I sm very happy with athiest

My mom (of all people) told me that I come off as "harsh" when telling people that I am an Atheist. She suggested that I tell people that I am "spiritual" instead. That bothers me as the religious right loves to waive religion everywhere.

I don't go out advertising that I am Atheist... And there might be certain settings where I avoid this conversation entirely. (I work in sales so I need to be careful.)

But I admit to a deep satisfaction at times watching people's reaction to my response that I am an Atheist... Or that I am not a Christian.

my granny always used to say you can call me anyhting you like "as long as its not, too late for my dinner!

I understand your feeling because Atheist basically means anti God. But if there is or never has been a God in the first place saying your Atheist seems to give a positive inclination to the existence of God. Which is obviously not what an Atheist is confirming. Personally I prefer Atheist to Agnostic because in my understanding Agnostics once believed there may of been a God who exists no longer. To my mind this gives more inclination that a super being at once existed.

I'd argue that the state of believeing, of finding an explanation for the natural world, is a fundamental human instinct. Religion began with animism, an attempt to understand natural phenomenon by attributing spirits to features of the environment - including fellow animal species - which evolved into polytheistic mythologies, like those of ancient Greece that we're familiar with, that sought to make the unknown knowable (as in the story of Echo explaining the reverberation of sound to a people unfamiliar with the concept of sound waves), to be co-opted, organized and more narrowly formulated under the control of a politically powerful priest class once the invention of farming had led to permanent settlements. Today we turn to science (itself originally an offshoot of philosphy - the structured process of coming to terms with understanding our existence within the world) - and rapidly advancing technology to gain understanding of what, it turns out, is a mind-bogglingly complex planet, much less universe. The Hubble telescope now provides the insights once given by shaman and, much later, self-serving priesthoods.

I am ok with it because is more pervasive than santa- who only comes once a year and kids do at least know hes not real quite early on in their life.same goes for the tooth fairy its an adults jokey game to with children and nothing to do with . But is pervasive and can be cultish so I find the word 'atheist 'fine . I rarely have to use it but its there if I am called upon to account for myself and am willing to share my situation. A lot depends upon who is asking.

I think belief in the supernatural is still the majority view so I have no problem with being self defined as atheist for now. I do get your point though.

I don't really like being labeled. In this case though, I agree with how you feel about conceding to their insanity when I label myself as an atheist. I prefer to just call myself a non-delusional sane person. I try to avoid talking to religious folks if I can help it. Unfortunately, that tends to build a fairly lonely life.

I am ok with it, but use strong Agnostic most the time.If that confuses them than I give them my Dawkins Scale number and tell them to look it up.

I'm actually agnostic, but it's still a good point.

I don't usually mention my being agnostic, or even think about it, and if some expat Christian starts preaching to me, I quickly distance myself from them. My friends here in Thailand are mostly Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and the Europeans are mostly happily heathen.

A rose by any other name
would smell just like an atheist

Very.

Not that comfortable - conjures up images of that dreadful Dawkins fellow and his followers' ironically dogmatic approach generally.