Discussions come up every so often that describe the way some families treat the atheists in their group. Scorn, dismissal; outcasts?
Curious if that is a common trait among very religious parents or general family members.
For my dysfunctional family religion was not a factor in my generation growing up. There was an infrequent nebulous mention of Jesus every so often, but nothing that I found to be more than a bad fable; definitely nothing important. I was never impressed, or in awe, of any biblical characters that I read about or watched televised stories about, except for maybe Samson; babes, death and destruction, oh yeah. But, even he wasn't as much fun as other mythical figures; Hercules was definitely brighter, the nordic and roman gods much more fun.
Regardless, there was basically no specific religion during my early years. Then my older brother opened the floodgates and married a catholic, who then turned hard right baptist. The doors were now open to the infectious insanity of the pious.
We went from a very pragmatic family that concentrated on work and survival, to one that is now mostly god fearing. My child, nieces and nephews have all caught the disease.
Right now, I think our family dynamics are being destroyed. We are still close, and different from many who have written. To this date, any of the immediate, and even not so immediate, family members will protect each other adamantly. Scary force. The women are as crazy as the men, if not worse. We are theists and atheists, liberals and conservatives, but screw with one of us and you're messing with us all.
So far religion has not unglued the cohesiveness of my family, but when I read the stories from other atheists, I think that someday, sometime, the increased religiosity of my family will eventually tear down the walls of "family first," that now reigns supreme. I mean, isn't that what the bible teaches? Screw your family, god is first?
Pretty dismal forecast if this is what religion does to families. Creeps in and rips apart the foundations of life, great.
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