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Have you lost any friends because of your religious non-belief? After the publication of my memoir last summer (2017), six of my so-called friends (all currently Catholic or now inactive but raised Catholic) noticeably distanced themselves from me. When confronted, two admitted their behavior was due to my "excessive" badmouthing of religion in my book. Has a similar thing ever happened to you?

RobLawrence 7 June 17
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13 comments

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0

Not lost friends but some think I’m overly angry. They put up with it.

1

I never had many friends. I don't hide my views though. Nobody has told me they can't be my friend because of it. I'd tell them where to go anyway.

1

Pretty much all of my friends have tended to be non-believers as well, so the problem hasn't come up.

Denker Level 7 June 18, 2018

@RobLawrence it helps to live in a country where the majority of the population is non-religious...

0

I have been fortunate in this regard. My family was fundamentalist Christian but somehow, perhaps because of their origins in mainline denominational Christianity, managed to preserve their ability to mind their own business and be respectful of other's personal lives. So I never got any real guff there. I've never lived in the Bible Belt or rural locations since high school, so I'm usually in pretty live-and-let-live environments. I deconverted while physically distant from close family so it wasn't right in their faces. My wife at the time (since deceased) was that rare evangelical who didn't have a malfunction with my apostasy; our relationship was based on mutual interests outside of church for the most part, and mutual respect of course. And fatal illness has a way of clarifying things; she had bigger fish to fry than to be controlling around my beliefs.

So I pretty much won the lottery there all the way around.

1

They weren't friends to begin with.

2

True friends don’t abandon each other.

@Sheannutt certainly a true friend.

@Sheannutt then you both have treasure ?

2

Not me. Once they hear about the abuse I experienced from the clergy they rethink the god thing

0

Yes

EdEarl Level 8 June 17, 2018
3

To whom I told Im an Atheist all left me. I stopped telling to people im an atheist. My girl friend hatesand already left because I dint pay attention to god, even though we are from different believes. I feel sad that there are folks who avoid you just because of religion, anyway they are not true friends

0

I was never a believer so I didn't lose any one by "coming out". i do actually have some really great friends that are believers, had them for many years. I have however met many that had some real horror stories about things like losing their jobs, kicked out of the house, families disowning them and such just admitting that they didn't believe any more.

1

My son informed me once that his mom & I divorced because I was an atheist. This was news to me, as I wasn't yet. The boy was about 8 at the time.

My girlfriend left me 😟 for the same reason.

0

A little Socratic dialogue never offended anyone.

1

None worth worrying about.

Exactly.

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