Atheist closet? What atheist closet?

[lonetread]

So, I disovered, a couple days late, 'A' Week on Facebook tonight. And um (impulsively, what) may have joined in. Oh god oh god (hai, irony!). I may be freaking out a little. Comfort me? :-/

Anyway, while I'm on the subject, this'll be the Religion, Part 2 post I mentioned I was planning. (Here's a link to Part 1 in case you missed it.)

Part 1 led to an interesting (if somewhat heated) discussion with Zera regarding the nature of privilege. More specifically, I said:

you say "it's not like the rest of the world is going to make you stand up and ask you to fit in a labeled belief (or non-belief) system." which is great for you, but you're coming from a place of privilege. you can say you're Christian and everyone goes "oh, okay, me too." but without that sort of privilege that comes from knowing that the majority will assume your beliefs correctly, it becomes more important to be able to express them.

And she got all offended. (And this despite the fact that, as my therapist pointed out, I'd already said in the OP that being able to label/express/explain my beliefs was important to me!)

I tried to explain privilege to her --

"it's neutral. it's how society works. f.ex, I have white privilege. I researched that recently, and was blown away by all the things I'd never thought about. I have male privilege, and able-bodied privilege, and probably plenty of others I can't think of. everyone is privileged in some respect. the idea is to check your privilege and realize that some of what you think is How The World Works may only be how it works for people of Type X."

-- but it was late, and it didn't work, and... people, just watch this again and think for a minute: this is privilege. It isn't your fault, but for Pete's sake, check it please. (Google can help; I haven't the time, the space, or the links at-hand.)

All that said, some other interesting things I wanted to point you in the direction of (since, if you've read this far, it's safe to say you might care): Something to think about ("Lies Christians Tell" introduction); that video from Part 1, Lies Christians Tell #6, Lack of Belief = Assertion of Falsehood; and this blog post, Would Anything Change Your Mind?.

I'm too tired to share my thoughts on all those right now, except that I find them fascinating, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. (Let's just keep it all calm and civil, please [which I say only because, y'know, this is the Internet, after all].)

Off to go to sleep (and to continue reminding myself that my lack of belief is valid, my being visible is important, and my parents have had plenty of other cause to disown me and haven't yet! ;) -- because I don't want an ulcer, lol.).

ETA: Sorry, didn't notice the font went wonky with the block quotes; fixed now!