I am an atheist-agnostic. I am also a 20 year old white male college student from a relatively affluent neighborhood. I haven't had any real tragedy strike me besides personal ones; the inevitable rise and fall of various relationships of platonic or romantic nature.

I like history; I find it to be the most interesting subject anyone can ever read about. I like thinking, I like movies, I like books and music and games. I like the simplicity and complexity of life. I like laughing with friends and complaining to no end about people who irk me. I like that special time towards dusk, when birds have to find themslves a home for the night and you see a flock of hundreds gather on a single tree, calling out with a multitude of voices in a strange, chaotic harmony.

And I am an atheist. And I'd sooner not call myself that.

I try my hardest not to be embarassed about my beliefs; I have a left leaning streak, I support equal rights for everyone (including the often controversial Men's Rights, another belief I am hesistant to discuss because of the normal mysogny associated with it), I eat meat, and think piracy is convienant if dumb. I do not force my beliefs on anyone, and I've yet to have someone force their beliefs on me, but I do not like to call myself an atheist.

For those of you who have come from reddit, you are probably already aware of the reason why I want to distance myself from the community. For those who are lucky enough to not know, let me try to explain.

Discussions about atheism between two atheists are difficult to have. The number of topics you can talk about are limited; you can talk about how you deal with issues normally handled by religion, talk about your journey towards an atheist lifestyle, and maybe even talk about your parents religion and whether or not that affected your decision. But there is no moral code to interpret, no central beliefs besides simply that of "We do not believe a God exists because there is insufficient evidence."

Morality, philosophy, science, any of the subjects that one would turn to are not really "atheist" discussions. They are separate from religion, and are thus separate from atheism. Philosophy, yes, can be loosely discussed, and yes morality can be touched upon, but not in the same sense that say, a Christian and a Jew would talk about them. They become discussions about religious morality, or religious philosophy, whereas an atheist cannot have that conversation. Atheismis amoral; it simply is.

So what does a large community talk about, once they have quickly exhausted their normal conversations? Simple. Other religions.

They begin to cultivate a notion that religion is out to attack science, to attack atheism, and to attack them. This is why I am embarassed to call myself an atheist, because I do not wish to be part of that culture.

Does religion lash out against those who don't share their beliefs? Yes, of course there are going to be those people. In areas that are disproportionate amountts of those people. In those areas, iti s hard to be an atheist. But to use those examples as proof that atheism is an oppressed minority, that our civil liberties are being trampled upon on a day to day basis by a monolithic monstrosity known only vaguely as "Religion" is as ridiculous as it is misguided.

To put it simply, it is like saying that white Americans are the most oppressed minority because you live in the inner city in an all black neighborhood, and someone smashed the hood of your car in with a tire iron and spray painted the side with "DIE CRACKA." But, especially for r/atheism, this is what the world is.

To be clear, I am referring mostly to r/atheism, which tends to be much more Richard Dawkins-esque.