How Can Theists Comfort Atheist Family Members | Tom - CA | Talk Heathen 04.17

Talk Heathen 04.17 for April 26, 2020 with Eric Murphy & Vi La Bianca.

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WHAT IS TALK HEATHEN?

Talk Heathen is a weekly call-in television show in Austin, Texas geared toward long-form and on-going dialogue with theists & atheists about religion, theism, & secularism. Talk Heathen is produced by the Atheist Community of Austin.

Talk Heathen is filmed in front of a live studio audience every week at the Freethought Library of the Atheist Community of Austin.

The Atheist Community of Austin is organized as a nonprofit educational corporation to develop & support the atheist community, to provide opportunities for socializing & friendship, to promote secular viewpoints, to encourage positive atheist culture, to defend the first amendment principle of government-religion separation, to oppose discrimination against atheists & to work with other organizations in pursuit of common goals.

We define atheism as the lack of belief in gods. This definition also encompasses what most people call agnosticism.

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NOTES

The views and opinions expressed by hosts, guests, or callers are their own and not necessarily representative of the Atheist Community of Austin.

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[dionettaeon]

The simplest thing to do is to LEAVE RELIGION OUT OF IT. Far too many times, religious people use grief and other low-points as a soapbox to preach and proselytize on. To someone who's deconverted, bringing in religious platitudes is likely to feel like a "reel them back in while they're down" chess-move, which will just make them resent you. Simple things like "I'm sorry for your loss" or "My condolences" are usually fine, especially if you don't know them too well, but the best thing you can do is to just be there for them, even if don't need help at the moment.

[FreshKicksOnTheCourt]

You guys should have Matt on the show sometime

[spaghettimonstersjudgingyo]

Don't bring up God or the afterlife AT ALL, NEVER. If you must don't say patronizing things like I'm sure you'll see them again in heaven. Or it's gods plan, or Jesus has called them home. Leave YOUR beliefs out of it unless you use them as a means of asking what their beliefs were or why they believed what they did. If you want to talk about religion wait a while and bring it up in the context of how it relates to a secular version of a similar act. So at a funeral for example a religious person might have a pastor read lines from a religious book. At a secular funeral you might have people read philosophical concepts the deceased person found meaningful. John spent a good deal of time helping out at the local charity because he felt all people deserved to eat vs because giving back is part of your religion. Similar end result but different motivation. Similar rationale different source. Secular people don't find it comforting when religious people explain why they'll be ok because (insert religious belief here) We find it rude and patronizing. There's a time for you to talk about your religion and at my funeral is not that time. Unless your beliefs tie in to things you did together and they aren't presented in a preachy, better than you or sales pitch kind of way.

[jf]

i wouldnt say harmfull but more insulting....