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How many atheists do you know and consider them to be a "good" friend?

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Blackthought73 5 July 28
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48 comments

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1

Here in the Bible Belt, it's rare to meet a thinking person (atheist). ๐Ÿ˜Ÿ

I have three good friends who are atheists, but only one lives here.

Do you sincerely believe that anyone who is not an atheist is not a thinking person? Is your opinion about religion the only correct one?

Some of the most brilliant and creative people throughout history have not been atheists.

In the South 5% say they are atheists or agnostics while for the country as a whole itโ€™s 7%. Big deal.

<a href="https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/#geography" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="forumlink">[pewforum.org]

@WilliamFleming Some people compartmentalize their brains. At school and work they do some serious thinking. But then on Sunday Mornings, they stop thinking, and they exercise blind faith in mythology. So, you are correct. Some faithful people are thinking people in other aspects of their lives.

But if they were CONSISTENT thinkers, including on Sunday mornings, they would soon discover that the religious mythology hasn't got a leg to stand on.

@BestWithoutGods Yes, I agree. Some thinking people pay no mind to the myths but they think deeply about the mystery of reality and our place as conscious beings.

8

A lot of us are pretty secularly lonely I see. I can't think of a single good friend I share a passion for atheism with. Sobering poll.

Sadly enough

4

I live in the south, Iโ€™m the only atheist here.

I think there are two of us! LOL.

4

If I get schizophrenia can I count my other personalities as good friends? If not then zero. But then I almost never speak to humans so... lol

3

20+
Most people in my social circle are atheists.

3

Tonnes. I'd say that the vast majority of my friends are athiests. Apart from the three clergymen, of course.

Edit: Then again, I'm from Australia, I studied geology, I've worked mainly in technical fields and I moved to the UK. None of which are pathways to believer central.

3

I'll be blunt.

I have friends, but I haven't a clue how many are atheist, or how many are theist.

To be honest I tend to make friends with either people who choose not to wave their religious beliefs in your face, or have no such beliefs to wave. Either way the 'Are you an atheist?' question rarely arises.

3
  1. One of them is my sister .
2

I attended a Meetup with one other atheist. That is the extent of my contact with atheists here in lovely St Pete, Florida.

2

I know hardly any and I'm also not seeking them out. I'm going to start telling door knockers that my religion is "non-delusional."

2

Zilch. Moved from San Francisco, where I had many, to the bible belt, where I have none. I haven't made a single friend here actually. It's very sad.

@StrongBow Yep. That pretty much sums up my experience. I'm in Nashville and for some reason thought it would be better here. I can't imagine it being any worse than it is here. But I'm here for at least another 15 years so will try to make the best of it.

My experience basically.

@StrongBow I know you are right. I just need to work much harder at finding my tribe.

@JoyofLife Me too. Right now I'm focused on working two jobs to eliminate debt, but have vowed to search for my tribe once I have some free time.

2

I donโ€™t know many who are out, but the ones I know are freaking amazing people.

2

Over 5? Wow. Just about everyone of my friends are atheist and Iโ€™m not discriminating.

That's a great thing...freethinkers are always great to have in your circle of friends

2

unknown...rarely discuss religion with anybody...

2

Weird question. I count among my good friends people who are kind and who believe all people have the unalienable right to live with dignity. This includes Atheists, Agnostics, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hare Krishna and Spaghetti Monster devotees.

you left out the Great Pumpkin ๐Ÿ˜Ÿ

@seattlepanda Alas, I count no Great Pumpkin ๐ŸŽƒ worshippers among my friends. I need to expand my circle.

2

I wish I knew more. Most of the atheists I know are people who I interact with online, none of whom know me personally or have met me IRL. I also know some through a couple of atheist meetup groups where I'm a member, but I don't attend their meetups often because they usually discuss religion more than if I'd attended church, and/or there's always 1 or 2 guys holding court, sucking up all the air in the room, dominating the conversation and not letting anyone else get a word in edgewise and only responding positively to people who agree with them. I stopped attending those meetups regularly for those reasons and consider the people I've met to be acquaintances, not friends.

Most of my co-workers are religious, which initially surprised me when I started working in public education, but I've learned over the years that a lot of religious people feel education is their 'calling,' so that's why there's so many of them. It makes it hard to find a true friend-base at work, though.

I know of only 1 atheist at work, an older woman who volunteers on campus twice a week. She's very sweet and doesn't broadcast her atheism. I found out she is because I was broadcasting mine. I don't do it often at work; I pick and choose those battles carefully because it always stirs up negative reactions and feelings, which I don't need at work. But this was one of those days when I'd had it with the religious nonsense and I spoke up. I made a fairly innocuous comment, but the volunteer recognized what I was saying and later told me she shared my feelings. It was good to hear, but since I see her only sporadically at work and we have very different social circles and lives, we don't interact outside of work, so she's just an acquaintance who shares my philosophy.

There may be 1 other atheist at work, but I don't know for sure, since he's never openly said anything, at least not to me. I know he's no fan of the catholic church, which he made clear when we attended the funeral of a co-worker's family member a few years back. It was held in a catholic church, and he made several whispered comments on his feelings about the catholic church. Not surprising, since he's a gay guy, but I don't know if that hatred translates into atheism.

Yeah, I've seen some of those guys at meetup.

@itsmedammit There's a few of them here, too.

2

I belong to a Humanist group, most would say they're atheist if they they had to go beyond the Humanist label.

2

I have no idea how many atheists I know, as I simply do not talk about religion in normal conversation.

1

Not sure...a few. Suspect many are still in the closet.

1

Dozens, at least

1
1

I'm in my 30's, having more than 5 close friends is itself an accomplishment

1

A better question is how many Christians do I consider a โ€œgoodโ€ friend.

I have several good friends who are christians.

1

I know a lot (thank you atheist meet-up!) and my three closest friends are all atheists.

1

Well and truly above the 5+ amongst my good and trusted friends plus many more among my 'acquaintances,' etc. But I'm in Australia and despite us being saddled with a Happy Clappy Jesus Chappy Faithfool as Prime Minister for the next 3 years ( if the Liberal-National Party don't have another of their 'party spill' episodes that is) we ARE still a very Secular Country.

1

Iโ€™d say about 15% are atheists, 20% are humanist or agnostic, about 40% believe in some type of god, God/Goddess, and 25% donโ€™t give any thought to it at all.

UUNJ Level 8 July 29, 2019
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