Atheists as Pompous Pricks.

[H4T3]

I've found in this world that atheism is seen more and more as a pompous following. Christians make a big deal out of atheist gatherings. I can't join an atheist group on facebook without having one renegade Christian in there saying "u r goin to hell lul." I've made this, I guess, to clear some things up. I am an atheist in practice, and I guess you could say I'm a pompous prick. What I don't get, however, is why Christians who shove their religion in the face of others aren't greeted with the same animosity.

Lately, I've been seeing a sharp decline of Christianity in metropolan areas. People in the big city seem to be around more varying viewpoints, this leads them with the facts to chose. People in rural cities, though, tend to be more hardline Christian. Whenever I go to some of my old towns, I see people who make fun of me for being atheist. It's almost like they think I'm a demon, now. They treat me like shit, yet I'm the pompous one? Go figure.

I've been doing a lot of research into religion. I daresay I know more about Christianity than 99.99% of all Christians (thanks to years of youth group, bible camp and bible readings), but I'm the one they call blind. I just find it kind of funny. I was scared as hell to come out as an atheist, because I knew people would start treating me like shit. My step-dads first words to me were "oh, too smart for Jesus, huh?" like I was straying from my religion because I thought it would somehow make me look intelligent or cool. My mother always agreed with me, but I lost all of my friends except one who left with me.

I guess all I'm trying to say is: Being atheist in a Christian world sucks. We get more verbally attacked than virtually anyone else anywhere in the world. We're mistrusted, seen as threatening and we got an immensely bad rep. It was hard enough to come out as atheist/agnostic, it was even harder to defend myself.