Disclosing atheism

[Anonymous]

I was on Match.com many years ago. I started with listing my religion as "Atheist" from a menu of choices. I was not getting any interest at all. I was late 20s and relatively attractive. I changed it to "Catholic," but in the actual narrative, I stated that I was "raised Catholic" but was "no longer practicing." Suddenly I was flooded with messages and winks and requests for dates. Pretty crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was on Match.com many years ago. I started with listing my religion as "Atheist" from a menu of choices. I was not getting any interest at all. I was late 20s and relatively attractive. I changed it to "Catholic," but in the actual narrative, I stated that I was "raised Catholic" but was "no longer practicing." Suddenly I was flooded with messages and winks and requests for dates. Pretty crazy.

God works in mysterious ways 😉

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was on Match.com many years ago. I started with listing my religion as "Atheist" from a menu of choices. I was not getting any interest at all. I was late 20s and relatively attractive. I changed it to "Catholic," but in the actual narrative, I stated that I was "raised Catholic" but was "no longer practicing." Suddenly I was flooded with messages and winks and requests for dates. Pretty crazy.

God works in mysterious ways 😉

Someone I know has a similar story. When she changed her religion from atheist to agnostic, she suddenly got a lot of responses - and ended up with a successful match -- with an atheist.

[Anonymous]

We have reached the phase of this discussion where people are resorting to using anecdotes of responses to dating app profiles as evidence.

Again, you can't make this stuff up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have reached the phase of this discussion where people are resorting to using anecdotes of responses to dating app profiles as evidence.

Again, you can't make this stuff up.

I guess you don’t understand dry sense of humor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have reached the phase of this discussion where people are resorting to using anecdotes of responses to dating app profiles as evidence.

Again, you can't make this stuff up.

I guess you don’t understand dry sense of humor.

or doesn't want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have reached the phase of this discussion where people are resorting to using anecdotes of responses to dating app profiles as evidence.

Again, you can't make this stuff up.

I guess you don’t understand dry sense of humor.

You had me up to "humor". Or maybe "dry". Definitely not "sense".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was on Match.com many years ago. I started with listing my religion as "Atheist" from a menu of choices. I was not getting any interest at all. I was late 20s and relatively attractive. I changed it to "Catholic," but in the actual narrative, I stated that I was "raised Catholic" but was "no longer practicing." Suddenly I was flooded with messages and winks and requests for dates. Pretty crazy.

I don't know whether people looking for a spouse want to raise their kids in a religion and think an atheist would make that hard, or whether it's atheists' reputation for aggression (yes, I know many of you are lovely, but some of you not so much, and who wants to take that chance I guess). I know both of these things were true in my marriage to an atheist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was on Match.com many years ago. I started with listing my religion as "Atheist" from a menu of choices. I was not getting any interest at all. I was late 20s and relatively attractive. I changed it to "Catholic," but in the actual narrative, I stated that I was "raised Catholic" but was "no longer practicing." Suddenly I was flooded with messages and winks and requests for dates. Pretty crazy.

I don't know whether people looking for a spouse want to raise their kids in a religion and think an atheist would make that hard, or whether it's atheists' reputation for aggression (yes, I know many of you are lovely, but some of you not so much, and who wants to take that chance I guess). I know both of these things were true in my marriage to an atheist.

Aggression?? don't see that as a trait typical of the atheists I know. Sorry if your atheist ex-husband was that way, but I'm guessing/hoping it wasn't a feature of his lack of supernatural beliefs.

Certainly, if you want to raise your children in a certain religion, you makes sense to marry someone of that particular religion. Some atheists and people of other religions wouldn't care, but it's a safer bet if everyone's the same religion starting out. You never know, though -- people do change along the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op should speak with her neighbor if she felt she was rude-instead of complaining here. It’s rude to invite someone new to your home and judge them. Op isn’t a good neighbor.

Hello! OP here. I am not judging my new neighbors or complaining about them. I was a little surprised to get a personal question about religion because we don't know each other well, but I wasn't bothered by it.

I posted here to get feedback on if I was being impolite by saying I'm atheist (when I was directly asked about my religion), because new neighbor was visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming.

You weren’t rude. You were asked a question and replied factually. Your neighbor was surprised and may not have met very many people who are atheists. It was awkward, but neither of you was being rude.

Being “visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming” is rude.

Tell me pages and pages of dcum posters have never spoken to a caring and devout Christian without telling me. These characteristics are not mutually exclusive.

My guess is that OP’s neighbor is 100% concerned for OP’s immortal soul and is genuinely alarmed for Op. And I am not a devout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op should speak with her neighbor if she felt she was rude-instead of complaining here. It’s rude to invite someone new to your home and judge them. Op isn’t a good neighbor.

Hello! OP here. I am not judging my new neighbors or complaining about them. I was a little surprised to get a personal question about religion because we don't know each other well, but I wasn't bothered by it.

I posted here to get feedback on if I was being impolite by saying I'm atheist (when I was directly asked about my religion), because new neighbor was visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming.

You weren’t rude. You were asked a question and replied factually. Your neighbor was surprised and may not have met very many people who are atheists. It was awkward, but neither of you was being rude.

Being “visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming” is rude.

Tell me pages and pages of dcum posters have never spoken to a caring and devout Christian without telling me. These characteristics are not mutually exclusive.

My guess is that OP’s neighbor is 100% concerned for OP’s immortal soul and is genuinely alarmed for Op. And I am not a devout.

You may be right about the neighbor's concern for OP's immortal soul, but I don't think that explains the initial shock on the neighbor's face. I think the neighbor was completely caught off guard by the host's unexpected acknowledgement of being an atheist.

Also -- interesting that in all these pages, no one here has expressed concern for OP's immortal soul.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op should speak with her neighbor if she felt she was rude-instead of complaining here. It’s rude to invite someone new to your home and judge them. Op isn’t a good neighbor.

Hello! OP here. I am not judging my new neighbors or complaining about them. I was a little surprised to get a personal question about religion because we don't know each other well, but I wasn't bothered by it.

I posted here to get feedback on if I was being impolite by saying I'm atheist (when I was directly asked about my religion), because new neighbor was visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming.

You weren’t rude. You were asked a question and replied factually. Your neighbor was surprised and may not have met very many people who are atheists. It was awkward, but neither of you was being rude.

Being “visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming” is rude.

Tell me pages and pages of dcum posters have never spoken to a caring and devout Christian without telling me. These characteristics are not mutually exclusive.

My guess is that OP’s neighbor is 100% concerned for OP’s immortal soul and is genuinely alarmed for Op. And I am not a devout.

If that was the case,
Why didn’t he try to convert her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op should speak with her neighbor if she felt she was rude-instead of complaining here. It’s rude to invite someone new to your home and judge them. Op isn’t a good neighbor.

Hello! OP here. I am not judging my new neighbors or complaining about them. I was a little surprised to get a personal question about religion because we don't know each other well, but I wasn't bothered by it.

I posted here to get feedback on if I was being impolite by saying I'm atheist (when I was directly asked about my religion), because new neighbor was visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming.

You weren’t rude. You were asked a question and replied factually. Your neighbor was surprised and may not have met very many people who are atheists. It was awkward, but neither of you was being rude.

Being “visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming” is rude.

Tell me pages and pages of dcum posters have never spoken to a caring and devout Christian without telling me. These characteristics are not mutually exclusive.

My guess is that OP’s neighbor is 100% concerned for OP’s immortal soul and is genuinely alarmed for Op. And I am not a devout.

If that was the case,
Why didn’t he try to convert her.

Oh he will

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op should speak with her neighbor if she felt she was rude-instead of complaining here. It’s rude to invite someone new to your home and judge them. Op isn’t a good neighbor.

Hello! OP here. I am not judging my new neighbors or complaining about them. I was a little surprised to get a personal question about religion because we don't know each other well, but I wasn't bothered by it.

I posted here to get feedback on if I was being impolite by saying I'm atheist (when I was directly asked about my religion), because new neighbor was visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming.

You weren’t rude. You were asked a question and replied factually. Your neighbor was surprised and may not have met very many people who are atheists. It was awkward, but neither of you was being rude.

Being “visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming” is rude.

Tell me pages and pages of dcum posters have never spoken to a caring and devout Christian without telling me. These characteristics are not mutually exclusive.

My guess is that OP’s neighbor is 100% concerned for OP’s immortal soul and is genuinely alarmed for Op. And I am not a devout.

Being “a devout” isn’t an excuse for being rude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op should speak with her neighbor if she felt she was rude-instead of complaining here. It’s rude to invite someone new to your home and judge them. Op isn’t a good neighbor.

Hello! OP here. I am not judging my new neighbors or complaining about them. I was a little surprised to get a personal question about religion because we don't know each other well, but I wasn't bothered by it.

I posted here to get feedback on if I was being impolite by saying I'm atheist (when I was directly asked about my religion), because new neighbor was visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming.

You weren’t rude. You were asked a question and replied factually. Your neighbor was surprised and may not have met very many people who are atheists. It was awkward, but neither of you was being rude.

Being “visibly taken aback - as if I had said something rude and slightly alarming” is rude.

Tell me pages and pages of dcum posters have never spoken to a caring and devout Christian without telling me. These characteristics are not mutually exclusive.

My guess is that OP’s neighbor is 100% concerned for OP’s immortal soul and is genuinely alarmed for Op. And I am not a devout.

Being “a devout” isn’t an excuse for being rude.

Devout people don't think they're being rude, they think they're being helpful -- helping people find Jesus and thus be happy eternally in heaven after their earthly death.

In this case, it seems like the devout neighbor was sincerely seeking help -- finding a church in a new area. But upon learning that his seemingly nice neighbor is an atheist, the Christian may indeed now have a mission to help their neighbor find Jesus.