As for the community: keep being an ethical person to deal with, behave like a good person. Honest, helpful, loving. People will in fact eventually realise they prefer, given the option, to deal with a decent atheist than a religious asshole.
I’d imagine this will work better for outsiders interacting with the community than for formerly religious members of the community. The still-religious community members might see it as a threat to their identity to accept that one of their own could still be a good person after no longer observing their tenets. There’s less cognitive dissonance involved in dealing equitably with outsiders with questionable beliefs.
The still-religious community members might see it as a threat to their identity to accept that one of their own could still be a good person after no longer observing their tenets.
That, or they just explain it by stating that god is the source of all goodness anyway. Any good “steam” I’m running on is from god, regardless of if I’m aware of that fact.
I’d imagine this will work better for outsiders interacting with the community than for formerly religious members of the community. The still-religious community members might see it as a threat to their identity to accept that one of their own could still be a good person after no longer observing their tenets. There’s less cognitive dissonance involved in dealing equitably with outsiders with questionable beliefs.
That, or they just explain it by stating that god is the source of all goodness anyway. Any good “steam” I’m running on is from god, regardless of if I’m aware of that fact.
Oh, yeah. I’d think there’d be a mix of effects, depending on how much their opinions are shaped by the local Department of Enforced Stupidity.