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Hi! Im new here. Im in a Conservative Christian town so happy to have a safe space. If anyone else is in that situation, how do you deal with it? Especially at work.

lemonsaresweete 3 Aug 17
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7

I live in the bible belt Christians are the majority here. I don't socialize with anyone from work unless I know they are atheist or agnostic. I had problems before with someone finding out I'm an atheist and telling other co-workers. That quickly elevated to people not wanting to work with me because of various reasons. It turned into a huge case of discrimination and harassment with my employer because their policy is not to discriminate for race, religion, gender or orientation. Several people were fired many suspended with last warnings.

5

I live in washington state (East side) and some people are like okay you are an atheist and some get upset, and worst are the ones that follow me around walmart preaching the word of there invisible god. I just annoy them back by reminding them, you have the right to believe in what ever you want, just like me, same right gives me the right to not believe in your sky god or his so called zombie son. they usually start to leave me alone after a while.

I feel your pain 🙂. Ellensburg is pretty conservative, tho thankfully their are several people who understand the danger the current occupant in the WH presents. Some are religious and one is like me agnostic/atheist. It's the parking lot people or ones in the store that get annoying.

I'm in Spokane and it's... Ugh. People take it as a personal affront and somehow like I'm attacking them just by being different.

But I'm me, I'm good, and I like me. So I'm not too concernes

5

Quiet subversion. One of my old students gave me a shout out on FB the other day for teaching Orlando in an elective. She didn't fully catch on to the full gist of the novel back then. I said I just covered the lower interpretation of female entrapment in a male world - allowed the kid's intelligence to catch on later.

I did have a student tell me I was going to Hell; she then took every elective I taught.

5

I live in Wenatchee, WA, a rural, Christian and conservative area.

Ignorant rednecks dump trash in gullies. With intelligent, educated Democrats, we clean it up. I pick up litter everywhere I go.

With bumper stickers, I am figuratively giving the finger to Republicans:

Keep your theology
Off my biology

-and-

Washington State Democrat

With educated liberals moving to Wenatchee from Seattle and California, the number of Democrats increases every year.

Happily, 46% of local voters voted for Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections. Hillary Clinton got 45% of the vote in 2016.

@ToolGuy

Seattleites get tired of the constant rain, clouds and gloomy fog. Also traffic congestion is horrendous in Seattle. People in California want to get away from earthquakes.

Wenatchee has sunshine, clean air and no traffic congestion. People sell their homes in California and Seattle and can buy a house in Wenatchee for far less.

Wenatchee get 300 days of sunshine per year. Mission Ridge Ski Area has powder snow 20 minutes from town. Wonderful skiing, fishing, hiking, etc. Symphony, plays and musicals. Wenatchee is a medical center. We have four neurologists, two hospitals and hundreds of medical specialists.

4

Even working in the downtown of a major world class city in a deep blue state and still regularly walk by cubicles with Bible verses and Christian memes posted for all passers by to read. I just stick to the work and don't discuss religion and not engage when people do. I even used to have a boss with a big crucifix on his desk as if he was clergy. The bright side is that people who push their religious beliefs front and center tend to not become executives (or even managers in most cases). Anyway, stay strong and vent outside of work as needed, it's all we can do sometimes. At least until you're the boss.

4

Don't ask, don't tell

4

Because I live among people of my former religion I'm able to talk to them in ways that are supportive of their beliefs. I don't open up about my beliefs until I know someone well enough to know they won't judge me for them. It can be frustrating and difficult at times but it's also frequently rewarding. I'm much happier meeting them where they are at than I was as a religious person doing my best to determine who was "saved" and who wasn't. Work is actually a lot easier than my neighborhood since my neighbors all know I don't attend church.

4

I found a meetup group to hang in....they're my age and liberal. I keep my head down at work....but as an introvert, they have no clue.

4

Born in Portland, then 33 years in it’s rural anntithesis … hummm..

You will be pegged as ‘one of them,’ an ‘outsider’ having moved in to ‘change their way of life.’ So live & lead by example!

I was outspoken, with enough letters to editors to piss off the quadrant.. But, when they made sense ..they likely woke some. And, speaking up finds your kind.

Seek your kind, they’re there.. My children resented being raised amid right-wing red-neck gun-loving tobacco-spitting camo-waring ..punks. I hardly knew, because I’d long surrounded myself with the progressive elite.

So, children & school will add a degree of difficulty, even with some ‘home schooling.’

Find the Democrats … works every time! And those holding the party together are always best ...not necessarily those emerging from the woodwork during the heat of an election..

Turn to nature, the more you learn the more you’ll appreciate. And occasionally escape! I’d trek to Portland ..to attend monthly Atheist meetings, spending the night!

And remember - your rural brethren are mostly dumb, and will resent your education and inteligence. But - the ‘smart ones’ are dangerous; learn who to shut up around..

I’m still doing it, if 3K miles away … though with the same simpleton mentality as in rural OR.. I considered a city, grew up in P-town, but was spoiled by the country … so here I am, a-gin ~

Varn Level 8 Aug 17, 2019

@jorj I’ve lived longer in rural areas than a city, but have come to know both well … thus still ask - why are the US rural areas so consistently Republican..? Is it the water? Religion? Inbreeding? Generational arrogance..? Racism? Jealousy of the educated? Disrespect for science…?

They’re not trump’s base due to their intellectual equivalence to a college town..

@jorj Ignorance is a life choice? I’d say it’s a condition.. if self-inflicted. Intellectualism is discouraged, ‘real men’ only need so much ‘book learnin,’ ur else they’ll end up with four eyes! ...shit like that..

The ‘City Liberals’ I’ve known are, educators, production supervisors, health care providers … well educated physically fit parents concerned about the future.. They admire and appreciate knowledge, not feel it’s forever beyond them. Or, that they’ll be judged negatively for acquiring it.

I’m from the West Coast! Disregarding Alaska or Hawaii -- which of those three states gave us trump..? Not mine! ‘America’s’ heartless heartland did - with help of course from the usual suspects..

‘We got trump’ after decades and billions were spent attacking his opponent. ‘We got trump’ because we lost ‘the fairness doctrine’ (requiring equal public air time on political subjects & candidates), allowing several media entities to run full-time non-stop political propaganda denouncing anyone standing in their way of one-sided wealth and control.

‘We got trump’ because my nation was primed for his brand of evil and ignorance. ‘We got trump’ because instead of having paid attention to the important stuff … our society was chasing shiny objects and the latest trend. ‘We got trump’ because the russians knew Hillary would stand up to them!

And ‘we got trump’ because my rural brethren (the actual subject of the post) are nowhere near the moral, patriotic, land-loving, salt-of-the-earth folks they’d have us believe. They are less educated than their suburban counterparts, and apparently proud of it ~

@jorj ...don’t know why I’d hoped for more from you..

But you’re not alone around here, so tell me, as an Atheist or Agnostic, who’s going to best protect your freedom from religion?

Other than that, your accusations are childish and unworthy of my time ~

@Varn That was an interesting back and forth. I too have lived in the both city and rural. Willfull ignorance is EXactly the way to describe it. It devolves to stupid when after enough attempts they still only watch fox & friends to the exclusion of all other input. What is most disturbing and sad is the amount of knowledge literally at our finger tips and still if you only pick one view and ignore all the information you'll remain ignorant.

@silverotter11 This summer my county’s being wired with underground fiber, with eventual internet speeds as fast as anywhere. If the municipalities wish to keep up with the world, they’ll do it too. But yes, the information’s available for the ruralites to use.

Even in rural Oregon I could trek 30 miles to a college town with an ‘open to all library’ with high speed internet and knowledge galore 🙂 Their charter required them to provide material to all members of the county, though rarely used by any...

“jorj” above could be used as Exhibit A. No desire to learn is what it apparently comes down to. ‘At best,’ parrot talking points gleaned from ‘rush,’ or ‘fox,’ or as likely an online ‘white nationalist’ group.. Such remain, even move to the rurals to avoid the educated..

I’d volunteered bigtime in my kid’s rural school, so met parents.. Many having specifically moved from a suburban area to ‘make their stand’ in ‘the country.’ Like “jorj” above, they rejected education, consistently voting against school board candidates looking to improve any aspect of it, from curriculum to infrastructure. Then off to ‘Sunday school’ they’d go ..to donate big to ‘their church.’

It was tragic to watch my children’s school friends morph with time into closed minded, religion soaked, self-limiting adult versions of their parents... Or, those rebelling with drugs, pregnancies, reckless behavior and eventual homelessness. We’d helped some.. But it became all mine could do to escape.

A desire to ‘keep life simple’ seems the mantra of the ruralites.. But life’s not simple, especially if children continue to be pumped out with a religious mandate ..into an ever increasingly competitive world. They can hide in the hills, the basements of their churches, or the bunkers of their compounds ... but eventually the world will find them. Must be what all their guns are for?

Sorry for the tangent.. Still in the thick of it, rural ignorance remains a troubling aspect of my life. But the answer may be inside the word ‘ignorance,’ as they chose to “ignore.”

@Varn Thank you for sharing this. Really, I know what you are saying and it is sad to see the minds of people closing as the elected officials that have brought trumpthink to full flower. There really is war against knowledge. Working against it, working to get intelligent officials elected and the really bad ones out is a priority.

4

I do not hide a thing, and in fact, I flaunt it . . . . I love it when they challenge me, because I know their whole system is a huge house of cards. Any who dare to venture into that conversation about religion do not last long when it comes to that . . . . like, where the fuck did they get the penguins, polar bears and kangaroos for the "Ark", and if their god is so great, loving and merciful, why would he do something that a parent would never do . . . condemn someone to eternal suffering . . . . I challenge them every time they open their mouths about it, I am free . . . . they are the slaves.

Always wondered about the Ark. If god created all the animals in the first place, why did he not just recreate them, what did he need Noah for ? And why did all the land plants not drown, and if they did what did the animals eat when they landed, and........ ?

@jorj Until someone says the fatal two words . . . . "Prove it."

No doubt, some people are idiots . . . . not all though. Agnostics and Atheists have the false belief that they are wasting their time though . . . . but if they are wasting their time, it would not explain why I became an Agnostic . . . . . But that happens is, the Agnostic or Atheist has a discussion with an religio-nazi, and walk away thinking it was a waste of time . . . . but when the person they talked to has to think over what was said, and try to construct counter-arguments, they can't . . . . so they are forced to change their views. Everyone is influenced by what they hear, even the religio-fuktards, if it were not so, you would not see the results of all the shit the media is spreading.

3

Hiya. I live in UK where no one cares sorry...I can't comment. When I lived in USA I just told people I didn't go in for all that mumbo jumbo...they looked at me strangely then carried on.

3

I’m in Trump NJ golf country, and while I don’t know the religious makeup, I know the politics. Even the people at the dog park are snobby! I look elsewhere for friendship.

UUNJ Level 8 Aug 17, 2019

Wow, the other side of the Republican Coin 😉 ...I’m dealing with his inbred gun-toting worshipers in the hinterlands.. No golf for them ~

3

I live in a conservative christian state in the buy bull belt, but I don't live in a town or city for that very reason. I live secluded in the mountains and only go to town for groceries and gas and I do that at about 5am.

3

If the subject comes up, you simply reply that you're not religious. If they ask what that means, you explain that you follow none of the established religions. If they press further, you tell them that you've chosen a life that disavows religious faith and, as such, you practice no religion at all. If they continue to push beyond all that you tell them to step off or you'll f-ck them up so hard even god won't recognize them.

But say it nicely.

The PostScript is a nice touch. 😉

3

Welcome to the asylum. Enjoy your stay.

I've always been really defiant. I pretty much dare anyone to come at me because
I'm an atheist.
I've also been known to tell former co-workers to "keep that shit" to themselves.
What works for me doesn't work for everyone.
I really don't care if I piss people off.

I was never that defiant with co-workers or neighbors, but I was also open about who I was. Now that I am retired, I don't need to take any shit from anyone and don't.

You go sister!! Me too, I say "let your freak flag fly" LOL!

2

Wow . Crickets 😂😂😂

2

Welcome to the agnostic community. The way I'm dealing with religious people in the work place is focusing on my job duties. Meetup.com has non-believer groups near cities.

2

Keep to yourself

bobwjr Level 10 Aug 17, 2019
2

Welcome.

I don’t deal with living and working in a conservative Christian town. I moved the hell out years ago.

2

I don't hide who I am. With that said I spend a lot of time with my horse & pups.

2

Keep your head down and your opinions to yourself. Ask questions that make people think. Be careful you don't want to suffer. And now you have all of us to help you threw the day. Welcome

Good for you, Jolanta!

1

I live in Kamas Utah where the vast majority of the population is LDS and it is difficult. Some of the members know and I am not invited to a lot of activities anymore which makes me resent my hometown. As far as my work place goes sometimes the conversation comes up and I always state my view and say I don't believe in God and they actually respect it at my work place. As far as your situation goes I would just be open, honest, and respectful if you are being picked on by Christians at your workplace. I hope this was helpful.

1

Welcome to the site. When at work stay focused on your work. It can get a bit dicey especially if the boss is religious and allows a lot of religion in the work place.
There are progressives and liberals out there and you'll find them. Good luck. Enjoy this site and come vent whenever you need to. Check out the various groups!!

1

Most of the conservative Christians are far better people than those idiots on the left.

I have found many conservative Christians believe it is okay to force their beliefs on others, to the point of harassment - sort of like the way fundemental Muslims want to force Sharia Law on everyone, least the conservative Christians haven't resorted to stoning anyone, yet. I have yet to fine a moderate, liberal or progressive Christian or otherwise so inclined. I currently reside in a conservative area of WA State. Everyone is welcome to their opinion and belief I do not find it necessary to ever call anyone names for their belief or opinion - the president or elected officials aside, they knew the job was dangerous when they took it.

@silverotter11 I haven’t had any trouble declining the Christain overtures myself and have found almost all of them to be good people. I think a lot of them are Christian more because of tradition than because they truly believe. However you do occasionally religious nut but I usually just ignore those.

@silverotter11 When people attempt to force their beliefs on others by harassment & intimidation, they are insisting they are right because they deeply fear they are wrong. People who are secure in their beliefs may offer those beliefs to those who seem interested, but they don't force or demand acceptance

@Remiforce That is true.

1

I am in Texas and it is bad. People bring religion to work, play rosaries on radio, talk about prayers, we have Christmas (not holiday) parties. There is a church in front of the building and people go frequently together. If you talk about atheism at work, you are are a social outcast.

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