Well Meeka, that is a very complicated question and I don't know because I don't know

what your involvement is with your church. The second thing I don't know is are you eleven years old,

or are you thirty five? I don't know and the answer is really different. If you are eleven years

old and you're living at home, and your parents are afraid that because you're atheist you

don't want to go to church, and they are there three nights a week and you would be at home

unsupervised, that is a whole different set of things we are talking about, and this is

not talking about beliefs, so let's just talk about the beliefs for a second.

Yes, you are entitled to your own beliefs. You can believe whatever you want. Right?

No harm done. You respect the beliefs of your family and

let them respect your beliefs. And you don't need to fight about it.

You don't need to bring it up, and you don't need to fight about it, and you don't need

to make that be the drama in your home. Now having said that, let's change it to a

metaphor. Let's say that God or Jesus is the sun.

You say "Well, I don't believe in the sunshine." Okay.

So you go outside and you put on a great big wide brimmed hat, and sunglasses and sunscreen

and you pretend that the sun does not exist. That's fine. You can pretend all day or it

might be true for you. But that does not negate the sunshine for

other people. Other people can still go out and get sunburned.

They can still go out and get a sun tan. They can enjoy the sun to help grow their plants.

If you don't believe in it, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Right? So, leave yourself an opening, is my first suggestion, because let's say there

is thirty days of rain, and then one day the sun mysteriously and miraculously comes out

and you are like: "Wow, check that out". Right? But if you've been fighting against the sun,

it's going to be really hard for you to rip off that hat and say "Oh, what a miracle,

the sun has finally arrived." So leave yourself an opening, it's okay if

you want to think you are an atheist now. One day you might change your opinion, so

leave yourself an opening, and then second of all, there are common grounds in all religions

and in all family values. And those are things like faith, and compassion, and honesty and

trust, and caring and forgiveness. So find the commonalities in your core beliefs,

and celebrate those with your family, and don't focus on the things that make you different,

focus on the things that make you the same. I tell you what, it will solve a lot of resistance

in your home, and it's a good idea.

It's a good idea.