Yes, There Are Atheist Nurses

They sure do exist. My wife is one!

Her article only exposes her own extreme ignorance.  I would not want to have any nurse that is this ignorant caring for me, regardless of their religious delusions.

This woman is full of shit.  I am an atheist RN.  There is a site dedicated to atheist medical professionals over on Atheist Nexus and there are nurses posting on it all the time.  Allnurses.com also has posts about atheist nurses.   She must not have gotten out much, or had any in-depth conversations with the “hundreds of nurses” she claims to have known.  Nurses usually don’t parade around wearing their beliefs or lack of them on their sleeves, because it just isn’t good nursing.  The patient’s needs take precedent, and we’re too busy to have religious debates at work.

Hah! And it’s written for a magazine called Nursing Together. So much for unity.

She also quotes mother Theresa as an inspiration. A woman who didn’t treat people because she thought suffering brought you closer to god.

I feel it would be remiss of me not to use this moment to mention http://skepticalnurse.wordpress.com, in the hopes that my fiancée might post there more often if she gets some more visitors.

I’m an atheist non-nurse, but a good friend of mine is an atheist nurse.

Keep sticking it to Feist-Heilmeier’s prejudiced dishonesty, all.

Ms. Feist-Heilmeier displays not only her ignorance and intellectual laziness, but her self-righteous and self-perpetuating sense of privilege as well. The letter in one of the linked posts shows not only that atheist nurses exist, but also why they tend to keep quiet about it. 

Is it any wonder what the author would write? Her book? “Nurses Are From Heaven”

My GF is an Atheist nurse and so are all of her 7 co-workers I’ve meet also atheist nurses.

Is this RN referring only to the U.S.? Because I know two RNs and an LPN who are atheists. I’m Canadian.

Also, I wonder if her statement wasn’t so much a declaration of faith and more of a warning. “If you’re an RN, you had better never EVER state you’re an atheist, or it’ll go badly for you.”

When I am assaulted with Christian preaching (or any preaching, though other kinds are rare), or any proselytizing for a cause that does not have immediate and recognizable value, I am likely to nod and smile, rather than return in kind, except when they come to the door.  At work, I prefer to be polite rather than counter their claims.
I suspect the nurses she meets do this too. 
If medical personnel are caring for someone with religious needs, part of the care includes supporting the patient’s beliefs, even if they don’t share them.  The problem at hand is the patient’s health, and challenging their faith except as it applies to the required care, has no benefit, and might well become a detriment.  Atheist or not, a courteous person is likely to let the evangelist have their say without contesting it, and the evangelist is delusional if they  take silence for agreement.

As an atheist nurse, it is difficult to support your patients when they assume you are religious and ask you to pray for them or say things like “Thank God for nurses like you”. You just smile and take it. As nurses, we are there to support our patients and make them feel better, no matter their beliefs and routes to wellness.

I’m an atheist respiratory therapist and my fiance is an atheist nurse. And I know others as well.

I am starting nursing school this year, and I am an atheist who wants to practice science based medicine – I was a little worried that I might be alone in the workplace. I’m glad to hear the positive comments about atheist nurses.

 Monster Theresa

This type of overt bigotry and stupidity really does suggest that the christian right is desperate and beginning to show its last gasps of relevance. Couple this idiocy with the statements made by the remaining GOP candidates and you can smell desperation. 

The christian right is a severely wounded animal, and like all animals when injured and cornered, is trying to attack and save itself with any means necessary.

Their feet are under the fire. Keep them to it and let the christian influence die out as it should. 

I hate the assumption that this women has made…it is an assumption that I have heard before. It’s offensive, ignorant and clearly not evidence based. Religion is not the sole basis of morality, compassion or empathy…being human is. I’ve been a nurse for almost 10 years and an atheist for nearly 15 and my drive and passion comes from my desire to help my fellow humans.

My husband is a MALE nurse and also an atheist…It’s kinda like spotting bigfoot!

I know a *lot* of computer scientists (in the broadest sense –  programmers, theorists, etc). A lot of them, I find out after knowing them (or knowing of their work) weeks, months, even years after the fact, go to church and are active in their religion. Absolutely no prior tipoff via somehow inferior work whatsoever – and why *would* there be? Do you also worry that Hindus make worse programmers? Because a lot of code is being written by Hindus, let me tell you.

I actually *WAS* a young earth creationist when I first became a programmer. It didn’t impede my ability to program at all. (The remarkable thing about religion is that it is compartmentalized in the brain from everyday reality. For most of us, anyway. The people who fail to make the compartmentalization are the ones out on the street corner raving about demons in our action figures possessing little boys.)

It’s not like my employer or other major employers of programmers are  keeping stats of job performance by religion, since that would be, you know, highly illegal.

To have Feist-Heilmeier state that there are no atheist nurses is an attempt to claim a patent on altruism as if such qualities can only be found in theists. It is a disgraceful claim and completely dishonest. How is such hubris not recognized as the vanity, hence ‘sin’, it truly is?

Matthew 6:1-2

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. ”

Hypocrite.

I have never meet someone from Austraia, therefore no one is from Australia.

I think it is safe to say that Feist-Heilmeier isn’t a big fan of research, in even the simplest sense of the term.  When there is someone I admire, I enjoy reading about that person and finding out about their life.  It doesn’t take long to find out about the true Mother Teresa, and not the caricature. 

Atheist nursing student here. Attending a Christian nursing school, because it’s the one that admitted me first. We learn about evidence-based practice one minute, and pause for prayer or a bible verse the next. It’s a trip, I tell ya. 

I am a 57 year old gay RN from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who has been out both non-religiously and w/r/t sexual orientation for almost 35 years. I have never had direct negative feedback concerning either attribute, and I try to spread tolerance and understanding as assertively as I can. Nonetheless, I am still quite amazed at the ignorance of the general population about LGBTQ and Atheist/Humanist issues.

My ex-partner is a gay black female atheist RN, BSN.  She’s also in the military. 

I’m also an atheist nurse, it doesn’t look like we’re even all that rare.

I’ve wondered what it’s like being a fundie nurse on a palliative floor, doing everything you can to make your pt comfortable, knowing that as soon as they die they will be going to hell to be tortured for eternity.
Must be quite strange.

But wait!  There’s more!

I clicked on her bio and saw that she has written numerous articles for this website.  In “Lady Liberty’s Labor Pains”, she not only brings her religion into her nursing advice, but also her politics.  Just what ailing people need.  But she truly crossed the line when she compared Catholic bishops to my beloved Tolkien characters:

“But
chivalry is not dead! American Catholic Bishops have united to speak
out for This Lady and her nurses. Like Tolkien’s “Fellowship of the
Ring”, these men are exhibiting the bravery and chivalry of the
characters of the Fellowship: Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn,
Gandalf, Gimli, Legolas, and Boromir. The recent “fellowship” of
Catholic Bishops is generating a kind of solidarity among Catholics that this country has never witnessed before. ”

The comments to Christina Feist-Heilmeier’s article tend to disprove her hypothesis: it seems there are no, or very few, religious nurses. 

=O They’re not? omg by this flawless logic, I am no one. I don’t know how to feel right now.

Critical Care RN signing in…very atheist.:)

You? Asking? For real?

depends on what part of the country your in, down here in Louisiana there seems to be an overwhelming majority of very religious nurses.  

4th level BSN (RN) clinical student soon to be an atheist RN.  Theres another student in my class whose not religious but more the doesnt think about it kind.  Just about everyone else is very religious, and all of the professors are definitely religious and let their opinions show.  That said theyer mostly really good, it just doesnt occur to them that anyone wouldn’t believe.  The rest of my class is just finding out Im not religious, but Ive been telling them Im agnostic to make things easier.  Im fairly certain if I said athiest a lot of their heads would pop.  

http://www.population-security.org/swom-96-09.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfivxyasp1g 
http://tinfoilpalace.eamped.com/2011/02/06/debunking-the-mother-theresa-myth-mother-teresa-jo/ 

Not really hard to find.

I am  nurse and an atheist. Practical, rational, clear thinking and compassionate. I know who I’d rather have looking after me x x x

I’m a long time atheist and a nurse for 28 years. STFU .

Yes, I’m an atheist. Yes, I’m a nurse. People aren’t shocked when they find out I’m an atheist nurse. They’re more like “ohhhh… that’s why you like science so much. That’s cute.” I feel like the only skeptic in a so-called evidence-based world.

It’s just because the ICU doesn’t stock hot sauce, isn’t it?

I’m not sure about the Nurses part. You may be mistaken on that one.

My mother was an atheist and a nurse……..and was a bottomless well of caring and compassion for her patients, who adored her for it.

Feist-Heilmeier owes an apology to every atheist nurse she has ignorantly maligned and dismissed.  She should be ashamed of herself. 

 I’ve never met Christina Feist-Heilmeier – therefore, she doesn’t exist.

Problem solved.

I work with an NP who is super.  I have never heard her discuss religion or faith as any part of her practice.   Yesterday, I heard her telling another nurse about helping a cancer patient through her journey.  I have no idea whether this NP is faithful or not, but it doesn’t matter as long as she doesn’t shove it down her patients’ throats.  Then, I also work with a research nurse who is always wishing “God Bless” on everyone.  Over the holidays, she must have pissed off at least 6 Jewish patients by wishing them a “Merry Christmas”. 

Reading comprehension FAIL.

Although I am not an RN, I am a Certified Veterinary Technician, which is kind of like a nurse & physician’s assistant in one individual. And I don’t just work on one, or two, or even three, species. 

I am a proud atheist. But for some reason, my colleagues tend to be of faith or at the least, spiritual. I have yet to meet another atheist or non-believer professional colleague in my area. 

I find myself compromising frequently on my true principles to aid believers in very difficult decisions or to reassure them when they are guilt-ridden or afraid. 

I never pray for my patients, but I do sit with them and a few cases are heart wrenching in their intensity. I find that when it comes to our animal companions, I do not need faith to perform my duties with sincerity and compassion… but I do know that my clients need to have faith in me when entrusting their loved ones to my care. 

Roxanne Sitarz, CVT

Both chaplains and nurses might find themselves in foxholes. Probably pretty frequently, too. I appreciate the sentiment, but you’re doing the same thing she is 🙂

 LOL, I posted that same thing in a comment on her article. 🙂

Have you seen Elvis lately?

Thank you for the correction. After doing some research, I realize that there aren’t chaplains in foxholes but nurses can sometimes be in foxholes. You get the point, though!

I’m also a nontheistic RN.  I’ll allow my patients to pray and will remain silent and respect their wishes, but I sure don’t pray over them, with them, or for them.   It can be so hard to bite my tongue sometimes.  Some of my colleagues know that I am nonreligious, but when a patient brings up religion I have no choice but to change the topic.  The crazy part is that nursing school focuses heavily on critical thinking and the “nursing process” (which is a modified version of the scientific method, for those of you unfamiliar).  Yet most nurses are definitely religious and/or superstitious, despite our education.

 You mean we *should* be to busy have religious debates. This one probably squeezes them in to the detriment of actual medical practice and the blood pressure of her atheist and other-faith patients.

Atheist nursing student here.  There are 3 others in my class of 35.  And we have the 4 highest GPA’s in the class 🙂

I am in my first semester of nursing school in Colorado and I am an atheist.  Haven’t met any other people in the program who are atheists yet.  One is agnostic.  So glad to know that there are other people like me out there!

How can someone write that??  We are a profession over 2.5 million people!  Of course there are atheists.  I am certainly one.  I, like most nurses, respect their patients religious inclinations because that is what we are supposed to do:  respect others.  I am an atheist trauma nurse who works in an OR.   Be happy if you get me if you are in need of trauma surgery….the few extra minutes or seconds some nurses might pray for you, I am actually performing functions that will save your life.