I cannot. If anything, I would feel guilty not doing something.

I remember a quote I heard from Brian one time that really stuck with me and I use it in many situations. The way I look at it is this, "If I told you the sky was made out of purple spaghetti sauce would you correct me?"

I don't feel like I have to go around being a prick to every theist I meet but If they want to discuss something or make a proclamation about anything, I feel that I am doing the right thing by simply correcting them. We all know how much incorrect information we hear, from Bible verse's to statistics, even to incorrect information about Evolution. Well It is our duty, not just for us but for the future of humankind to make sure the facts are set straight. I mean look at the progress (some of humanity is making). I really feel like we are entering an age of mixed enlightenment and delusion. Think about how much further we would be advanced if we didn't have people burned at the stake or if entire cultures weren't wiped off the face of the earth by religious delusion. Where are the Aztecs?? Where are countless Greek and Egyptian artifcacts? Where is the Fucking Library or Alexandria!!! All ruined by delusional people. And I myself will be damned to let that happen again. We need to move foreward and start learning from the mistakes of the past, I have no guilt. I merely want to start the healing and educational  process for the future of mankind.

No.  Of course, I don't tend to feel guilty about much.  I take measured action and don't look back.

Yes I do,and I was actually thinking about it today. Sometimes there's still that little part that says"what am I doing, or maybe religion's right" I usually manage to squash them,but sometimes there's always that nagging fear of hellfire in the back of your mind..

I suppose old habbits just die hard. I still can't look around a room if someone's praying.It's drilled into me. 

No, I don`t feel guilty by it, bored yes, but not guilty

Can you imagine what would have happened if someone managed to convince dubya that jeebus didn`t exist before he though he heard voices in his head telling him to invade a few countries? 

I don't feel guilty.  I for the most part feel pissed off how it perverts people's minds about what is right and wrong.

Homosexual marriage and stem cell research to name just two.

I also frequently feel depressed how drenched humanity is by old, utterly ridiculous ideas about a god in the sky that gives a crap if someone lusts after a beautiful woman or what not.

Do I ever feel guilty about placing a "stumbling block" in front of a theist? hmmmm, let me think about that for a sec.... Not one bit. If anything I feel the need to protect myself from the theists around here. 

When your teen daughter is threatened with a bullet to the head for her atheism, when you find yourself in a headlock from a rabid new convert, you tend to loose any guilt you might have had for messing up their (not so) tidy theistic world.

Im just glad I dont have to work outside the home. I'm not sure I could deal with the BS these people spew. 

I feel different with every encounter. If someone is throwing some religious belief or 'smart' bible verse at me to feed their ego or make them look like a holy know it all,  then that ticks me off and I am liable to bite back a bit, with no guilt.

When I feel 'guilty' or bad is when I talk with the sweet, nice gramma types that have known nothing but their beliefs all their lives. That is all they have to hang on to, I feel like if I try to reason with them it would crush them, break their heart, make them feel bad....I guess with some I am a bit softy.

I, like Hamby, have a need from time to time to fire an employee. It does come down to what is right for the business..maybe I need to treat some of those theists the same as some of my employees except do what is best for mankind... 

I had those guilty feelings for awhile, lingering traces of a former christian.  but over time, they just went away after it became so obvious how illogical the whole show was. 

Your sense of "guilt" would indicate to me that you are probably just a decent guy who is able to empathise with his ideological adversaries. You don't hate them you don't just share their delusions.

Speaking for myself, I find that being an atheist who was formerly a dedicated Christian causes some inner conflicts on the emotional level.  It's not an easy thing to erase the effects of religious brainwashing.

Now I'm going to go and distract myself from those bothersome religious urges by kicking back and watching South Park. That should correct everything.

Yes I did for a while but mostly about the satan more so than the god.  Other than the fact that you have been brainwashed into believing the nonsense, fear, guilt would you consider it may be  possible that you may be feeling it's wrong because of  how you shake their faith rather than the fact that you do shake their faith?   I'm no expert but maybe your subconsciously feeling it's really time to change the how but not the reason.   You know they have to be corrected but how you go about correcting them and the timing may need a change.  Just a thought.

I have some thoughts on this but could you give some clarification to your question?  I'm assuming your saying she won't be able to accept live without god as you can lack belief in any culture... Is this a safe assumption?  Also, why do you think she can't do this?  Is it because you think she is unable or simply because she will not live long enough to do so?   

I'm glad I asked now because I was intending to just respond generically. Now, however, I'll do both.

Generically, I would say something. I don't think people deserve to believe lies regardless of how comforting and for all you know this person could either 1. actually live a long life -or- 2. be in severe internal conflict in fear of eternal damnation.

However, obviously this is a personal friend. IMO, is "deconverting" her going to help the overall cause of ending theism? Probably not.  Is a last minute "deconversion" much different than an eleventh hour proclamation of belief? Is the time even there anyway? Probably not. It's not like you can just walk in, tell her there is no god, and she'll thank you for letting her know moments before she dies.

I can't judge how likely she is to understand, nor am I a doctor. With cognitive issues you may just impose more stress on her. I hate to say it, but if the situation is dire I might just do nothing. Clearly she's turned to the faith for comfort in this dying process. If you do say something I would be prepared to provide an alternative comfort to her - such as lots of your personal time.

I have a feeling a few people are going to respond negatively to this. I just want to clarify that I'm not saying we should simply not tell people the truth to spare their feelings. I'm simply saying that if this was my mom, daughter, or whatever I should have said something during her life (don't take that personally) but right now I see more benefit in spending those last moments with them.

I only feel guilty if I go too far in my enthusiasm to blow up a theist comment or position and end up making the theist uncomfortable. Many theists really feel they need that faith security blanket and I don't consider it my place to say whether they are ready to go forward without it or not. So when I yank it away from them, even temporarily, I feel like I've been mean. Keep in mind that most of the theists I meet are of the moderate, mostly rational variety that often haven't given their beliefs any degree of serious thought. When it comes to a fundy, hell, look out eyes, here comes the light!