Hi,

I've never experienced that in a hospital, but I think it's worth
mentioning how frustrated and annoyed I get when I come
across "religion" on job, student loan, and university applications!

I normally just write "none" for fear that an educated person might
read my application, i.e., if I write "atheist" as my religion, then
they might think, "What an idiot. Atheism isn't a religion!"
Obviously we all know that atheism is purely disbelief, and clearly
it isn't a religion. However, I really would love to
write "atheist", just to make my position clear! Maybe if we were to
write "conscientious disbeliever", we would get our point across!

Once on a summer-job application, I was asked my nationality in
the "equal opportunities" section, so I responded with "Citizen of
the World". I despise those equal opportunities questions! They are
just ridiculous! If nationality/race/sexuality/religion isn't an
issue in the world of work, why then is there a need to mention it,
let alone ask candidates about it? Hence when I was asked for
my "race", I replied with "homo sapien", having crossed out all the
possible responses, e.g. caucasian, afro-caribbean, etc. If the
government wants to stamp out racism, it should stop propagating the
idea that there are different 'kinds' of human beings in thoughtless
questionnaires and equal opportunities sections on job applications!

Slightly off the point, but it angers me!

- Matt

--- In atheismuk2@..., "annelieseglitz"
<anneliese.glitz@l...> wrote:
> Hi,
> I wonder if any other atheists have had the following experiance,
or
> if any NHS staff would like to comment on it? A couple of years
ago
> I had to spend a few weeks in an NHS hospital. When I was
admitted
> they asked my religion, I replied I was an atheist, the nurse
flatly
> refused to write the word, instead she put 'none'. This of course
is
> not quite the same thing, an atheist does not accept the existance
> of god (no capital on purpose), whereas to claim no religion
sounds
> as if you just have n't thought about the issue.
> Please give me your thoughts, was this a one off?
> Anneliese.