urcutecrush:
I can attest to this.the fact that i am female even makes it worst cos they think i shouldn't av any reasonable thought.what I fear is the future will I be able to continue under this pretense.I hope I found someone with likemind.being an atheist in this society is just when u are the only sober person in a car and nobody allows u to drive

rinrin23:


I too fear what the future would be like. How would I find a life partner with as much intellect and reasoning as I, how would I raise my kids, what kind of persucution/struggles my kids would go through for being/thinking different.

But I take comfort in the fact that change is constant, and the way this Age of Information is affecting our society for the better. Soon, sometime in the nearest future (I hope) society would look back at its 'primitive' thinking and laugh and learn from it. After all the world's greatest nations/societies went through their own Dark Ages, we are simply going through ours.

urcutecrush:

Truthfully i don't see this happening in the nearest future.hopefully we found our heart desires but if not cheers to many years of pretense ahead.as the case of my future children if possible i will teach them d history and science of the world they are in from early age cos i don't want anybody poisining their mind that their mother is the devil incarnate.if possible they won't take any religious study tho the choice fully lies on them.but as it is now the future looks bleak.I geuss i should stop thinking about the future and enjoy the moment cos nobody knows what the future holds.

urcutecrush:
I can attest to this.the fact that i am female even makes it worst cos they think i shouldn't av any reasonable thought.what I fear is the future will I be able to continue under this pretense.I hope I found someone with likemind.being an atheist in this society is just when u are the only sober person in a car and nobody allows u to drive

rinrin23:
A dinner with friends slowly morphed into a heated conversation about the supernatural and the "power of the name Jesus", which when called could silence all demons and counter spiritual attacks. I listened as they spoke about waking up and demons holding them down in their sleep.

I listened as each from different sects of Christianity tip toed around their beliefs and selected a common enemy- the Muslim, and how deluded they were with their lack of understanding of what "true fasting" was. And how these poor deluded lovers of Allah have a veil of delusion around their eyes that stops them from reasoning and seeing the falsities in their sacred book and beliefs.

I listened, smiled and nodded appropriately. I nodded in understanding, I smiled in recognition. These I did because I understood. I too have had these thoughts, I too have stuck to my beliefs feeling lucky to have been born on "the right side" and equally lucky to have been "born again" and "under the grace" of the "new covenant with Christ".

But what they didn't see was a woman who has questioned her beliefs and sought the truth; searched through history and understood: the basis of religion, law, power and control; how wars are won and how religions are spread; how diverse the human race is and how religious supremacy is a much worse ideological cancer than racial supremacy. What they didn't see was me fighting back the urge to speak to them about these 'demons' holding them down- teach them about sleep paralysis, release them from their fear of spiritual enemies attacking them; teach them about the power of the mind, and the power of Self. Most of all was me fighting the urge to confess that I too saw them -strong intelligent women deluded with the same veil around their minds.

However all I could bring myself to do was smile and nod, and hope that someday they too would question their beliefs and come to know the truth; and thus live a life of spiritual independence and an empowerment that comes from knowing that it was -their strength that got them thought difficult times, their intelligence that got them to the height of their careers, and their mind and soul that keeps them alive.

rinrin23:


Cheers to the years of pretence and living in the present!

urcutecrush:

Truthfully i don't see this happening in the nearest future.hopefully we found our heart desires but if not cheers to many years of pretense ahead.as the case of my future children if possible i will teach them d history and science of the world they are in from early age cos i don't want anybody poisining their mind that their mother is the devil incarnate.if possible they won't take any religious study tho the choice fully lies on them.but as it is now the future looks bleak.I geuss i should stop thinking about the future and enjoy the moment cos nobody knows what the future holds.

Raiders:
you shouldnt live a life of pretence as an atheist to your spouse. A husband don't don't respect your religious beliefs don't deserve to be with you. Sadly, Nigeria is a country filled with religious bigots and being an atheists is as worse as being a gay in Nigeria society. I have never really met an open female atheists in Nigeria because most are scared of discrimination from friends and family. Personally, I don't mind marrying an atheist or a theist as long as my spouse respect my religious beliefs and don't try to force her religious beliefs on me or my family.

plaetton:
The sooner the children are exposed to the lies and contradictions of religion, the sooner they start to ask questions and formulate critical thinking.
All a parent has to do is plant seeds of thoughts into a child, and then watch it grow.

rinrin23:


In most cases its not really the fear of discrimination, its the associated stress- the stress of constant arguments, stress of trying to enlighten them, stress of dealing with the many prayer warriors/prayer meetings/deliverances they would hold on your behalf, etc. I do believe what you say about marriage but the truth is the statistics are not in our favour, which is why marriage for me would be a ''miracle''.

macof:


Beautiful! Just bi yu ti ful
if I could hug u right now I would

We need more brave and intelligent women like u in Africa

Raiders:
you are right in a way. However, I don't argue with people about my beliefs because its a waste of time.Its hard to convince someone to change his religious beliefs that he has spend his entire life believing in. When I was in university, I didn't argue with my religious friends because I knew it would not make any different. Anyway, I am the kind of guy who believe that [b] religion beliefs is suppose to be a personal and its wrong to force someone to share your religious belief [/b]You are also right about atheist female having it hard because Nigeria is a society where the female is suppose to convert to the religious beliefs of her husband. I seen many cases where Muslim husband force their christain wives to convert Islam and vice versa.

Raiders:
lol. It would be very difficult to prevent your kids from learning about religion in school in Nigeria unless your kids are raised abroad or you plan to home school your kids. I remember religious study was madatory Subject from my primary 1 to my jss 3. Also you are right that you might have problem with your husband family if they are uneducated and religious fanatics because in some part of Nigeria, atheists are label as Anti-christ or Satan worshipers.

rinrin23:


In most cases its not really the fear of discrimination, its the associated stress- the stress of constant arguments, stress of trying to enlighten them, stress of dealing with the many prayer warriors/prayer meetings/deliverances they would hold on your behalf, etc. I am somewhat open about my religious views and I know the stress its brought upon me, sometimes its just not worth it. I do believe what you say about marriage but the truth is the statistics are not in our favour, which is why marriage for me would be a ''miracle'' (in my 24 years of existence I have only met one somewhat atheist man, and he happens to be married).

plaetton:
Hurray and big cheers for our very few, but very brave women, the saviors of our motherland from the malignant cancer of religion.

The journey will be long and your tasks would be hard.

krayzieklay:

Lol.. You can say(write) that again,Plaetton. Seriously, you ladies just made my day. I never knew there were female atheists in this country. Btw @ rinrin23,I thought you live outside Nigeria.

rinrin23:


Why did you think that?

rinrin23:


I completely understand. We are in the same boat. Its worse for women in this society, you have to be a 'God fearing woman' or no one would 'respect you' and if by chance you decide to be openly vocal about your religious stance this might result in them thinking/calling you a 'witch' and you will suddeny be the cause of every 'spiritual attack' that comes their way.

Funniest part is in your analogy about the car, in a real life scenario you the atheist would be the sober one while the religious ones are drunk out of their minds. And then they sober up and try to preach to you about morality and how 'grace' covers their sins.

I too fear what the future would be like. How would I find a life partner with as much intellect and reasoning as I, how would I raise my kids, what kind of persucution/struggles my kids would go through for being/thinking different.

But I take comfort in the fact that change is constant, and the way this Age of Information is affecting our society for the better. Soon, sometime in the nearest future (I hope) society would look back at its 'primitive' thinking and laugh and learn from it. After all the world's greatest nations/societies went through their own Dark Ages, we are simply going through ours.

rationalmind:
My cousin recently told me how amazed he was to find out through nairaland there are several atheists in Nigeria.

In his own words, " Orisirisi, so, someone in his right senses will one day wake up and claim to be an atheist."

Unknown to him, his own sweet cousin is an atheist on same nairaland who just like the OP has learnt to fight the urge to speak.

rinrin23:


Those kind of statements are the ones that break my silence! We need to fight the urge 'to not speak/stay silent'. Its tough though. There are a lot of us in this society but if we are not open about it we would never know (ref: the picture below)

rinrin23:
A dinner with friends slowly morphed into a heated conversation about the supernatural and the "power of the name Jesus", which when called could silence all demons and counter spiritual attacks. I listened as they spoke about waking up and demons holding them down in their sleep.

I listened as each from different sects of Christianity tip toed around their beliefs and selected a common enemy- the Muslim, and how deluded they were with their lack of understanding of what "true fasting" was. And how these poor deluded lovers of Allah have a veil of delusion around their eyes that stops them from reasoning and seeing the falsities in their sacred book and beliefs.

I listened, smiled and nodded appropriately. I nodded in understanding, I smiled in recognition. These I did because I understood. I too have had these thoughts, I too have stuck to my beliefs feeling lucky to have been born on "the right side" and equally lucky to have been "born again" and "under the grace" of the "new covenant with Christ".

But what they didn't see was a woman who has questioned her beliefs and sought the truth; searched through history and understood: the basis of religion, law, power and control; how wars are won and how religions are spread; how diverse the human race is and how religious supremacy is a much worse ideological cancer than racial supremacy. What they didn't see was me fighting back the urge to speak to them about these 'demons' holding them down- teach them about sleep paralysis, release them from their fear of spiritual enemies attacking them; teach them about the power of the mind, and the power of Self. Most of all was me fighting the urge to confess that I too saw them -strong intelligent women deluded with the same veil around their minds.

However all I could bring myself to do was smile and nod, and hope that someday they too would question their beliefs and come to know the truth; and thus live a life of spiritual independence and an empowerment that comes from knowing that it was -their strength that got them thought difficult times, their intelligence that got them to the height of their careers, and their mind and soul that keeps them alive.

ghostofsparta:

Hi there, I can relate to the sort of angst those brainwashed ignoramuss furrowed in you, I go through it almost everyday. Believe me when I say everyday. I know the feeling. In my restive bid to enlighten fellow youths whenever at every opportunity they needlessly make references or draw comparison to passages from either of the Abrahamic religions I have had countless,heated arguments with religionists here in Yorubaland such that I am always awestruck at the degree to which their mindset is irredeemable. Recently, two friends of mine were all having this argument about our indigenous believe system is appropriate and suitable to our lifestyle here in our society rather than the Jewish method of approaching things here such that it careened over various issues until it resorted into a twist. This happened last week. I asked the so self-believed Christian friend that isn't Shango greater than Jesus considering so, so and so points, to which he repeatedly yelled Jesus is far more powerful than Shango, despite before that moment we've shared our experiences on various matters relating to our ancestral believe system, in fact he's from a one of those Yoruba town where Shango is their major deity among the Yoruba pantheon. The vehemence at which he claimed the supremacy of the Jewish prophet over those of his so much angered the third friend that he reacted by gesticulating his left hand violently saying "Why you go dey tok like this?", his hand upon hitting the edge of my laptop got the screen cracked immediately. Minutes later, he kept saying, initially as a joke then later as something he believed that it is Jesus Christ whom I and the other friend refuse to accept that responded as such as to impress on us his powers. As he continued stating his delusion from time to time, I couldn't help but to ask him why did Jesus saw it fit not to answered my prayer back then when I prayed to him and why can't he attend to those Boko Haram captives who would really use his help, instead it is me he feels worthy of convincing of his powers? He said, those ones in their heart don't pray to him, that it is only when they're in danger that they remember Jesus and he doen't work that way. I asked how does he know they aren't even more close to their Lord Jesus, son of Jehovah than him? As ususal...he digressed the answer to that question away. Yesterday, afternoon he brought in another old friend of his whom after talking about some books ended up arguing over Christianity again......to which I eventually had to let him know to keep his religion beliefs to his personal life rather than coming to condemn me for not accepting his views on how scientists and us pagans are the ones responsible for the evil in this world. This is what I go through from time to time. I can relate to your bottled up feelings of intense disapproval as their barrage of falsehood unease you.