04-19-2020, 10:35 PM
In the end, you are the one who must self-identify. No one can tell you what you should or should not believe.
I have to say that I don't think your father would be angry with you for thinking for yourself. Atheism is more often than not the result of self-determined thinking. If he's a humanist and a rational person, he will appreciate that you're thinking through the issues on your own and probably try to give you resources that oppose what you're currently thinking (which isn't an insult).
I think children often see how their parents react to outsiders and then think that they will react toward them in the same way. It's not true. He may be harsh with people that he meets when discussing issues bordering on faith, but I'm sure that he appreciates the freedom to think for himself that allowed him to break from whatever faith tradition he was raised - and that appreciation will allow him to work through it with you.
If he has any problem with it, tell him to call the Atheist Experience from the Atheist Community of Austen. They will, from an atheist point of view, talk to him about the importance of letting people make up their own minds - and that trying to force someone to agree with you (either by bullying them with your words or by using compulsion of other kinds) is well outside of the values of Atheism.
Good luck!
I have to say that I don't think your father would be angry with you for thinking for yourself. Atheism is more often than not the result of self-determined thinking. If he's a humanist and a rational person, he will appreciate that you're thinking through the issues on your own and probably try to give you resources that oppose what you're currently thinking (which isn't an insult).
I think children often see how their parents react to outsiders and then think that they will react toward them in the same way. It's not true. He may be harsh with people that he meets when discussing issues bordering on faith, but I'm sure that he appreciates the freedom to think for himself that allowed him to break from whatever faith tradition he was raised - and that appreciation will allow him to work through it with you.
If he has any problem with it, tell him to call the Atheist Experience from the Atheist Community of Austen. They will, from an atheist point of view, talk to him about the importance of letting people make up their own minds - and that trying to force someone to agree with you (either by bullying them with your words or by using compulsion of other kinds) is well outside of the values of Atheism.
Good luck!