I live with my mother, my grandmother and my cousin, who is also an atheist.
I've had a feeling for a couple of years that I should let my mother and my family know that I no longer believe in God, but I haven't done so because I feel that this would cause some discomfort between me and my mother and other relatives.
This week my mother asked me to go with her to church, I refused saying that there was no reason for me to go, this ended with her leaving and me dressing and going after her to church. I met her when the mass finished and she said that if I was going to go anyway I should have done it without fighting first and hurting her (I agree). Now I think that I refused to go hoping that she would notice I disagree with her beliefs.
I've decided I need to tell her explicitly that I don't believe in God anymore but I don't know how I'm gonna do it.
My goal is that she accepts and hopefully respects this, I'd have no problem going to church with her once in a while once she acknowledges it. Obviously I don't intend to disrespect her or her beliefs.
Notes:
- Most of my family are catholic except for one of my uncles who changed his religion to that of his wife's many years ago but he is still a believer.
- I started doubting about the existence of God when I was 17 or so, now I'm 22 and I'm convinced God doesn't exist.
- Religion is very important for my family.
Edit:
I see many people have asked about my expectations of doing this and my motives for doing it. I believe that me becoming an atheist is an important topic that sooner or later will be revealed to my family, either I'll tell them or they'll find out by others. Most of my friends know I'm atheist, plenty of them are too.
One of my cousins who is also atheist has come up with the topic once or twice and my mother just says something like "don't speak like that" or "what kind of talking is that?"
What worries me is that as a mother she probably will be worried about me, my soul, my future and that sort of thing.