religious clients, and naturally the topic of religion has come up. There have been people I’ve told that I’m atheist, only to have them tell me “No you’re not! You just think you are!” I just laugh at them and assure them that I am, and they tell me they’ll pray for me. I just look at them and say “if you like, it can’t hurt”. It seems to satisfy them, and they don’t usually bring religion into our time together very much after that!

Unless the topic of religion is raised, I don’t feel the need to state that I’m atheist. If it is though, and the person is really bible thumping, I will tell them matter-of-factly that I’m a non-believer, and depending on their reaction, we will continue conversing or I will politely withdraw from the discussion.

It depends on the situation. If they're set in their ways about religion I tend not to speak on it.

I generally stick to discussing the the things I DO believe in, and if asked, tell people I struggle with religion (which is 100% true). Because of where I'm from, it's just a natural response for people to tell me to "pray about it" or "leave it to God." I choose to respect their beliefs and don't belittle people for those statements because I know it comes from a place of love, even if I don't believe in it myself. And to answer another commenter's question: Yes, believers deserve respect just as much as any other human being. If we went around persecuting every member of a group because of what SOME people in that group did in the name of religion, then we can't expect to be respected either.

My advice is move! Run!! Dont let em get ya?

Let the discussion first moving and after few exchanges, the other guy will eventually found out you are not a Christian believer. And that makes the discussion interesting for me without deviating from the topic.