In Indonesia, IIRC, being publicly an atheist is technically legal, but will get you killed, and nobody would convict your murderers. Atheists are seen there the way paedophiles are seen elsewhere.
I once had a coworker react to my atheism like that and I was so proud of myself for saying in my second language “what good does your religion bring when you would treat me like that for my beliefs while I treat you well?” It actually seemed to sink in, at least for all of our other (religious) coworkers who were, uh, forming a circle around us.
In some countries, your religion is on your national id. See, for example, Indonesia or Thailand. Greece had it until 2005.
In some of these cases, you could literally have government id that says “Atheist”.
But it is largely a figure of speech. It means you not only identify with a group, but publicly identify with a ground.
In Indonesia, IIRC, being publicly an atheist is technically legal, but will get you killed, and nobody would convict your murderers. Atheists are seen there the way paedophiles are seen elsewhere.
I once had a coworker react to my atheism like that and I was so proud of myself for saying in my second language “what good does your religion bring when you would treat me like that for my beliefs while I treat you well?” It actually seemed to sink in, at least for all of our other (religious) coworkers who were, uh, forming a circle around us.
Jesus fuck