I was randomly harassed for being an atheist walking home from school today.

"FUCK YOU, ATHEIST. GO TO HELL" the kid in the passenger seat yelled as they all laughed and sped away, down the corner and past the house that I live in. It was the first time I have been threatened on behalf of the way I think.

You still haven't been threatened. Someone telling you to go to a fictional location is not a threat, would you consider it a threat if I demanded you go to Niflheim, of course not as you don't believe in the faith that declares this fictional location to be real.

Now if one declares I'm going to burn your house down with you inside of it & send you to hell, that's a threat. Note the difference between what he said & an actual threat.

They have 4 people who could potentially hurt me

Actually there is roughly 7.349 billion people on the planet Earth & they could ALL potentially hurt you. Some asshole shouting obscenities is just that an asshole.

The fact is that being an asshole is what assholes do, the likelihood that they would attack you is low given the information you've given. People who actually do harm are overwhelmingly NOT people who make actual threats, let alone people who are outspoken red neck assholes, it's the quite people who you don't notice.

Frankly if this is the most kickback you've had for being an atheist I have to say you've had a rather idyllic life.

Now here's the rub: The world is full of assholes, simply move on with your life & accept that people are allowed to be assholes & people don't have to be nice to you. The likelihood of a repeat performance is low given that assholes are cowards when they don't have an audience egging them on. An if they do repeat it then simply report it to the police as harassment & then move on with your life.

sorry if that sounds harsh, but that's how the rest of the people on planet Earth get through their day, be they atheist of theist, we all have to deal with assholes at some point.

/r/atheism Thread