Religion
In reply to the discussion: Pope Francis issues top 10 tips for happiness – including don’t try to convert other people [View all]AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)"They should be able to see your faith by how you lead your life."
He took it the opposite of what I meant, which is actually true enough, when believers are living 'badly' by some metric. he made a great point there.
But what I meant was, people like me, living my life by example, and in many cases, surprising believers. A lot of people assume some level of religiosity in me, due to my unwaveringly principled lifestyle, and, of my cousins/relatives, longest-enduring marriage. For some reason that often gets associated with religious faith.
I demonstrate that neither is required at all, on a daily basis. As we have discussed (And I presume you agree, not being a believer yourself) it is possible to live a perfectly moral and upstanding life without religious influence. Demonstrating that can change the assumptions, and in some cases, start to de-convert people who assumed religion was the only way.
Not always though. I still see a lot of 'if you're living your life for your partner, your marriage is in trouble, live for god and the marriage will follow' type of nonsense in my FB feed, but... Some individuals have really started questioning their assumptions after discovering that I am an atheist.