aneeshm
Deity
Hindu Agnostic here . Nobody in my family really cares . Nor do any of my relatives or friends .
As soon as I moved out to go studying; there was a letter in my mailbox asking for money. Since student fees are low; I ignored them. Every so many months I received a letter that I ignored. Until one day I was basically given the choice to pay or be thrown out. I decided the money that the government paid me to pay for college fees and books was to be spend on that and not on religion. Hence I was thrown out.The Last Conformist said:Threw you out? That sounds somewhat dramatic - care to give some further detail?
I'm still formally a member of my parents' church, and have no plans to terminate that formality.
Smidgey said:I am sure that those who are frightened of coming out and telling their family they are atheists can always tell their parents that they succeeded in raising a good child, one who can think for him/herself and can make his or her own choices.
A church charging membership fees? They must be sure of their sex appeal ...Rik Meleet said:As soon as I moved out to go studying; there was a letter in my mailbox asking for money. Since student fees are low; I ignored them. Every so many months I received a letter that I ignored. Until one day I was basically given the choice to pay or be thrown out. I decided the money that the government paid me to pay for college fees and books was to be spend on that and not on religion. Hence I was thrown out.
aneeshm said:Hindu Agnostic here . Nobody in my family really cares . Nor do any of my relatives or friends .
I guess you're not a member of the Swedish church then. The fee is a percentage added to your taxes, and there's no way of avoiding paying the church unless you quit, which is basically the same as Rik said. I'm not sure how it works with other churches here though.The Last Conformist said:A church charging membership fees? They must be sure of their sex appeal ...
The churches I have any first-hand experience of are way too desperate not to see their membership fall further to even contemplate issuing such ultimata.
leonel said:Believe it or not I was athiest once as a kid. I would say stuff like "Pft I don't go to church because I don't believe in God" and "I don't need to pray at the table." And my parents were alright with that! They just let me do my own thing.
Smidgey said:Where are you from Tenochtitlan?
Anyway, as for me, I have already said that I am from an atheist family. However, when we were having a discussion in religion education (a long time ago ) the teacher, out of curiosity asked people to raise their hands to see which religion they followed, if any. There were only two atheists in the class (which is surprising, considering in my country only 12% of the population are actively religious). It caused a lot of heated debate but no name calling or anything. I find it easy to tell people that I don't believe in God,but I often wonder what it would be like if I lived somewhere else.