I am a militant atheist, and use ALot of phrases like "praise gawd" when I am pissed off,it is simple sarcasm.......
And of course OMG.......

We might be skeptics but we still manage to argue on plenty of topics.

I agree with you. The people that irk me are the ones that puff up their chest and announce 'none of that god stuff for me!' And then go on to talk about chakras, karma, and tarot cards.

If you're going to be a skeptic, at least be consistent.

Look for a free thought group in your area. Thats what I did when I moved to FL. Now that is my major circle of friends.

Try beating them to the punch, "gaud is as silly as Santa, don't you think? He, she, it is as bad as those horoscope people, you agree? Since my chart says I'm a scorpion, I carry around a pin, to pop people's bubbles."

I recommend trying to find a local Humanist group. Check this link:

[americanhumanist.org]

I am active with my local Humanist group, it is a wonderul group of straight thinking people.

I live in a very religious community. This site is one of my many outlets. It is very helpful.

I love the crystal consulting, Mercury in retrograde, I'm a trine Pisces with a Aquarian rising folk telling me they are atheists.

It is definitely good for a belly chuckle

My friend, it's like getting pissed because you get wet walking in the rain without an umbrella. Even in this site you will find religious trolls, new agey hindu buddhist spiritualists who insist they are non believers while believing in their own particular bullshit. Learn not to get frustrated, otherwise you're letting these people win.

So, now that you vented are you feeling better? Would it not be a so incredibly boring world if we were all the same. What would we be talking about, just nodding our heads and agreeing.

I find the history of astrology fascinating. Makes no sense to the modern mind. But historically very important and mentioned in literature quite a bit.

I can absolutely relate.

Your experience is all-too-familiar, Michael, and your succinct post has not gone unnoticed. My recommendation is to never shy from 'venting' (i.e. sharing) about your experience. How, after all, are we ever to truly connect with one another without making our feelings known?

I'm in the same boat as you are Michael. I'm not even good at making friends (being an anti-social introvert) and most everyone I know is religious to some degree. Also, like you, I didn't become an atheist until adulthood (around the age of 36).

There are atheist meetup groups in my area though I've yet to go to any. One day I'll get around to it.

Just let it rip here...we don’t mind....all these obscenities that you want to shout in reply to the idiotic religious and superstitious remarks you hear! We’ve all been there too!!

I agree, it is in comfortable when having a conversation and god gets thrown in. I find if I like a person I try to ignore the god comments, if it doesn’t happen too often. If I choose to tell them that I’m non-theistic, hoping they would shy away from bringing up god but it is usually the opposite. You determine how important it is to have these people in your life. We all come from different backgrounds so we must learn to respectfully disagree and move past it. I do stay away from the preachy types, it’s just not worth it.

I know the feeling. When I'm talking to someone I don't know, I try to pick up on any clue that they might be rational. Living in Tennessee it is rare as hen's teeth to find someone who is not religious. We don't have as many in the astrology and other woo camp, but here I'm going to guess it's over 90 percent who are religious and have to insert it in every conversation.

Yep, I can relate to that. I live in what seems to be the "land of woo" where it seems half the population is in the "healing arts" and can "send healing love and light" to anyone on the planet telepathically. Some have one foot stuck in monotheism, and their other foot dangling toward whatever the next "healer" tells them to believe. Hard to find many people grounded in reality. That's why I pop into this site each day.

I know what you mean. Everyone around me is religious, gullible or believes pseudoscience, etc. I think the secret to having friends is having tolerance. After all, they accept me in spite of myself.

I just counted the number of people this site says live close to me . I counted 18 . In the little over a year that I've been on this site , I've met three men and one woman , two of the men , weren't local . Even if there are folks living near you , that doesn't mean you're necessairly going to meet them much less strike it off . Welcome to the club .

I can absolutely relate as do many, many others here and elsewhere.

It seems most everyone has this issue more, or less. It's not easy to find your "tribe" - or even one really good one !

Keep trying

"Finding like-minded people" is likely an illusion, wadr. We do this to bolster our self esteem, i think. Not saying that ppl cannot share convictions, nor that it is not valuable to congregate with them, but there will always be areas where even they differ?

Find a humanist group. Go online for info.

Take a class at your local community college. You will probably meet some like-minded folks.