Holy fuck! I seriously hope the these rules (try to read whatever isn’t obscured by the message) are not part of some corporate contract. I think that this is a list of rules at a church, for people working there. I certainly wish that’s the case. Though that’s still a lesser-evil stance. The fact that any organization has specific rules about “[riding] alone in a vehicle with a member of the opposite sex” is unsettling.

The comment under the image said:

I understand how hard it is to try to live your faith in a world where no one seems to believe the same things as you – be strong! I’m praying for you.

Just a few thoughts on this one, in addition to a bit of a ramble.

First, if you’ve found something that makes you happy, like Catholicism, good for you.

Second, it is regrettable that we must hide our true selves, for any reason.

Third, to the commenter, the problem here is not that others don’t believe in the same thing (this is not necessary!), but that believing in something different is frowned upon, or worse.

I’m sure everyone finds themselves in situations where pure personal honesty will be detrimental. I keep my beliefs to myself around certain people, mainly because it makes life simple and avoids un-necessary conflict. There are certain coworkers who don’t know that I’m an atheist. Most don’t know about this blog. The reason for it is that this makes life easier. Two of my coworkers (very brilliant people for whom I have a great deal of respect) are particularly religious, so I tend to keep religious discussion out of our non-work dealings. Others… well, they know exactly how opinionated I am on the subject of beliefs, faith and the “pointlessness” of life. (Though even in that case, there are overlaps, where not all people are privy to everything I think.)

Does this make me a hypocrite? Am I a sometimes-closeted atheist? Certainly. But it makes life easier, and so I go on with the charade.

Above I mentioned that it is regrettable that we must hide our true selves. In some cases, in certain parts of the world, the truth about our beliefs (or sexual orientation or political views or whatever) can be harmful and even deadly to ourselves or our loved ones. (Have you heard about one of the most popular extreme sports in Russia? Political humor.) This is quite different, though, from the choice that most of us make to hide ourselves. I can tell every person I know what I think about organized religion, Republicans and sexual repression (or expression), but this would make my life more difficult.