How Can We Overcome The Daily Challenge Of Living Apart From The "Religious World"?

I live in the USA, which more and more each day, considers itself, "a christian nation", even though I have this "GUT" feeling that there are millions and millions more Non-believers hiding behind that "christian face".
Sure, it's good to know we are NOT one of "them". But how can we get "them" to "come out of their christian closets", just like the gay community did. In New York alone, they are already changing their state laws, to give equal rights to the gay residents of NY. Not too many years ago, gays were thought of as "animals", or mentally insane, and tortured and killed. Do we face the same things, if more Non-believers come out in the open, once and for all?
In the meantime, how can we overcome the daily challenge of living apart from these "religious" people?
What kind of benefits or improvements do ANY of these Non-believer websites really offer us? Are most of these websites, truly concerned for our well-being, or are they just using us to make a "quick buck" off of us? How do we know for sure?
Are we wasting our precious time, with most of these social conversations, instead of focusing on what "really matters most" to all of us. We need mutual support in the areas of job employment, Non-believer OWNED businesses we can do business with, buy from, sell to, etc, etc. We need honest advisers in all the areas of our lives, like lawyers, doctors, accountants, Realtors, Retailers, Wholesalers, Plumbers, Electricians, etc, etc.
I went to one "Meet-Up" meeting for Non-believers not too long ago, and all they wanted to do, was drink booze at the BAR they were meeting at! Can't we do much better than that??? That is not the way, to learn more about each other, and how we can help each other, and bring ideas to the table. "Christians" spend a lot of time, reading their Bibles, having Bible classes, learning how to be a better "christian" no less. What can we do to improve our lives? Just "socialize" on all these websites? That's it???

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It's funny, I have the same questions (though I've never really been to any meet-ups).  I don't have a good answer for you, I personally try not deal with the whole subject of religion, though I'm not afraid to state my beliefs and have discussions with the religious.  Here's hoping that someone on this site has a better answer than me.
Allan, thank you for your response. I am hoping other people will say something too.
While I agree with the majority of your reply, Jenna, I would have to say that we do have to be a bit hostile towards religion. We shouldn't stand by and be pacifists when our rights are threatened, and by not being vocal and a bit aggressive in standing up for them, the believers will think that we are complacent, and tend to run over us.

I'm not afraid of discussing my ideas or pointing out the sheer idiocy of someone else's ideas. I honestly don't care who it is, I will call someone's beliefs idiotic and harmful if I find them to be. I've found that some people don't respond to anything other than hostility, and I have no problems using it like a bat to get a point across.
I could be wrong, but by not being aggressive, I think she meant that we shouldn't try and actively degrade another person's beliefs.  It's one thing to stand up for what we believe in, it's another thing to go about attacking a person's beliefs just because we don't agree with that person.  At least, that's what I think she meant (and what I believe).

I go to bars and drink with christians, and I associate with them at restaurants, art galleries and museums, and everywhere else.  Usually religion has nothing to do with my daily activities.  If a christ-tard brings it up to me (I never bring it up to them), I feel justified in hauling out my entire arsenal of mockery and scorn for their beliefs. 


Of course, I am old, retired, and, basically invulnerable now.

We can overcome the daily challenge of living apart from the "religious" people by NOT living apart.  Living apart from them is the problem.  To create an amiable atmosphere with the religious, we have to interact with them on common ground; we have to start connecting with the religious on other social planes.
EX. My best friend is a "born-again" christian.  He knows I am an atheist, but we still get together and have fun.  Religion is not an issue between us because we have found other things that we are both passionate about (like video games, electronics, books, etc).  

Separating the religious from the non-religious is the wrong approach.  It sets us apart; it alienates us from those who we need to become close (politically and socially).  Take, for example, the segregation of blacks and whites in the south in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century.  The segregation alienated the two groups, one was socially and politically superior to the other.  But in the 1960's, segregation was ended. Slowly, black people grew in political power and social status.  Our situation is no different.  We (the nonreligious and the religious) need to come together lest we (the nation) fall apart. 

Why should we wish to live apart from the religious community? While I agree that the faithful can be, at times difficult to be around due to gratuitous expressions of faith, this is a rather small annoyance for myself. What you are suggesting is that we "should" distance ourselves from the faithful, that it is a positive without considering if it even is a positive action from the outset. Frankly, I have had numerous positive conversations with members of faith and though we don't always agree, I don't feel that segregating ourselves into our own community will in any way make the faithful more responsive to who we are and what we think? Living and interacting with compassion, honesty skepticism, civility and so on, within the religious community is, I feel, what is required. In-group out-group is a method of the religious and not one to be adopted if we are to desire a fruitful existence with our fellow man no matter his perceived delusions in our eyes.

 Whether websites such as this are a waste of time depends on the individual, I personally think at times it is, other times not. The over-all benefits I suppose would be exposure of a way of thinking possibly to a group willfully segregated but never the less curious, with the hope that some will see we are far less evil than once thought or were told to think and spread the thought with others of their community. It also allows those who due to a fear of "coming out" might be inclined to take the leap and pose questions with a degree of anonymity not available to them in their current environment.

 As far as socializing goes, I think it's somewhat boring to have discussions of atheism simply with atheists in general and prefer involving anyone with a modicum of intellect and a desire to share ideas and opinions without fear of judgement associated with one's faith. All persons in the discussion really should enter with the understanding that you may have your feelings hurt or hurt others though it should not be intentional.

 Which christians spend a lot of time reading their bible? Of the mountains of faithful I've met and talked to very few have read it to any significant degree. Most bible knowledge expressed by the faithful is what has been told to them repeatedly, were we to separate ourselves from them how would they ever see a different perspective and be able to question the repetitious expressions of faith?

Though I don't recall who it was who first uttered the phrase "bringing atheists together is like trying to herd cats" I feel it to be accurate in most cases. The reason I suspect is that since we don't have (nor should we ever adopt) a dogmatic doctrine as a guide heralded above all others we have no unifying idol in which to rally. So much the better, if in fact were we to all meet somewhere there is a good chance that those of us who are quite close via the internet medium would simply not like each other in a face to face scenario and those relationships cooled through web exchange might improve. I guess my point is, if you want to distance yourself from the religious world you will likely be one lonely person.


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