Nothing too drastic, but a very religious person that I work with and am friendly with asked me once in front of others why I was volunteering at a soup kitchen (serving dinner) and a homeless shelter (tutoring children) run by the Catholic church when I'm "not even a Christian." I was embarrassed, and it made me feel bad about myself -- though I'm not really sure why, because I'm SURE that I'm not Christian! It's something I won't forget.

When they told my (ex)husband and children I didn't really love them because I didn't have the love of Jesus in my heart. Yea.

Their sanctimonious arrogance.

Meeting them!

They instill insanity in individuals that cause horrendous statistics of domestic violence, which the family courts ignore. As a group they cause endless wars over territory and the control of nations. The struggle between religion and government is a cold war that takes no prisoners.

I've worked at several women's clinics, as a medically-trained assistant, and as an escort.
The people who would come out regularly to protest were some of the worst examples of religious fanatics I've had the displeasure to witness. The attacks were unrelenting and surprisingly personal in their nature. Some of these people even brought their children with them, and had their kids holding signs and shouting vile slogans. These people all professed their belief in their god.

My worst experiences are with Christians. For some odd reason, they tend to want you to agree with them, and have an opinion that is more important than any other religious group out there. I so strongly believe that that they are blind, that I find their hypocrisy annoying. A girl I know very well, for instance (who is a drug addict, hardly educated and packed full of negativity, also very judgmental of anyone who strives to be different of others) once put me on the spot by randomly blurting that I was an atheist in front of about 4 people that I didn’t know. I was aggravated. I was aggravated that I had to explain to these people what an atheist is and that it really isn’t a choice. If i could go about life in a religious manner that suited me and what comforts me, then maybe I would. But I can’t. I won’t. The loyalty I have to being an atheist would never let me stoop down to this level. Also common sense and dignity could never make me agree with the bullshit. Atheist are seemingly arrogant and that may be true in some sense, but get around some good ol’ lazy Christians to test your patience and tolerance. Reading their bullshit on social media is enough for me. My grandmother is another example of a backwards ass christian. She is unseemingly racist, very judgmental and is that Trump supporter who wants to see unnecessary bullshit (like deporting dreamers) happen. She is also a Christian. She was raised in a different generation, yes, But the hypocrisy is undeniable. Do any other atheist struggle to communicate with Christians or any other religious group?

Birth. I was born i a catholic hospital, then put in a catholic orphanage, on to catholic school, catholic on and on, once they died? party down.

Being stalked and persecuted having idiots trying to cause you trouble and trying to harm you physically and mentally.

Actually, I laugh to myself when people tell me I am going to hell, because their view of heaven must include gated communities.

Breach of trust, justified by their beliefs. Many experiences...

My first husband was very religious. We went to a church in a new town where we moved and they were standing all around me wanting me to talk in tongues. From across the room my husband began yelling in tongues and that shut them up LOL

Meeting and talking to them.

My uncle was a Pastor, he raped me and my siblings repeatedly over many years ( about a dozen) He is a pedophile.
I went to the police; no one believed that he would be like that.
forward 30 years - he was run out of town - BUT just moved to someplace else he can go volunteer at the YMCA!

It was also my final straw in leaving the church. I had been going to an "all faiths" christian church back in 2003, and it was the realization when that the preacher had a prayer, every day, that was talking about how god will send checks in the mail, lottery winnings, cash, and the like if you believe in only him. I looked around me, and saw people with their arms up in the air trying to hug nothing, a lady in the back was yelling in babble (speaking in tongues), and at least 4 people were on the ground in what could only be described as a seizure. The word cult formed in my head, and I just couldn't get rid of it. I tried to talk to the preacher after everyone had left, and he only chastized me for not having faith, and giving everything I had, which really wasn't much. My wallet was already empty, so I threw it at him, and told him to stop preaching to my wallet, and I walked out.

Being considered as an outsider, strange, beyond the pale.

I get so tired of people saying that Heaven and Earth was formed in six days. In response, I wrote this. Feel free to cut and paste it into a saved text document for your own use if you want to.

The witness of Genesis
Hi, I'm the kind of person who sees what is missing in arguments. Here's a few observations if anyone is interested. Feel free to use these observations as your own if you like them.
I'm quoting from here: [en.wikipedia.org]
1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Ok, who is narrating this story, God? If so, does he normally refer to himself in the third person?
What was God doing before the beginning? When was time created? Where did God come from? Why did God create heaven and earth, was he bored?
1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Ok, God has a voice that he uses to command whatever to make stuff for him, and eyes for some reason since he apparently needs light to see in the dark even though he is God and doesn't need them.
And again, who is watching all this, his wife?
It goes on and on, God said, did, made, saw, etc., until...
1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Now, who is this "us" he is talking to? So God looks like a man? Great, God has a penis. Is it a big one? Why did God only have one son when he could have as many as he wants?
1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Yeah, yeah, God created a woman to be Adam's friend, cuz God's not a queer, right?
1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Basically, God says, "Adam and Eve, if you want more people, make them yourself". I guess God's getting tired of creating, so he gave his people genitalia so he could watch them make more people for him.
Let's see, Adam and Eve had three kids, and two of them had kids. Where did those kids mothers come from if there were only four people on earth?
Ok, I'm tired of this fairy tale. Now just because some well intended story made it down through the ages to King James I doesn't mean we have to discard the good things about the Bible. I think things like "Honor thy father and thy mother" and "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" are good things that we should keep and pass along. Do I believe in God? Yes, but I don't think he is some old guy with white hair and a beard looking down from the sky at us. He's more than that and I kinda dislike using the word He. For me, the laws of physics that describe nature have an elegance and simplicity that just couldn't exist by chance. Do I believe in science? For the most part, but things like the idea that genetics will one day allow us to have designer children and make organisms from scratch using synthetic DNA scares the hell out of me, so Bible thumpers, keep thumping, but don't just blindly follow what is written in any book. Ask questions, lots of questions. Btw, it's okay to have a question that we don't have an answer to, like the origin of the universe. Is the Big Bang correct? Shrug. I still have questions, like what was before the Big Bang and what was existence like before Time existed or did Time always exist? Does all of Time exist already or is the universe still forming and changing? Does the past still exist? How long is "Now"? Why do we remember the past and not the future? If we don't know something, we simply don't know, so let's not pretend we do.

I'm thankful I can't remember anything personally, but my daughter, who was raised with no religion (and honestly, I don't know what she considers herself) has often been told by classmates that she is going to hell. She wears a beautiful pentacle pendant we bought at some Renaissance Fair, and was once told by a complete stranger that she was going to hell because of that. She's been asked if she's a Satanist.

However, she does celebrate a secular version of xmas, but her tree is black.

My worst "in-person" experience occurred while I myself was still religious. While in high school, I invited a friend to come to the church youth activities with me. The Young Women's leader saw her as an outsider from whom she needed to protect her "flock" because she was an openly butch lesbian. This leader and the bishop spoke with her and told her that she would not be welcome back at church unless she made changes to her dress and behavior. She then told me that she wasn't interested in attending a church where she wasn't accepted for who she was. While this was directed at her rather than myself, I was emotionally crushed.

Online, I once received a legitimate death threat from someone who admitted to having killed his brother for being gay.

I have met some religious people and groups that have the personality of destructive cults. I hesitate to go into too much detail about this though because a lot of people don't know about cults and how they work. But if anyone has experienced anything with cults, feel free to add to this.

the church begging us small kids for our money for the movies and candys all the while the three prieststhat told us it is a sin toto have possesions the drove a benz a caddy and a lincoln

It would be a long story to tell, so I will just say it was when my parents shunned me

Baptism through confirmation. Sunday school. Asking questions and seeing the horrified looks on the nun's faces. Seeing the priest red with rage that I should ask such things.

I was fourteen or fifteen. One of those "emo" cutter kids who had scars running up and down my arm. I started going to and afterschool youth group held by a local Evangelical church at my school and enjoyed what they were teaching... Until one day they sat us in front of a video and halfway through the video it said that I was going to hell for cutting. That was when I realized that everything my parents (who are Asatru) taught me about the Abrahamic religions was right. I continued to go, but my mind was racing and eventually I left and never looked back.

When I was told the difference between god & the devil was that god could read my mind & the devil could not.