Burt Lancaster, self-described atheist

[frogmarch]

A thread about the Hollywood actor Burt Lancaster in GD prompted me to do a little research on him. Here’s my post on that thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1034334

Here’s more about him. He was an atheist, even though his girlfriend claimed he really wasn’t.

http://www.adherents.com/people/pl/Burt_Lancaster.html

(Jackie) Bone (Lancaster's long-time girlfriend) remains certain that he was never the atheist he claimed to be, that "something happened, somewhere--perhaps his mother's death--to turn him off" from what he still, deep down in his Elmer Gantry heart, believed. He tossed off any such identification. The Ten Commandments, he said, were fine--but not for him.

~~

It always irks me when Christians can’t accept the fact that a friend of theirs is an atheist. When I remarked in passing at a family get-together years ago that I was atheist, one of my sisters-in-law cried out, “You are not!” and gave me such a hard shove I almost fell down. Luckily, I caught myself by grabbing the back of a chair. I said, “I am, and you’d better get used to it.” I can’t remember exactly what else I told her, but it was something like, “You bible thumpers need to get over yourselves.”

[dimbear]

1. All the cutest guys are. n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

4. Why thank you...

just kidding

[Warren DeMontague]

11. You got that right.

[RebelOne]

2. I had the same response from my sister

when I said I was an atheist. She also shouted, "You are not." Fortunately, it was over the phone because she probably would have shoved me. My daughter is also an atheist, but my sister refused to believe it. I told her to call my daughter for proof, but she never did.

[onager]

5. I got that crap from a cousin.

She's the same age as me, and we hung around together a lot when we were kids.

With everyone at my Mom's for Xmas a few years ago, she put me on the spot by asking where I went to church in Los Angeles (where I live).

She knows damn well I haven't been to church in about a century, and was just shit-stirring. That seems to be a trend, at least among white Southern Xians that I know - if nothing else works, maybe they can embarass you into the arms of Jebus.

I tried to wiggle out of it as quietly as possible, asking her: "Umm...did you see the movie 'O Brother Where Art Thou?'"

"Yes! I LOVED that movie!"

"Well, I'm just like George Clooney's character. 'Spiritually unaffiliated.'"

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am!"

Then suddenly we were both 8 years old again. We could have gone on like that all night. Just ridiculous.

And no, I do not otherwise resemble George Clooney. When it comes to looks, I am the anti-George Clooney.

[OriginalGeek]

8. Exactly what my wife's aunt said

when she learned I was an atheist. "You are not!" then after I assured her I was, she said "really?" and I don't think she's mentioned it again.

My youngest brother still doesn't believe it although he takes great pleasure in introducing me as "My atheist brother" to everyone he can. Then he tells me in private he simply doesn't believe I could have rejected god after all we've been taught. I just laughed and said "THAT you don't believe..a factual thing you cannot disprove that I am telling you about me - you don't believe that - but you believe in some mythological sky-being who grants wishes..I guess it's nice to know you are capable of not believing something..."

[Curmudgeoness]

3. I think that one of the most common things believers do

is to go into denial about atheists. I hear that all the time....almost everyone has this way of ignoring what you said and assuming that you really really really, deep down, still have a belief in god. I suppose that it is because they have these silly thoughts of atheists being the same as Satan or sociopaths or amoral creeps....they just cannot get their mind around how someone can be a decent human being without god. Therefore, you must really believe even if you say you don't. It is that "there are no atheists in the foxhole" mentality.

I get two responses---the denial is one, and "I am too" is the other (from people who I would least expect).

[aka-chmeee]

6. When Dad died, the USW union he had belonged to presented the family with a family bible in a nice

cedar box. Sisters insisted that as I was eldest, I should have it. I took that opportunity to explain that I did not believe in their god or his religion. Said as the bible meant less than nothing to me, one of them should take it. After that, no negotiation was possible and I still have the blasted thing here somewhere. The subject has never been broached since; just like it never happened. I guess they think my proximity to a bible will eventually correct my obviously damaged psyche.

[redqueen]

7. Religious people are conditioned at an early age to believe things based on feelings

rather than evidence.

Can't really expect that to stop being the case while they're still religious.

[LiberalAndProud]

9. It's hard for those who believe to understand unbelief.

At least, that was my experience.

[sarcasmo]

10. My close friends and my immediate family understand. My wife and her family total denial.

[Odin2005]

12. It's the "you are too good of a person to be an Atheist!!!" routine.

To them "Atheist" = "evil, monstrous devil-worshiper", so having a Atheist loved one sends them into full-blown neurotic rationalization mode.

[rexcat]

13. My youngest brother died at age 40...

from medical complications of cancer treatment 20 years past. I was out as an atheist for many years and my brother and I had many discussion about religion prior to his death. He also was an atheist but at his memorial service when I mentioned that fact I got nasty retorts from the family and his friends. It was a bizarre situation and the amount of denial on their part was amazing. I still get grief about being an atheist from the rest of the family.