Heya playa, did you grow up in a religious household and just recently you started to
move away from those beliefs?
That can be a difficult conversation to have with your parents and that's exactly what
I'm_Never_Hot asked when they said: "I live in a religious household and I don't really
feel religious.
I'm pretty much an atheist now.
I don't know what to say to my parents, please help."
Don't worry, having this conversation doesn't have to be as difficult as you think it is
so I want to share a few tips on how you can approach it without having the whole thing
explode in your face.
This is The Josh Speaks.
You're watching The Josh Speaks.
For those of you that are new here my name is Josh and every single Monday through Friday,
I make videos sharing tips, ideas and stories teaching you how to be your best self.
And chances are if you've recently become an atheist, you no longer believe in God like
you used to.
Whether or not that's a good thing or bad thing we can put aside, for now, the key piece
to all of this is being able to express your new views to your family without being criticized,
judged and shamed for them.
And doing that can be tough if you come from a religious household or even a religious
community.
It's hard to kind of break out from the norm and kind of do your own thing without people
kind of looking at you and going "what are you doing?".
I think growing and learning are natural parts of our human development.
As we get older we discover new ideas and they end up challenging the old ones that
we carry simply because we were taught them by our parents.
It can be difficult for parents to see that because as they've also grown over the years,
they've come to the beliefs that they have now after all their years of development.
And once you get older, you feel like you have a more firm grasp on how the world works
around you so you're less likely to kind of change your beliefs or adopt new ones.
So if you thought you would just rationally explain your new beliefs to your parents and
they would just turn around and go, yeah that makes sense it's not always gonna be that
simple.
Instead of trying to disprove what they believe, try to find different elements within that
belief that still coincide with your new ones.
For example, if you're atheist, you might get asked the question "Where do your morals
come from though?"
and you can simply follow up with "I follow the golden rule, do unto others as you would
have them do unto you".
The golden rule functions as a moral compass that has existed well beyond all religions
and here's the interesting thing.
It's also found in all the religions.
The simple values of being kind, being compassionate and doing the least amount of harm to others
is something that can be found in every single religion, so, even if you're atheist and you
don't have a religion to believe in, those are still values that you can coincide with
along with what your parents believe.
Or you might get asked: "Are you concerned with the idea that you might not go to heaven
and you might go to hell?".
From that, if you're an atheist you can simply explain to your parents that you want to live
your life and carry out your day to day in a way that would merit you going to heaven.
And that means being a kind person, being compassionate, doing the right thing whenever
you can.
If your parents see that the values you hold are the ones that are going to uplift you
in society, that are going to make you a better and kinder person then as time goes on that
might be something that they can get behind.
So how do you even start that conversation?
I mean, what do you actually say?
Well, in that case, I would simply explain to your parents something like this: "Hey,
as time has gone on I think my religious beliefs have kind of shifted in a way where I'm more
focused on being a good person and maybe tied less to the mystical aspect of it all."
Let them know that while you're curious you're not exactly interested in following any beliefs
that come from any set doctrine.
You're more on a path of discovering who you are and you're doing it in a way where you
want to carry yourself forward to be your best self.
And no matter what you're still going to get into arguments or disagreements from time
to time.
If you come from a super religious family, it's going to be super hard for them to accept
that you're no longer following what everyone else is.
Don't be so focused on trying to fix other people or change their beliefs, really focus
on building yourself up.
That's where you can have the biggest impact on this world, by creating a belief structure
that can uplift you and eventually also uplift the people around you to where they're more
kind, more compassionate and more considerate of other people.
What do you think though, do you have beliefs of any kind that don't necessarily align with
your parents?
Are you afraid to talk to them about it?
Leave your comments down below and we'll talk about it.
This may not be something you want to talk about in public so you can always shoot me
a DM over on Snapchat or Instagram.
I do my best to answer as many messages as I can.
And on that note, thank you so much for watching.
If you enjoyed this video hit the thumbs up button if you are new here make sure to subscribe
and definitely check out the videos I have over there on the side if you want to keep
diving deeper into my thoughts on religion, how to talk about it, how to kind of find
common ground with other people, I think those videos will be super helpful so check them
out.
On that note, I'll catch you guys next time, as always love and peace.