For those of you who grew up with one particular religion and changed your mind as an adult (either going to another or doing away with it all together), how did you tell your family? How did they react? Were you concerned with how they would respond or was it a non-issue? Are you treated differently?
An excellent set of questions.
I had kept it as secret and was not comfortable talking about it with just anybody. My brother found out and told my mother....who in kind told my father.
Their initial reaction was to stew on it for about a week.
Then I got a phone call and my mother was talking VERY oddly and I knew she was baiting me into a religious conversation, but could tell that she was VERY uncomfortable discussing it. She was feeding me opportunity to speak up.
So I finally just got on with it as it was obvious she had questions.
Her initial reaction was pure anger. She screamed and cried at me over the phone and did what I think a typical theistic parent would do.....opine about my immortal soul and those of my children!!!
Then she couldn't take it anymore and got off the phone.
Several days later she composed herself and tried again to talk to me. This time I was a bit more militant in my stance. She felt she could convince me otherwise but she quickly discovered that she couldn't speak as deeply about the subject as I could and she found herself confused and unable to defend her positions.....which of course led to more crying and broken heartedness.
A couple of weeks went by and she called me and let me know she had wrestled with all of this and was at peace with my decision. She let it go....."turned it over to God"...as they say.
It's all good now. We can BRIEFLY talk about it...even joke about it. BUt they refuse to go in deep with me.
I've been an Atheist for about 4 years now......that conversation happened early this year! So yeah it was really hard for me to do. I was very concerned how they would react. It's hard when you have something you know is right but everyone else in your life knows is wrong. They are taught.....I was taught....to believe a certain way. It is very hard to break the spell of something you have been taught your whole life is right.
I am not treated any differently. I think the whole experience actually brought us closer together and my parents KNOW ME now.