Mentally sane closeted atheist
The other day I found a question really interesting, and it went like this “how can I stay mentally sane while being a closeted atheist in a religious majority country?” and I really don’t know because I was never mentally stable to start with, but I do have some recommendations on how to stay sane.
The first thing I want to say is to never come out of the closet before you are ready, I was forced to come out during a tremendous fight with my family and it had horrible effects, you should wait until you are ready and with arguments for your position clear. Besides, I think being in the closet for a long period of time gave me a good look of how people really are towards atheists, what they really think, because once you’re out, they would probably never be the same. For example:
When I was in the closet my uncle said during a dinner- “atheists are horrible people that all they want is not to think about judgement while they do horrific things in this world, but judgement will come up to them!”-. But after I came out of the closet they suddenly were “concerned” about my soul and my spirit, but no one called me a bad person.
So, don’t worry if your family seems horrible and you don’t want to say anything to them about your atheism, I understand, but please don’t try to ignore the things they say, take notice.
And that leads me to another recommendation. Usually the way religious people defend their faith is by using arguments that are ridiculous and poorly backed, in my case it was all attacks to morals and personality of atheists. You can easily take that, and even if you don’t want to argue, take those “arguments” and use them to be proud of your atheism.
I’m not saying that all religious people are assholes towards atheists, because they are not, but at least in the case of my family they continue to be insensitive people towards atheists. I’m happy I get to be far away from them, but when I was a closeted atheist, what I did is that I took all the hate and not only accepted it, but welcomed it.
The last thing I have to recommend is for you to talk about your situation. I would recommend to talk to people that are in the same position that you are, having an atheist friend made all the difference to me when the times were rough, but if that’s not possible you can go to a professional.
When I was having trouble I went to a professional as well, but she happened to be a Christian so I never had the courage or the confidence to tell her what was happening, and that’s why I recommend to find yourself an atheist person to talk to.
Remember, there is nothing wrong with being a closeted atheist, and you don’t need to come out before you think is time to do so. You can come out by levels, for example, tell people you are a deist before telling them that you are an atheists.
Don’t forget you can do things for the atheist community while being a closeted atheist.
All I have to say is to take the most benefit you can out of being a “spy” for the other side ;P as you can, at least in my case it had helped me a lot to write.
Yay!.. finally I am meeting another athiest here!! FELLOW ATHIEST FOLLOW ME @trentnico AND I WILL FOLLOW YOU BACK!!
Done 😊
Okay, back at a real keyboard now...
Although I can never say "I know how you feel" because I was raised in a half-Christian family in the UK which is barely religious in the first place, I would say many of the things you say sound familiar to me. I go to a Meetup group called Beer Not God in my area and we often have attendees who went through similar experiences or are even still in the closet to their families. If you are looking for like-minded folks checking Meetup.com to see if there are any atheist groups meeting in your area could be a good start. There may be other ad-hoc groups - you might find folks via other larger orgs like American Atheists who have local chapters. Another "code word" to look for is secular humanists or just humanist societies.
A year or so ago we had a visitor from the UK who runs a group called Faith2Faithless. They are in touch with some "underground" groups that help people escape their religions - Christians, Muslims, Mormons, all sorts. They also do interviews with former religious people and you can watch some of them here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh-ZVAxsok4FUxG75830AZg
or check out their Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/faithtofaithless
Anyway, regarding some of these things your family is saying to you - I couldn't agree more how theists put the burden of you on you. For them they can just say "It says in the bible" or "It's god's will", but for atheists, we have to have all the answers in triplicate to every single crazy question - and they won't believe or understand anything you say.
I'd put the responsibility back on them - if I should believe in a god why should I believe in you. There are thousands. Prove yours is the real one. Prove it. Everyone has a book or mythology. Everyone says their god is the one because their book says so. Challenge them to think about how they would be if they had been born in a different country or had different parents.
As for the atheists are bad people - ask them why they are good. Because god will punish them if they aren't? Or are they hoping god will reward them if they are good? Point out you are good without either threat of punishment or promise of reward. Good without god to me is a very compelling argument when explained and sold properly. 10 to 20% of all Americans manage not to murder, rape, steal, adulter without reward or punishment from a god, and that's just America. In other countries it is far higher. It also doesn't even begin to account for the people who are just pretending to be religious and don't actually believe anything of what they do or say to fit it.
Anyway, hang in there. There are many fellow atheists out there who are willing to back you up and support you. It may not be easy but if it is really what you want you can find sympathetic ears to talk to, many of which will have similar experiences. We atheists need a secret handshake or something but let me tell you I'm rooting for you even if, as I mentioned, I had it pretty easy with my background. Definitely check out meetup.com if you're in the US. Or ping some local or national atheist or humanist orgs to see if they have local chapters. People like you are all over and can help ease your transition to being fully out. You may have to live with changed relationships with some relatives or friends, but I don't think you'll ever be alone in your situation!
Great comment, thanks for taking the time
The worst time to "come out" about not just atheism, but anything that your family might not be accepting of is during a fight. I think the best way is to let doubt creep into your conversations with them about religion and spirituality and then calmly sharing with them that you no longer see any good reasons to believe.
Of course, that's coming from somebody whose family was never really religious.
Agree
Fantastic post @atheistcat - I have much to say that will take longer to type than I want to do on my phone. Anyway thanks for sharing and I will add another comment later.
Thanks, waiting for it 😊
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