Hi Matt

I very much like the idea of the "conscientious disbeliever" - very
good, it made me chuckle on a dull, rainy Wednesday afternoon!

Shell

--- In atheismuk2@..., atheist_revolutionary
<no_reply@y...> wrote:
> 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.