this post was submitted on 26 May 2025
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Nobody said reality was all smiles and rainbows. However, it’s entirely possible to find happiness without believing in fairy tales so you can sleep at night.
And also I don't see how life looks better while believing in a greater power. Starting with people going to war and desolation all the time in the name of their god...
It's possible but unfortunately when people have spent their entire lives with religion being their (seemingly) only source of happiness, it can be really hard for them to find a different source.
Im an atheist and I listen to The Lord of the Rings audiobook so I can sleep at night. Reality is fucking awful and I like my fairy tales.
Yes! Exactly this! So many atheists love fantasy and sci-fi. Why not? It is wonderful to have some magic in the world. We just know the stuff is made-up.
If those who share such things with us, demand crazy shit from us, we call that out for being toxic fandom or corporate enshittification and go away, if we please. In religions, that is just another day.
And her son completely failed to demonstrate any of that. She presumably spent her life trying to take care of her kid, (the quality of which can only be guessed at, but she cared enough to listwn to his points about atheism) and as soon as her child shows her a new way of thinking he completely abandons her without giving her any ways of handling it.
Whew. Must have been hard work carrying all those assumptions in.
Name three.
There are two big ones, both of which imply other assumptions like she didn't argue or tell him he was going to hell or a ton of other negative stuff that religious people tend to toss out when someone anknowledges atheism in their presence.
People are far more receptive to listening to someone they trust over someone they don't. It therefore follows that the mom was far more likely to have trusted/respected her son enough to hear what he had to say than the opposite. It's all the same assumption.
But sure, let's go with the alternative; she's a complete asshole who used religion as her crutch to do horrible things to her son all her life, and her son finally talked her into realising that she is the monster who has been causing issues this whole time. This is its own assumption too; we don't know what their relationship was like.
Her son, after showing her how horrible she has been her whole life, runs off to celebrate this victory with his friends, and leaves her to cry on the floor, alone.
He cared more about being right than anything else, including helping her through this discovery or damn, even just calling someone she trusts to talk her through it.
So the point of the comic stands regardless of this assumption. The son abandoned his mother after turning her worldview over completely. The consequence of that was his mother lying on the floor, devastated. (Whether she deserved it or not)
Does anyone really deserve that? Did you enjoy having to figure out what to do with yourself when you realised that it's entirely likely that nothing outside of this single life exists, all on your own? Would you have appreciated a friend or family member walking you through the way to handle that?
A little bit of empathy goes a long way.
Or they just talked it over calmy and respectfully and she didn't break down crying until well after he left and the reality of all of the time she wasted not being herself because of being told her natural attraction to women was a sin hit home. The son is happy when telling his friends because his mom can be herself!
Or he could be an evil, heartless athiest like you apparently want him to be.
I mean, I guess that's one interpretation. If you go with those assumptions, the takeaway is that, what, changing changing your views can be devastating? Where's the value in that? 'Big worldview changes can be stressful' is not at all a valuable takeaway from this.
My point really has nothing to do with his atheism. Obviously he cares too; he wouldn't bother talking with her if he didn't care. My point is that there are better ways to care, and it's worth keeping them in mind whenever this sort of situation comes up.
In my example the mother can be herself if she lets go of the chains of religion. That seems like a solid value to me.
You seem to be saying changing worldviews is a negative thing, even when the example is positive.
She's crying because she's now free of religion and is able to go off and be herself, while also being sad about all the missed chances she lost when she was religious.
Just to be clear, this is the takeaway you got from this comic? It's absolutely not the one I got from reading it.
No, just very stressful. Growing as a person is a good thing.
I assume the author meant atheists sre jerks for ruining someone's belief in god because of the whole neckbeard theme.
But I do know someone who fits my reading, and it was because they were gay and in the closet and they lost faith for a few years. It was both soul crushing and a relief for them, and they kept their composure when talking about their faith, but did end up crying a lot while they worked it out. They ended up going to a Unitarian church to get the sense of community
But my overall point is that assuming the athiest is a shitty, uncaring person is a crappy stereotype that leads to a lot of assumptions.
I'd be happy knowing our family wasn't financially enabling organizations that hide and protect rapists and pedophiles.
YMMV.
I mean, the celebration was not unwarranted. It's just that he left quickly enough that all the emotional breakdown happened to her while she was all alone, instead of with him there to support her.
or, it could be that this is all a silly oversimplification depicted in a fuckin web comic lol....
gross oversimplification of the actual struggle - check
depicts atheism as cruel and hurtful - check
maybe you should think about what you're consuming before you follow it's facile conclusions...
Yup. Very little on the internet isn't these days. You take what you can get. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯