Ellie3317, 37

I'm looking for people who share the same beliefs as myself. I'm tired of always having to curb myself in conversation because I might offend someone, especialy when others do not have the same consideration for me. The benefit of having a religion with a weekly meeting place (a church or whatever) is the sense of community and fellowship that goes along with it. I envy that. I envy them their rights and privilages, and yes, their delusions. It is often an isolating feeling when you are on such a vastly different page than the most of people you know and meet. The majority of Atheists I know are not open about it.
Both of my parents are avidly Christian, and I am a literal black sheep because I've refused to hide my opinions. I've been openly an Atheist since the age of thirteen, but long before that I knew that what I was being taught was not right. I didn't have a name for it, and was made to believe there was something wrong with me because I did not get it; I did not believe. My older brother Daniel is literally closeted about his own Atheism. When my parents talk the gospel, mostly in my direction, he just silently nods his head and tunes them out. Can I blame him when he had to watch the way my parents and I still fight? I think they would rather I was gay, at least that way if I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior, there would still be hope for my soul.
Maybe other Atheists haven't faced the same difficulties. I don't know; another reason I have joined this site. I'm certainly not comparing my own struggles to those of minorities during the civil rights movement, or women during the womens sufferage movement, but I do feel that we are being unjustly discriminated against. Certainly we have the luxury that homosexuals have; we can hide what we are if we choose. But just as with them, we should not have to. It is a largely unrecognized plight, but it is real, and I have faced verbal assault on several different occasions for what I believe.