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August 5, 2012
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I had these classmates...

:iconvalkyrie-chaos:
It all started when they asked me if I believed in God, in which I told them "no." (I'm an athiest)

Instead of just letting it go, they kept on asking me questions like "Are you crazy or something?" and "Do you worship the devil then?". I tried not to get mad at them, in which I kept telling them "No."
After I told them why I don't believe in God, they finally dropped the conversation.

The next day during lunch, they bring up the topic again. They ask the same questions from yesterday and, yet again, I told them no. Then they begin insulting me, and tell me things like "God is very forgiving" and "Jesus will save you from going to hell". I snapped, and I told them "Stop feeding me your bullshit and accept the fact I don't believe in a sky deity that watches over us!" They all left, but then they told everyone in my class that I didn't believe in God and that I worshipped the devil (even though i told them I didn't). So everyone started making fun of me, and even some of my "friends" in my class began to look at me funny and join in with the rest. i got through the school year (didn't let it get me down too much.) But now I'm afraid that those same classmates will be with me next year.

And so, I ask you: what should I do to make them stop?

(Though looking back, I believe what I said to my classmates when I snapped was really unnecessary... I kinda feel bad for saying that to them, but I was just really annoyed, ya know?)
(Also, i didn't know which forum I was supposed to put this in... sorry XD)
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:iconvoltaire666:
Where are you from? That sounds kinda extreme, in my country, beliving 100% in God is considered odd, though no one would bully you for it.
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:iconbabylonsabby:
*BabylonSabby Aug 11, 2012  Student General Artist
Me again, lol. A question I has. Why'd they ask you if you believed in God anyway? It's a yes or no question, if not a complicated 'gray' one. Either way, if you don't answer 'yes' with nothing else attached to that, it should suffice to say that...you either don't believe in God or it's complicated. Not that hard to figure out. But they chew you out for it anyway. I'm thinkin'...they premeditated chewing you out. "Okay, if they don't answer yes, we're going to chew them out." Otherwise, what's the...point of...asking....if it's not to satisfy some sort of curiosity? If they expect ahead of time that you're going to answer 'no', which is what you NEED to do in the event of asking a yes or no question, is it really even necessary to ask? Why couldn't they just go, "What's your belief system?" instead? It's way more polite and easy and they wouldn't have ended up looking like total idiots in the process.
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:iconmaskedguardian:
Find new friends.
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:iconaemeya:
There is nothing you can do.
Most likely the kids who are tormenting you are not tormenting you as a direct result of your belief system, but rather because they are miserable.
When you are miserable, you need someone to be more miserable than yourself to make you feel better.
They don't really care about your religion, they only care about you as a target for all their own suffering.

Normally people would say to "just ignore it" but silence/ignoring is a response within itself.
The only way to get rid of this kind of treatment is to be extremely happy and positive.
Your responses to any teasing should somehow be optimistic and bright.
Straight back, smile big.

If someone were to walk up to you and say,
"You're a satanist, aren't you?"
Say something happy back like,
"I'm not sure who's a satanist, but it's not me~ Hey, does the weather seem weird or is it just me?"
Change the subject if you can.

If you keep this up, then the bullying will probably fade away.
Never say you're a satanist, even sarcastically.
Never get mad.
That's all the advice that I can give.
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:iconfalconicide:
*Falconicide Aug 11, 2012  Student Digital Artist
Unfortunately bullying, opression and generally bullshittery is a very common thing when it comes to atheists. Hell I've had teachers bully me and harass me. One even told me that I was "autistic because I didn't believe in Jesus." and tried to send me to get tested by a doctor. -without telling my parents- (plus my family has no history with autism or aspergers ect.)
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:iconbabylonsabby:
*BabylonSabby Aug 10, 2012  Student General Artist
I had an incident like this at work a while back. I'm not an Atheist...but I didn't follow the same religion as the person who confronted me. Mind you, they confronted me like this...in the line. I work at a department store...and here I am, trying to check people out and keep the line moving so nobody get's angry and stuff. You know. Customer service and what not. But lo and behold....this elderly fellow comes to my register to check out and instead of showing me his driver's license, which I needed in order to make sure the info on his check was right (otherwise, I can't scan it), he shows me his membership card to...some church in the area. And then he kind of grins and boasts about it. Like, "That might be my driver's license, with my address and picture on it and everything....but this is really who I am. What I'm a part of." That's not what made things awkward, though. Hell no. I thought he looked way too smug while I was trying to be as serious as possible about this driver's license business, but hey. Nothing wrong in feeling proud about your belief system. What made me flustered was that he asked me what church I belonged to, kinda just...assuming I went to one at all. I told him honestly that I didn't go to church, nor was I a part of one. That my 'religion' was more of a philosophy than anything else.
He looked curious as first...asked me what it was, of course, so I answered 'Deism', because it's the closest thing I actually feel associated with. I kinda grinned myself. Feeling my own surge of....national pride as I shortly stated that America was founded mostly on Deistic views and that most of the founding fathers were in fact Deists themselves. I thought it was a neat little...piece of information for him to have since he was living in this country after all and...not many people know that in my neck of the woods. I'm also a history nerd. I'll spout random bits of...historical trivia at random times.

"Well then...what do you do about Jesus?" is what he asks me next. Meanwhile, there's a lot of people in line....and it's sure not flowing....I'm starting to get nervous. Not just about that, but about being put on the spot as well. I really didn't know how to answer that question.

I just kind of looked at him like, "....He......exists????????....He's.....there??????" I didn't know, lol. Jesus isn't a big deal to me. So...in as polite and unoffensive way as I possibly could, I explained that I thought Jesus, if he existed, was an ordinary human like me and him and that...there was really nothing...I could do...about him.

It's at that point that he's not smiling and asking questions anymore, but kind of....glowering at me. Definitely a , "Son, I am disappoint," face. Fortunately he eventually did leave and go on his merry way, but the sense of awkwardness I felt after that conversation didn't leave until closing time. Was it really necessary? I mean...there's a time and a place to talk about these things, you know? And in the middle of your shift...at work....with people everywhere.....is not the place! So after I gave him all that very personal information for not only him, but everyone else to hear, I kept having the feeling that the other customers were judging me as well. That I was going to get ANOTHER person at my register...glaring at me like, "You non-believer, you.....Just ring up my shit so I can get the fuck outta here."

Needless to say, I learned my lesson about revealing my actual 'religion' to total and complete strangers. >.<;;; Next time I'm just going to lie and...make up a Christian sounding church name, lmao. I feel that if I say something like, "I really don't want to say, it's kind of personal," that the questioning stranger will hammer me with questions I feel uncomfortable asking, therefore making the conversation that much more awkward.
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:iconliliths-elixir:
*Liliths-Elixir Aug 11, 2012  Student Filmographer
That's pretty much what happened to me, only I'm Pagan and it was at mini market booth I did for a few weeks.
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:iconsontine:
~Sontine Aug 9, 2012   Digital Artist
Just don't say anything at all. Don't even open your mouth or look at them. Just sit, draw, read a book or something. They might get bored of pestering you. Don't give them something more to argue about.

Some kids just want a reaction out of other people, it's fun to them.

When I was in elementry school, it was hard for kids to bully me because I never said anything and just ignored people attempting to get me down.
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:iconadamkass:
*AdamKass Aug 9, 2012  Professional General Artist
Gotta agree. Just stone-wall them. They'll likely get bored. If that doesn't work, public intellectual shaming did well for me in high school(Loudly answering their questions with something like: "Why are you so concerned about what I believe? Are you so lacking in your faith that you need me to show you an out?" or some such. While I don't really advocate it, embarrassing people who are basically bullies tends to be extremely effective.)

I say if they're gonna call her a Devil Worshiper, then she should own it. Wear a pentacle, say shes a witch and scare the crap outta them(or just go Goth, same effect).
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:iconliliths-elixir:
*Liliths-Elixir Aug 11, 2012  Student Filmographer
XD Wearing a pentacle and being an actual goth did nothing for me. If anything, it got worse. I ended up marrying a lot of asses to my boots.
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