Freethought & Rationalism Archive

chekmate · 05-10-2003, 03:24 PM

...at least according to my girlfriend. We were talking the other day, and it came up somehow (I don't recall how), about what percent of eachother we like, vs what we don't like. It then we started to break it down, and apparently, 2.4% of what she doesn't like about me is that I am an evil atheist. This is out of a total of 5%. She loves the other 95% of me. Hooray!

When she said 2.4%, I was kind of taken aback. 2.4%!?!? That's outrageous. Maybe, MAYBE 1%, but not 2.4%! Then, thinking about how much I spend on IIDB, and thinking about philosophy, and morals and metaphysics, maybe its closer to 30% or 40% of who I am? Maybe, it has been so important in defining who I am, that it is 80% or 90%? Or maybe, religion as a whole is 10% of who I am, but she only dislicks part of that 10%, because I am not a Christian. Maybe if I was a Muslim too, and not only not a Christian, it would be 3.6%...

I think I confused myself... help me!

sakrilege · 05-10-2003, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by chekmate
Maybe if I was a Muslim too, and not only not a Christian, it would be 3.6%...

I would guess that being any religion would be better than being an atheist to some people, so this would more likely be 1.2% IMO.

DamagedGoods · 05-10-2003, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by chekmate
...2.4% of what she doesn't like about me is that I am an evil atheist.

Is there actually some evil behavior that she associates with your atheism? Or is it just that she thinks atheists are, by definition, evil? In too many people's minds, it seems that saying "evil atheist" is almost redundant.

chekmate · 05-10-2003, 10:03 PM

No, she never uttered the words "Evil Atheist." It was said in the conversatoin though that my lack of belief in her god was the problem...

DamagedGoods · 05-10-2003, 10:11 PM

Ok, I kind of wondered if that was actually the case.

My wife has had similar concerns - my lack of belief really bothered her at one point. Fortunately she seems to like most everything else about me.

Proxima Centauri · 05-12-2003, 06:58 AM

I'm sorry to hear that your girlfriend can't easily accept your atheism. You could try discussing with her in a sympathetic way why she feels that way. She may have preconceptions about atheism which you can put right.
At least she likes 95% of you. At least you and she can discuss things honestly. Many relationships are far worse than that. You and your girlfriend seem to have many good things going for you.

MollyMac · 05-12-2003, 09:00 AM

Are you going to tell us about the remaining 2.6%?

chekmate · 05-12-2003, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MollyMac
Are you going to tell us about the remaining 2.6%?

I lack motivation
I don't get enough exercise
I'm too horny
I'm not confident enough
I think too much

That's about it.

DamagedGoods · 05-12-2003, 12:16 PM

Hmmm....seems that two of these have the potential cancel each other out, if she would just respond differently to one of them....

Quote:

Originally posted by chekmate
...I don't get enough exercise
I'm too horny....

Grizzly · 05-14-2003, 04:25 PM

Take your 2.4% and consider yourself lucky. Think about it this way - you still get an A as far as she is concerned. That's not too shabby.....

05-10-2003, 03:24 PM	#1
chekmate Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Downriver Detroit Posts: 1,961	I am 2.4% religion... ...at least according to my girlfriend. We were talking the other day, and it came up somehow (I don't recall how), about what percent of eachother we like, vs what we don't like. It then we started to break it down, and apparently, 2.4% of what she doesn't like about me is that I am an evil atheist. This is out of a total of 5%. She loves the other 95% of me. Hooray! When she said 2.4%, I was kind of taken aback. 2.4%!?!? That's outrageous. Maybe, MAYBE 1%, but not 2.4%! Then, thinking about how much I spend on IIDB, and thinking about philosophy, and morals and metaphysics, maybe its closer to 30% or 40% of who I am? Maybe, it has been so important in defining who I am, that it is 80% or 90%? Or maybe, religion as a whole is 10% of who I am, but she only dislicks part of that 10%, because I am not a Christian. Maybe if I was a Muslim too, and not only not a Christian, it would be 3.6%... I think I confused myself... help me!

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05-10-2003, 10:03 PM	#4
chekmate Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Downriver Detroit Posts: 1,961	No, she never uttered the words "Evil Atheist." It was said in the conversatoin though that my lack of belief in her god was the problem...

05-10-2003, 10:11 PM	#5
DamagedGoods Regular Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Norfolk, VA, USA Posts: 219	Ok, I kind of wondered if that was actually the case. My wife has had similar concerns - my lack of belief really bothered her at one point. Fortunately she seems to like most everything else about me.

05-12-2003, 06:58 AM	#6
Proxima Centauri Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: England, the EU. Posts: 2,403	I'm sorry to hear that your girlfriend can't easily accept your atheism. You could try discussing with her in a sympathetic way why she feels that way. She may have preconceptions about atheism which you can put right. At least she likes 95% of you. At least you and she can discuss things honestly. Many relationships are far worse than that. You and your girlfriend seem to have many good things going for you.

05-12-2003, 09:00 AM	#7
MollyMac Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: London, England Posts: 2,125	Are you going to tell us about the remaining 2.6%?

05-14-2003, 04:25 PM	#10
Grizzly Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Tallahassee, Florida Posts: 2,936	Take your 2.4% and consider yourself lucky. Think about it this way - you still get an A as far as she is concerned. That's not too shabby.....

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