In Indonesia, IIRC, being publicly an atheist is technically legal, but will get you killed, and nobody would convict your murderers. Atheists are seen there the way paedophiles are seen elsewhere.
I once had a coworker react to my atheism like that and I was so proud of myself for saying in my second language “what good does your religion bring when you would treat me like that for my beliefs while I treat you well?” It actually seemed to sink in, at least for all of our other (religious) coworkers who were, uh, forming a circle around us.
I used to work with this lady and at first we got along great. Then one day for reasons I cant fathom or remember the subject of the afterlife got brought up during a break period. She was talking to a couple of my coworkers about it. I didn’t say anything because I had nothing to add the the conversation. Then she asked me directly so I told her I didn’t believe in the afterlife.
She was stunned. She was all like “Where do you think you will go when you die?” I said I didn’t think I would go anywhere, I would just cease to exist. She was like “You HAVE to believe you will go somewhere!” I asked “Why?” She had no answer for that but she stopped speaking to me entirely. Even when it was about something related to work.
Shortly after my boss assigned her to work with me. She would hardly acknowledge me when I spoke to her, and communication was kind of important to the job. I finally asked her what her problem was. In the most snarky tone she could muster she asked me what my problem was. I said my problem was that she was acting like a bitch.
Of course she ran and told the boss, and I had to go with a meeting with him and his two bosses. None of them respected the difference between me calling her a bitch, and saying that she was acting like a bitch. I got wrote up for it.
In some countries, your religion is on your national id. See, for example, Indonesia or Thailand. Greece had it until 2005.
In some of these cases, you could literally have government id that says “Atheist”.
But it is largely a figure of speech. It means you not only identify with a group, but publicly identify with a ground.
In Indonesia, IIRC, being publicly an atheist is technically legal, but will get you killed, and nobody would convict your murderers. Atheists are seen there the way paedophiles are seen elsewhere.
I once had a coworker react to my atheism like that and I was so proud of myself for saying in my second language “what good does your religion bring when you would treat me like that for my beliefs while I treat you well?” It actually seemed to sink in, at least for all of our other (religious) coworkers who were, uh, forming a circle around us.
I used to work with this lady and at first we got along great. Then one day for reasons I cant fathom or remember the subject of the afterlife got brought up during a break period. She was talking to a couple of my coworkers about it. I didn’t say anything because I had nothing to add the the conversation. Then she asked me directly so I told her I didn’t believe in the afterlife.
She was stunned. She was all like “Where do you think you will go when you die?” I said I didn’t think I would go anywhere, I would just cease to exist. She was like “You HAVE to believe you will go somewhere!” I asked “Why?” She had no answer for that but she stopped speaking to me entirely. Even when it was about something related to work.
Shortly after my boss assigned her to work with me. She would hardly acknowledge me when I spoke to her, and communication was kind of important to the job. I finally asked her what her problem was. In the most snarky tone she could muster she asked me what my problem was. I said my problem was that she was acting like a bitch.
Of course she ran and told the boss, and I had to go with a meeting with him and his two bosses. None of them respected the difference between me calling her a bitch, and saying that she was acting like a bitch. I got wrote up for it.
Jesus fuck