Wanting to be British

I am British, come over and learn nothing wrong with that and if you want to live here good.

P.s some of us are slightly odd

As a Croat you come from the stronghold of the Roman Catholic Church and the papal leverage and influence of this theology. You may well be agnostic or an atheist, but Catholicism shaped many of the dimensions of your social life which could seem secular at first. As such, you should start by admiring the Protestant theology and Anglicanism which made Britain what it is today.

I'm an atheist. And I assure you that religion didn't shape, nor will shape my life to any degree. I derive my morals from my own sense of right and wrong and the principles of humanism. And I'm not going to admire no religion, not now, not ever. One of the reasons I'm moving is the fact that I can't stand such disgusting involvement of religion in state affairs. Majority of the population expects you to fit a certain mold (white, religious, heterosexual, right-wing, highly patriotic) and if you don't, you're an outcast. And me being an atheist and a liberal who also happens to realize that other countries have it much better makes me break that mold quite a lot.

So it has shaped your life to a very large degree because you are moving away.

My point is even beyond that. Theology goes so deep into the roots of society that it impacts many things you would see as secular, ranging from domestic life to the selling arrangements.

I am from Finland which is the stronghold of Protestant Christianity, but a hugely atheistic/agnostic country at the same time. Despite this, the modern society has been engineered and constructed as prescribed by theology. In Croatia, religion became an integral part of one's identity against the other; the Muslim Bosnians or the Orthodox Serbs.

I'm from Croatia and I've never felt like I belong here. People are narrow-minded and posses a very limited scope of the world. You can't go a day without someone on television mentioning the War and/or how it relates to our current situation. A better part of the population is aggressively religious and eager to make you conform to their opinion. The value system is entirely wrong, regardless of how you look at it. I'm feeling like I'm a part of an elaborate hoax and not an actual country with an actual functioning government. And these little complaints are not even the tip of the iceberg.

People can't choose where they're born. I wouldn't pick this place even if I could. And this gets us to the title of my thread. I'm moving to the UK in September and starting University there. And I'd love to stay after my studies, regardless of whether I decide to work or get a higher degree. But beyond just wanting to stay, I want to adopt British citizenship as well. I feel like the UK is a country which is not only more liberal and progressive than Croatia, but a place which will be a good place to live, start a family and even grow old.

And this gets us to my question. What is your opinion of someone like me? How does British society treat people moving there for ideological reasons? Have you ever felt something similar?

I love immigrants.

errr UKIP supporter saying they love immigrants?

I think he was trying to convey the OP would have to put up with the British sarcasm, banter and overall ability to laugh at unfortunate situations . And if I'm wrong, I will use the good ol' "s" word the Brits use far too often

tbh why would british hate white immigrants? (OP mentioned that he is croatian). most europeans are physically indistinguishable from british.

I love immigrants.

Trust me, I'm counting on the oddness!

The irony because of your profile picture name.

I love immigrants.

Are you voting Green?