Charles and I were fortunate enough to spend the last week and a half visiting with some family from Arizona that we haven't seen in years. It was a great time, and we spent each night talking and laughing into the wee hours of the morning. It was everything a family visit should be - laughter, embarrassing stories revealed and a little bit of good old fashioned family drama.
One night as we sat around the table exchanging stories from the years past, I recounted a story of mine from elementary school where a friend told me I would be going to hell if I didn't attend her church. Even at the time, I remember thinking that was absurd; surely God couldn't send everyone else in the world besides the 100 or so people who went to that church to Hell. Hell simply wasn't big enough!
As I was telling the story, Charles's Grandmother told me I shouldn't tell the story because it was offensive. I immediately felt terrible for offending, but at the same time I didn't understand how the story was offensive. Is it offensive because it highlights a Christian behaving badly, or is it offensive because anything that mentions Christianity in a negative light is offensive, or is it just plain offensive to talk about Hell flippantly?
This is what I struggle with the most in admitting that I am Atheist. The fear that I will offend others without even realizing I am being offensive. I am a very non-confrontational person, and I despise pushing my beliefs on others. This is the main reason I haven't told most of my family and friends that I am Atheist, but at the same time I find it unfair that I should be silenced because I have a belief that is in the minority.
I feel like I am in a constant battle of the person I am in my private life, and the person I am in public and it's exhausting. I feel like I'm starting to ramble, so I will end this post here; but my question is where do we draw the line between being proud of your beliefs and being offensive?
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