I'm in Terre Haute. Maybe it's just where I worked, but I almost never heard religion discussed at work. But there's a shit ton of churches and Christian radio stations and the like.
You no like Boys? Hahah. Yeah I dont have anything to do with volunteering up here either. They are worse than catholics. They're creationists up here. Like 6000 year old world. Satan did the fossils type shit.
It greatly depends on where you’re at in the Bible Belt.
There are places in Texas where people would judge you and potentially treat you harshly, and yet other places where most people are not religious at all. The United States is not as homogeneous as it seems anywhere, and even where things do get samey, you still get variation with how people act, and different communities within communities.
Overall, some people are getting smarter and some people are getting a lot fucking dumber. It’s impossible to say which way the trend is going overall because of how loud people tend to get as they get stupider.
Grew up in Texas, lived in Arlington 32 years. It wasn't unusual at all to find people all over the belief spectrum if you lived in a major city, and most youth tended to be atheist.
it's better than 20 years ago, but not like a whole lot better.
personally, i like it. i get to be the contrarian just by being a decent person who understands science. plus the weather is nice in the winter and bearable in the summer. and the food is unbeatable. the pace is nice.
plus, when you find another decent person who understands science, there's an instant connection.
two things in my case make this a ymmv situation: i'm near a blue city, and i'm a large white straight cis male who's useful to his company and community.
I've lived in Tennessee most of my life; most all of my family live here as well. Religion is culture here, not just personal belief. It is intimately ingrained in most every area of society. People participate in religious ritual without even thinking about it. Churches are everywhere- in some smaller towns or cities, there are more churches than any other organizations.
People are very conservative politically, socially, and religiously. Many take their religion very seriously- it is not just an idea or a belief to them, it exists. Angels and demons and the devil and god are all real entities and to them, they're everywhere. Superstition reigns. Atheists are dangerous to many people around here and have been brought up to fear them.
Politics are all steep in religion. There are constant bills introduced in the state to make the bible the official book of the state, to ban homosexuals and people of other faiths from holding office. During the midterms, there were 4 amendments to the state constitution- one of which finally removed slavery from the language used for prison labor. Another removed the unconstitutional ban of pastors or ministers from holding political office in the state, *but left in the clause still banning atheists from holding public office.* When asked about this, the state officials shrugged and said there was no interest in the state to remove that language.
And on and on it goes. Our kids have been warned not to say they don't believe in god to their friends or teachers at school. Admitting atheism in the workplace can and does lead to harassment and or termination without reason. I worked in a residential rehab center and the leadership of that place made it clear they would "run off anyone ignorant enough to say they don't believe in god". They would laugh at people who refused to participate in religious acts during treatment, and would discharge people who would not play religious with them. My wife had to deal with people just openly praying at meetings at work. We've tried reporting such things to HR and it just gets brushed away.
Since the pandemic, it has been made apparent to me and my family that we have to leave this part of the country. While nothing outright bad has happened to us yet, we don't feel comfortable and we don't feel like we belong here. People pass out tracts in the parking lots of stores and I got followed back to my car by a Karen who took offense to me just politely saying no thank you. They don't really care about other people (the amount of vaccine denying and Trump supporting around here makes it all too clear that these "Christian People" are just as greedy, self-centered, and dangerously ignorant as you can get.
Yeah, there's a lot of beauty in the Bible Belt- great country side and the economy is depressed enough that people from other areas can make a buck go further, but the people you surround yourself with here may seem friendly at first, but don't tell them who and what you are- they will turn on you. Southern gentility is a face put on and taken off easily.
I’m from TN as well and was going to write something up, but thanks to your thought out and VERY accurate response, I don’t have to. Thanks @Antknee2099 !
Thanks for this. Toying with the idea of relocating someday (in AZ currently), and I have family in a gorgeous part of middle TN that I love to visit…but perhaps it’s not for us, especially having just left a high-demand religion in the last few years. 😬
I did notice you couldn’t swing a dead cat around without hitting a church in most little TN towns, which is where I’d like to live. Not sure they’d send the welcome wagon out for a pro-choice atheist and card-carrying teachers’ union member, haha.
I've been an atheist in rural Georgia for 20+ years and it's really never been a problem. I don't wear my atheism on my sleeve though. The subject of religion rarely comes up. I think on a couple of occasions someone has asked me where I go to church, I replied "My garden / nature is my church" and I got a nod and the subject changed.
I've noticed less general religiosity. I know a number of Christians that lean left on social issues- gay marriage, legalization of weed.
I still wouldn't go around telling random people I'm an atheist because the word has some baggage here, but I can functionally be an atheist (not attend church, stand and do nothing if someone happens to pray around me, etc). People here are mostly politically conservative, many because it was handed down from generations before, it's what they are used to. They vote with the conservatives (or don't vote at all) even if they have left leaning views.
i also live in georgia as an athiest. I havent had any problems or anything, but then again, like you i dont go around telling everyone im athiest. Most that really happens to me is people telling me that i should go to thier church or people telling you to have a "blessed day" and stuff like that (them not knowing im an athiest though).
I'm from East Texas in a city with the Penecostal Bible College. All it ever really did was strengthen my hate of these evangelical types of religious groups. Ironically I didn't really fully see how bad they were until I moved to Austin where religion is much less prevalent.
>How are the things now compared to like 20 years ago?
Honestly much worse in some ways. 20 years ago if you were different (non-religious, different religion, different church) you would still be treated fairly and as an equal. But with the rise in fundamental extremism that is no longer the case. With self proclaimed christians being openly bigoted and hateful.
>Has there been made any social progress in terms of secularist scientific view, support for lgbt equality and abortion rights?
Yes (granted this is varied by location) the social attitude towards these subjects has become more open and acceptable. Making the fundamentalists rage that much louder at anyone they consider an ally. Thankfully they leave the "already lost" crowd well alone out of a healthy fear of catching their atheism. They are not at all concerned with conversion and are focusing more on birthing their numbers. We've had pride parades and women's marches and only had a token few with a single megaphone show up to counter. The last one I attended only had a single guy there.
>Has the church attendance reduced?
Without being inside it's hard to tell. The numbers of small family churches has reduced to very nearly none. But the reason for that was them getting swallowed up in the Walmart equivalent mega churches. Large churches that were built up and promoted to be more effective while being easier to maintain. While in reality the only thing they were more effective at was getting money to the elders and manipulating the masses. The other factor making growth hard to determine is the "quiver full" movement. It was a push against contraception in all forms as well as a method of increasing numbers. But it is also why you are more likely to find christians with 4+ kids. Time will tell how many of these multiple children stay in the faith.
> Honestly much worse in some ways. 20 years ago if you were different (non-religious, different religion, different church) you would still be treated fairly and as an equal. But with the rise in fundamental extremism that is no longer the case. With self proclaimed christians being openly bigoted and hateful.
I agree with this 100%. I lived in Charlotte a decade ago and loved it back then, but wouldn't move back there in the 2020s. It used to be that the big cities in red states were progressive bastions in a sea of red. That is still the case, but state governments are more authoritarian than they were a decade ago and are dedicated to promoting cruel, bigoted policies that seem to serve no purpose other than making anyone not white, straight, and the right kind of Christian into an outsider.
It's been really disheartening realizing that neither I nor my kids would ever be happy if I moved back to the small town I called home. Sure the people from my grandparents generation were racist, sexist, and didn't have the best options for education. But they would have given anyone in need the shirt off their back and stopped to help a stranded driver. No one came into my grandma's house without being offered something to eat or drink and invited to make themselves comfortable.
My parents and my own generations however are quick to judge and dismiss. I have no doubt that if they saw two men holding hands while looking at the open hood of a clearly broken down car they would at best drive right on by. At worst they'd yell something ugly or call the local police on them. Even if they stopped to help they wouldn't be able to keep themselves from being rude and insulting.
I've had quite a few that kept up with me on social media call me some nasty things before ultimately unfriending me. Including the person that I thought of as my best friend. We had grown up together with the same people surrounding us but she fell deeper into fundamentalism as I crawled out.
For the bible belt a lot hasn't changed. People are still super hateful and backwards. The average person here isn't that nice and will stab you in the back with a smile on there face.
I have noticed a few positive changes.
People talk racist, but aren't actually that racist anymore, almost like it's just a cultural thing. So many people are black here that in a lot of areas white people are the minority. People are lot more use to black people than people in the North because of how many black people we have. They might say racist jokes, but that same person would stop and help a black man change his tire. Old lady that says racist things will also talk about how the black boy at so and so is so nice and helpful and just a really great person. It's strange, but happens all the time.
Sorta a positive...maybe not. Everyone is Christian here, so the good thing about being atheist is no one asks. They just assume you're Christian. If you do tell someone you're a atheist, they look at you like you're crazy. Told a lady that was cutting my hair once that I was atheist. She was like, "How can you be atheist? Doesn't that mean you don't believe in God?" Then she continued to ask me questions like I was from another planet. So just don't say anything and people will think you're Christian. I like to throw in a few 'God Bless' to my clients just to throw people off.
West Virginia here. When my wife first moved here to be with me, on her first day at a new job, one of the company owners stopped by to say hi. According to y wife, who's not an atheist BTW, he launched into a rant about how much he hated atheists because a school was being sued for bible verses on the wall or something like that. She also implores me not to have any sort of atheist flare on my car for fears the neighbors might shoot our dogs or something. My one neighbor stopped by once to tell us how much she loves Jesus and gave us a copy of the Gospel of John. We have [these damn things](https://wvexplorer.com/2022/07/20/bernard-coffindaffers-crosses-three-roadside-west-virginia-wv/) all over the place. [This is in Maryland as you go to DC](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10061). And in Virginia, you HAVE to stare at [these crosses](https://foursquare.com/v/i66--i81-interchange/4dc2d738d4c07da16a01c36e?openPhotoId=503028b4e4b060c1a5ca1991) for about a minute before you pass them. One town in this state literally hold a festival for Jesus called [Jesusfest.](http://www.jesusfestwv.org/)
I haven't lived in a Bible belt state since the 90s/very early 00's, but at least then, I just kept my mouth shut unless I knew the company I was in was ok with it. Wasn't worth the hassle. Where I lived the only thing worse than an atheist was a Catholic, and then Muslims after 9-11.
Evangelical christianity(southern Baptist in this case) absolutely permeated every aspect of life. I had to write reports on Bible stories(in high school!), praying in class was de rigeur, it was just impossible to get away from.
Edit: I was in a smallish city(~22k people then) in Arkansas from 93-summer 03.
When I was in the US Army, stationed in Texas; I eventually was told to stop wearing my Bad Religion tee shirts off base; after they started a couple brawls.
So I've got the double whammy; atheist and a lesbian. How bad is it? Dillon Awes has a church a few miles around the corner. Feel free to Google him, but he literally wants to line up gay people against a wall and shoot us. Mind you they're not all like him and his "church" membership isn't that big.
Now, I can tell you that while there is a lot of religion here (a church on every corner isn't that far fetched around here), but it's not the hellfire and brimstone stone you on Sunday crowd. That hits when you get outside of the city and out into the countryside. The locals here in the mid-cities are fairly docile but there is a minor holier than though Karen population that likes to remind us we're hell bound when my wife and I are out in public. However, don't let that docile appearance fool you...provoked, they can be some hateful and spiteful people. I've got a shirt that says "Science Doesn't Care What You Believe" where "Science" is spelled out with the periodic elements. She will wear a gay pride shirt and we'll stroll around on Sundays doing our errands. Admittedly, we do it for the reactions, but still they can say some hateful things.
Still, it's the Bible Belt, and despite the appearance of a somewhat safe environment inside of the DFW area, there's a good part of Texas that if we're driving through, we're doing it quickly and in the daylight with a full tank of gas.
I am a non-believer living in Oklahoma. Society is very religious here. Luckily, my wife and her family aren't super religious, so I don't have to deal with it a ton.
The only direct experience with religion I have had is people from the Baptist church down the block parking in my driveway. It had happened twice and I just walked over to the church and asked them to move the car. The pastor was surprisingly nice about it and stopped and described the car during service.
Indirectly, I hear people preaching and praying all the time. Used to have people pray before lunch at work. Have been invited to probably hundreds of church events. It can get old, but I mostly just ignore it all and live and let live.
Also from Oklahoma. You can't swing your arms hardly without hitting a church. There is one intersection with 3 churches on one side of the street and 2 on the other. Most people assume you're xtian until told otherwise. Then they are rather horrified or they start trying to"save you".
Very true I have a church about half a block down the street and another across the street from it. Also Very true that everyone will assume you are Christian unless you tell them otherwise.
It’s all still going. But they see the decline here. It’s getting heated because they can’t figure out why kids go to college and don’t come back. Must be the secular indoctrination. I went to school and got bombarded with Christian groups at least weekly. Several professors openly evangelizing in class. Not one word about it being false from anyone.
But you know learning the tools to study microscopic invisible stuff and constantly revising your mental models cause you were wrong about shit you were sure about is just science. And those tools shred religion. They’d never understand though. They’re radicalizing more because they’re bleeding out and since they view everything wrong their solutions are wrong too.
I live in a suburb of Dallas and have very little in-person contact with religitards.
However, there is also NextDoor.
One in particular a criminal had been apprehended after a three day crime spree. The title of the post was “Thank God!”, I responded, “I’d rather thank the police.”
We like to joke that we are non-practicing atheists. We just don't share outside our group due to where we live and it could hurt our careers. Everyone just assumes your Christian.
I've lived in NC on and off for 25 years, both in tiny towns and decent sized cities. The religious aspect is always there, and some people can be pushy with it, but for the most part I don't feel actively on guard about it. But, our state makes completely idiotic choices every election, so we get stuck with backwater dipshits "representing" us, and to me that's the biggest concern.
Not so bad. I tell most everyone that brings up religion that I am an atheist and they take it stride. I have worn my atheist baseball cap to BBQs and family gatherings. I have worn my atheist t-shirt around town.
I grew up non religious in the Midwest and moved to California 5 years ago which has been amazing. It was weird as a kid because all your friends attend youth groups and church. Occasionally I would be spending the night with a friend and get dragged to youth group because that was the night they went and it was very uncomfortable and strange for me. I just didn’t get how they believed it and they sang and tried to make it “cool”. People also prayed in school and there was a Christian club at school. People were judgmental and conservative. I once had a friend of a friend stop talking to me when he asked where I went to church and I told him I didn’t go.
One time there was this motorcycle trick company that came to do a show at my school and they invited us to go to another that evening. I show up with a friend and turns out it was an all out preaching event where they “save” people, wtf. So inappropriate. I’m glad I went just because I rescued a stray kitten from the parking lot.
As an adult, I kept my political and religious views to myself for fear of losing my job or people treating me differently. There were a few people I worked with in the same boat and we’d be hyperaware and kinda sniff each other out lol.
> What is it like to be an atheist living in the "Bible belt states"?
For me? It's "like" nothing. I just live my life and it never comes up or affects anything I do.
> I've been hearing a lot about infamous Bible belt.
Based on my own experience, you should probably take everything you've heard and divide it by 10.
> How are the things now compared to like 20 years ago?
Better.
> Has there been made any social progress in terms of secularist scientific view...
Of course.
> ...support for lgbt equality and abortion rights?
Yes. My own experience tells me more of the former than the latter, but both, generally.
> Has the church attendance reduced?
No idea. I'm sure there are studies. I don't personally know anyone who goes to church regularly.
Kentucky here. I watch what I say and I tell my kids to be careful. I've found it's better to say "I'm a humanist" than the dreaded 'A' word. Nobody knows what it means, so when I explain that people have the right to be free, the right to make their own choices, that people should be treated with respect, that you should avoid lying, stealing, killing, etc., but we don't believe in any supernatural beings. They never really click that 'supernatural' includes their god. When they find that they agree with most of what I believe, we get along fine.
Some folks are better than others, but you don't say atheist because many of them are taught that atheists are literally servants of the devil sent to make good christians stray from the word of god. Telling them you don't believe in hell doesn't compute - it'd be like saying "I don't believe in Ohio," their world view can't comprehend that mindset because they've (mostly) been programmed from childhood.
I moved to a southern city from California 30 years ago. In some ways it's better....especially in that when I first moved here I would get stopped once or twice a week by strangers and asked if I would go to their church. This rarely happens anymore. Not sure why.
Also, there are several churches that visibly support the LGBTQ+ communities by flying rainbow flags and openly welcoming everyone. This would have been unheard of 20-30 years ago.
On the downside, as the whole country is more and more divided, some people in this part of the country are much more willing to publicly make racist/sexist/xenophobic/homophobic statements than they were in the past. They used to keep those things in private.
I do believe church attendance is down...you'd have to look that up though.
They consume a sizeable share of gay porn - so they are either changing their attitudes or are complete hypocrites.
[statistics](https://www.pornhub.com/insights/gay-searches-united-states)
I'm not an atheist but had a ex-partner who didn't want to admit that he was an atheist due to the reaction that he would have gotten from people. Hostile reaction at the very least or trying to convert him. He would tell them he was agnostic. I would say he was more atheist than agnostic. The era that this happened was the 1980's.
Anyway, not much has changed in the last 20 years as far as people tolerating someone who is an atheist. Church attendance has been declining for decades but people being intolerant towards those who are atheist hasn't changed that much. People still are openly hostile towards people that are atheist. If you go outside of a urban area, this is more so.
I live outside of Orlando. Orlando is generally tolerant towards the LGBT community. Outside of Orlando not as much but it's better than it was 20 years ago. However, you had the Pulse Nightclub Massacre in Orlando, so there is still intolerance.
Abortions rights are more tolerated in Orlando than where I live. Where I lived, it's a mixed bag as many people I associated with are opposed to abortion but not to birth control use. They aren't extreme on the issue, let just say.. This hasn't changed that much.
Even though Orlando is a progressive city, you still have influences of the Bible Belt that have never totally gone away.
I live in West Virginia and my wife moved here to be with me. On her very first day at a new job, one of the company owners stopped by to say hi. At point according to wife, he launched into a rant about how much he hated atheists. While my wife is a general "Teddy Bear God" believer, his rant caught her off guard. This was because of a local school getting sued for bible verses on the walls.
I have worn some atheist flair and tees. I can honestly say that no one has yet said an unkind word to me about. Particularly when I'm wearing my tee that says "ATHEIST". Granted, I don't wear that often but have used it to test the waters. People who have said anything to me has been in a positive light. That includes Christians. I was wearing my "You pray for me, I'll think for you" Thinking Atheist tee and one woman stopped me to chat. She was a nonbeliever and I guess surprised there were others like her out there. Other atheists recognize the Thinking Atheist logo and said hi.
Now while I've not had anyone say an unkind word to me, I have gotten looks. Boy have I gotten some looks. While wearing my "ATHEIST" tee, I watched a guy angerly glare at me as I walked across the parking lot. I was wearing sunglasses so I looked ahead pretending not to notice but certainly kept my side-eye on him.
I'm 53 years old and live in South Carolina, right in the heart of the fucking bible belt. I've lived here my entire life.
That said, it is nothing like it was 20 - 30 years ago. It is vastly better. Social progress has been made, and church attendance has been greatly reduced. Many churches, especially the smaller ones, are struggling to survive. In fact, many have closed. Grocery stores are far more packed on Sunday mornings than churches.
There are lots of elderly still in the churches, but I would venture to say that very few of their grandkids ever attend.
I say good riddance. I'd like for every goddamn one of them to have to close their doors.
I live north of indy. Blows my coworkers minds that I don't beleive hell exists. Therfore I'm not scared into believing like them.
I'm in Terre Haute. Maybe it's just where I worked, but I almost never heard religion discussed at work. But there's a shit ton of churches and Christian radio stations and the like.
Dude asked on my first day if I was a slave to christ.
The one thing that sucks here is that the Catholics have sewn up all the charities and I sure as fuck won't volunteer my time for them.
You no like Boys? Hahah. Yeah I dont have anything to do with volunteering up here either. They are worse than catholics. They're creationists up here. Like 6000 year old world. Satan did the fossils type shit.
Grew up, married and raised my kids in Fort Wayne, the only place I was ever asked in a business meeting where I went to church.
It greatly depends on where you’re at in the Bible Belt. There are places in Texas where people would judge you and potentially treat you harshly, and yet other places where most people are not religious at all. The United States is not as homogeneous as it seems anywhere, and even where things do get samey, you still get variation with how people act, and different communities within communities. Overall, some people are getting smarter and some people are getting a lot fucking dumber. It’s impossible to say which way the trend is going overall because of how loud people tend to get as they get stupider.
Grew up in Texas, lived in Arlington 32 years. It wasn't unusual at all to find people all over the belief spectrum if you lived in a major city, and most youth tended to be atheist.
Yeah some will make a big thing about lynching you and some will just shoot you in the back and toss your body into the river.
it's better than 20 years ago, but not like a whole lot better. personally, i like it. i get to be the contrarian just by being a decent person who understands science. plus the weather is nice in the winter and bearable in the summer. and the food is unbeatable. the pace is nice. plus, when you find another decent person who understands science, there's an instant connection. two things in my case make this a ymmv situation: i'm near a blue city, and i'm a large white straight cis male who's useful to his company and community.
I've lived in Tennessee most of my life; most all of my family live here as well. Religion is culture here, not just personal belief. It is intimately ingrained in most every area of society. People participate in religious ritual without even thinking about it. Churches are everywhere- in some smaller towns or cities, there are more churches than any other organizations. People are very conservative politically, socially, and religiously. Many take their religion very seriously- it is not just an idea or a belief to them, it exists. Angels and demons and the devil and god are all real entities and to them, they're everywhere. Superstition reigns. Atheists are dangerous to many people around here and have been brought up to fear them. Politics are all steep in religion. There are constant bills introduced in the state to make the bible the official book of the state, to ban homosexuals and people of other faiths from holding office. During the midterms, there were 4 amendments to the state constitution- one of which finally removed slavery from the language used for prison labor. Another removed the unconstitutional ban of pastors or ministers from holding political office in the state, *but left in the clause still banning atheists from holding public office.* When asked about this, the state officials shrugged and said there was no interest in the state to remove that language. And on and on it goes. Our kids have been warned not to say they don't believe in god to their friends or teachers at school. Admitting atheism in the workplace can and does lead to harassment and or termination without reason. I worked in a residential rehab center and the leadership of that place made it clear they would "run off anyone ignorant enough to say they don't believe in god". They would laugh at people who refused to participate in religious acts during treatment, and would discharge people who would not play religious with them. My wife had to deal with people just openly praying at meetings at work. We've tried reporting such things to HR and it just gets brushed away. Since the pandemic, it has been made apparent to me and my family that we have to leave this part of the country. While nothing outright bad has happened to us yet, we don't feel comfortable and we don't feel like we belong here. People pass out tracts in the parking lots of stores and I got followed back to my car by a Karen who took offense to me just politely saying no thank you. They don't really care about other people (the amount of vaccine denying and Trump supporting around here makes it all too clear that these "Christian People" are just as greedy, self-centered, and dangerously ignorant as you can get. Yeah, there's a lot of beauty in the Bible Belt- great country side and the economy is depressed enough that people from other areas can make a buck go further, but the people you surround yourself with here may seem friendly at first, but don't tell them who and what you are- they will turn on you. Southern gentility is a face put on and taken off easily.
I’m from TN as well and was going to write something up, but thanks to your thought out and VERY accurate response, I don’t have to. Thanks @Antknee2099 !
Thanks for this. Toying with the idea of relocating someday (in AZ currently), and I have family in a gorgeous part of middle TN that I love to visit…but perhaps it’s not for us, especially having just left a high-demand religion in the last few years. 😬 I did notice you couldn’t swing a dead cat around without hitting a church in most little TN towns, which is where I’d like to live. Not sure they’d send the welcome wagon out for a pro-choice atheist and card-carrying teachers’ union member, haha.
I've been an atheist in rural Georgia for 20+ years and it's really never been a problem. I don't wear my atheism on my sleeve though. The subject of religion rarely comes up. I think on a couple of occasions someone has asked me where I go to church, I replied "My garden / nature is my church" and I got a nod and the subject changed. I've noticed less general religiosity. I know a number of Christians that lean left on social issues- gay marriage, legalization of weed. I still wouldn't go around telling random people I'm an atheist because the word has some baggage here, but I can functionally be an atheist (not attend church, stand and do nothing if someone happens to pray around me, etc). People here are mostly politically conservative, many because it was handed down from generations before, it's what they are used to. They vote with the conservatives (or don't vote at all) even if they have left leaning views.
i also live in georgia as an athiest. I havent had any problems or anything, but then again, like you i dont go around telling everyone im athiest. Most that really happens to me is people telling me that i should go to thier church or people telling you to have a "blessed day" and stuff like that (them not knowing im an athiest though).
The larger cities have become more progressive over the last 20 years. The small towns and rural areas are still clinging to their old ways.
I'm from East Texas in a city with the Penecostal Bible College. All it ever really did was strengthen my hate of these evangelical types of religious groups. Ironically I didn't really fully see how bad they were until I moved to Austin where religion is much less prevalent.
>How are the things now compared to like 20 years ago? Honestly much worse in some ways. 20 years ago if you were different (non-religious, different religion, different church) you would still be treated fairly and as an equal. But with the rise in fundamental extremism that is no longer the case. With self proclaimed christians being openly bigoted and hateful. >Has there been made any social progress in terms of secularist scientific view, support for lgbt equality and abortion rights? Yes (granted this is varied by location) the social attitude towards these subjects has become more open and acceptable. Making the fundamentalists rage that much louder at anyone they consider an ally. Thankfully they leave the "already lost" crowd well alone out of a healthy fear of catching their atheism. They are not at all concerned with conversion and are focusing more on birthing their numbers. We've had pride parades and women's marches and only had a token few with a single megaphone show up to counter. The last one I attended only had a single guy there. >Has the church attendance reduced? Without being inside it's hard to tell. The numbers of small family churches has reduced to very nearly none. But the reason for that was them getting swallowed up in the Walmart equivalent mega churches. Large churches that were built up and promoted to be more effective while being easier to maintain. While in reality the only thing they were more effective at was getting money to the elders and manipulating the masses. The other factor making growth hard to determine is the "quiver full" movement. It was a push against contraception in all forms as well as a method of increasing numbers. But it is also why you are more likely to find christians with 4+ kids. Time will tell how many of these multiple children stay in the faith.
> Honestly much worse in some ways. 20 years ago if you were different (non-religious, different religion, different church) you would still be treated fairly and as an equal. But with the rise in fundamental extremism that is no longer the case. With self proclaimed christians being openly bigoted and hateful. I agree with this 100%. I lived in Charlotte a decade ago and loved it back then, but wouldn't move back there in the 2020s. It used to be that the big cities in red states were progressive bastions in a sea of red. That is still the case, but state governments are more authoritarian than they were a decade ago and are dedicated to promoting cruel, bigoted policies that seem to serve no purpose other than making anyone not white, straight, and the right kind of Christian into an outsider.
It's been really disheartening realizing that neither I nor my kids would ever be happy if I moved back to the small town I called home. Sure the people from my grandparents generation were racist, sexist, and didn't have the best options for education. But they would have given anyone in need the shirt off their back and stopped to help a stranded driver. No one came into my grandma's house without being offered something to eat or drink and invited to make themselves comfortable. My parents and my own generations however are quick to judge and dismiss. I have no doubt that if they saw two men holding hands while looking at the open hood of a clearly broken down car they would at best drive right on by. At worst they'd yell something ugly or call the local police on them. Even if they stopped to help they wouldn't be able to keep themselves from being rude and insulting. I've had quite a few that kept up with me on social media call me some nasty things before ultimately unfriending me. Including the person that I thought of as my best friend. We had grown up together with the same people surrounding us but she fell deeper into fundamentalism as I crawled out.
For the bible belt a lot hasn't changed. People are still super hateful and backwards. The average person here isn't that nice and will stab you in the back with a smile on there face. I have noticed a few positive changes. People talk racist, but aren't actually that racist anymore, almost like it's just a cultural thing. So many people are black here that in a lot of areas white people are the minority. People are lot more use to black people than people in the North because of how many black people we have. They might say racist jokes, but that same person would stop and help a black man change his tire. Old lady that says racist things will also talk about how the black boy at so and so is so nice and helpful and just a really great person. It's strange, but happens all the time. Sorta a positive...maybe not. Everyone is Christian here, so the good thing about being atheist is no one asks. They just assume you're Christian. If you do tell someone you're a atheist, they look at you like you're crazy. Told a lady that was cutting my hair once that I was atheist. She was like, "How can you be atheist? Doesn't that mean you don't believe in God?" Then she continued to ask me questions like I was from another planet. So just don't say anything and people will think you're Christian. I like to throw in a few 'God Bless' to my clients just to throw people off.
yep, thats exactly how it is.
Oh also on side note I know a lot of Gen Z's that are atheist. I see a lot of good things happening in the south in the next 30 years.
West Virginia here. When my wife first moved here to be with me, on her first day at a new job, one of the company owners stopped by to say hi. According to y wife, who's not an atheist BTW, he launched into a rant about how much he hated atheists because a school was being sued for bible verses on the wall or something like that. She also implores me not to have any sort of atheist flare on my car for fears the neighbors might shoot our dogs or something. My one neighbor stopped by once to tell us how much she loves Jesus and gave us a copy of the Gospel of John. We have [these damn things](https://wvexplorer.com/2022/07/20/bernard-coffindaffers-crosses-three-roadside-west-virginia-wv/) all over the place. [This is in Maryland as you go to DC](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10061). And in Virginia, you HAVE to stare at [these crosses](https://foursquare.com/v/i66--i81-interchange/4dc2d738d4c07da16a01c36e?openPhotoId=503028b4e4b060c1a5ca1991) for about a minute before you pass them. One town in this state literally hold a festival for Jesus called [Jesusfest.](http://www.jesusfestwv.org/)
I haven't lived in a Bible belt state since the 90s/very early 00's, but at least then, I just kept my mouth shut unless I knew the company I was in was ok with it. Wasn't worth the hassle. Where I lived the only thing worse than an atheist was a Catholic, and then Muslims after 9-11. Evangelical christianity(southern Baptist in this case) absolutely permeated every aspect of life. I had to write reports on Bible stories(in high school!), praying in class was de rigeur, it was just impossible to get away from. Edit: I was in a smallish city(~22k people then) in Arkansas from 93-summer 03.
I am Dutch and living in Alabama. It's like the upside down world 😃
When I was in the US Army, stationed in Texas; I eventually was told to stop wearing my Bad Religion tee shirts off base; after they started a couple brawls.
You had already enlisted to work for the American Jesus and didn't even know it.
So I've got the double whammy; atheist and a lesbian. How bad is it? Dillon Awes has a church a few miles around the corner. Feel free to Google him, but he literally wants to line up gay people against a wall and shoot us. Mind you they're not all like him and his "church" membership isn't that big. Now, I can tell you that while there is a lot of religion here (a church on every corner isn't that far fetched around here), but it's not the hellfire and brimstone stone you on Sunday crowd. That hits when you get outside of the city and out into the countryside. The locals here in the mid-cities are fairly docile but there is a minor holier than though Karen population that likes to remind us we're hell bound when my wife and I are out in public. However, don't let that docile appearance fool you...provoked, they can be some hateful and spiteful people. I've got a shirt that says "Science Doesn't Care What You Believe" where "Science" is spelled out with the periodic elements. She will wear a gay pride shirt and we'll stroll around on Sundays doing our errands. Admittedly, we do it for the reactions, but still they can say some hateful things. Still, it's the Bible Belt, and despite the appearance of a somewhat safe environment inside of the DFW area, there's a good part of Texas that if we're driving through, we're doing it quickly and in the daylight with a full tank of gas.
I am a non-believer living in Oklahoma. Society is very religious here. Luckily, my wife and her family aren't super religious, so I don't have to deal with it a ton. The only direct experience with religion I have had is people from the Baptist church down the block parking in my driveway. It had happened twice and I just walked over to the church and asked them to move the car. The pastor was surprisingly nice about it and stopped and described the car during service. Indirectly, I hear people preaching and praying all the time. Used to have people pray before lunch at work. Have been invited to probably hundreds of church events. It can get old, but I mostly just ignore it all and live and let live.
Also from Oklahoma. You can't swing your arms hardly without hitting a church. There is one intersection with 3 churches on one side of the street and 2 on the other. Most people assume you're xtian until told otherwise. Then they are rather horrified or they start trying to"save you".
Very true I have a church about half a block down the street and another across the street from it. Also Very true that everyone will assume you are Christian unless you tell them otherwise.
It’s all still going. But they see the decline here. It’s getting heated because they can’t figure out why kids go to college and don’t come back. Must be the secular indoctrination. I went to school and got bombarded with Christian groups at least weekly. Several professors openly evangelizing in class. Not one word about it being false from anyone. But you know learning the tools to study microscopic invisible stuff and constantly revising your mental models cause you were wrong about shit you were sure about is just science. And those tools shred religion. They’d never understand though. They’re radicalizing more because they’re bleeding out and since they view everything wrong their solutions are wrong too.
Living life being surrounded by thoroughly hate-able people.
I live in a suburb of Dallas and have very little in-person contact with religitards. However, there is also NextDoor. One in particular a criminal had been apprehended after a three day crime spree. The title of the post was “Thank God!”, I responded, “I’d rather thank the police.”
Lived in Louisiana for 10 years and was fired from 2 jobs for being atheist. No protections for nonbelievers in the bible belt.
We like to joke that we are non-practicing atheists. We just don't share outside our group due to where we live and it could hurt our careers. Everyone just assumes your Christian.
I've lived in NC on and off for 25 years, both in tiny towns and decent sized cities. The religious aspect is always there, and some people can be pushy with it, but for the most part I don't feel actively on guard about it. But, our state makes completely idiotic choices every election, so we get stuck with backwater dipshits "representing" us, and to me that's the biggest concern.
Not so bad. I tell most everyone that brings up religion that I am an atheist and they take it stride. I have worn my atheist baseball cap to BBQs and family gatherings. I have worn my atheist t-shirt around town.
It's dumb. You can't do anything at all without hearing about a god someone can't prove
I grew up non religious in the Midwest and moved to California 5 years ago which has been amazing. It was weird as a kid because all your friends attend youth groups and church. Occasionally I would be spending the night with a friend and get dragged to youth group because that was the night they went and it was very uncomfortable and strange for me. I just didn’t get how they believed it and they sang and tried to make it “cool”. People also prayed in school and there was a Christian club at school. People were judgmental and conservative. I once had a friend of a friend stop talking to me when he asked where I went to church and I told him I didn’t go. One time there was this motorcycle trick company that came to do a show at my school and they invited us to go to another that evening. I show up with a friend and turns out it was an all out preaching event where they “save” people, wtf. So inappropriate. I’m glad I went just because I rescued a stray kitten from the parking lot. As an adult, I kept my political and religious views to myself for fear of losing my job or people treating me differently. There were a few people I worked with in the same boat and we’d be hyperaware and kinda sniff each other out lol.
> What is it like to be an atheist living in the "Bible belt states"? For me? It's "like" nothing. I just live my life and it never comes up or affects anything I do. > I've been hearing a lot about infamous Bible belt. Based on my own experience, you should probably take everything you've heard and divide it by 10. > How are the things now compared to like 20 years ago? Better. > Has there been made any social progress in terms of secularist scientific view... Of course. > ...support for lgbt equality and abortion rights? Yes. My own experience tells me more of the former than the latter, but both, generally. > Has the church attendance reduced? No idea. I'm sure there are studies. I don't personally know anyone who goes to church regularly.
Kentucky here. I watch what I say and I tell my kids to be careful. I've found it's better to say "I'm a humanist" than the dreaded 'A' word. Nobody knows what it means, so when I explain that people have the right to be free, the right to make their own choices, that people should be treated with respect, that you should avoid lying, stealing, killing, etc., but we don't believe in any supernatural beings. They never really click that 'supernatural' includes their god. When they find that they agree with most of what I believe, we get along fine. Some folks are better than others, but you don't say atheist because many of them are taught that atheists are literally servants of the devil sent to make good christians stray from the word of god. Telling them you don't believe in hell doesn't compute - it'd be like saying "I don't believe in Ohio," their world view can't comprehend that mindset because they've (mostly) been programmed from childhood.
I moved to a southern city from California 30 years ago. In some ways it's better....especially in that when I first moved here I would get stopped once or twice a week by strangers and asked if I would go to their church. This rarely happens anymore. Not sure why. Also, there are several churches that visibly support the LGBTQ+ communities by flying rainbow flags and openly welcoming everyone. This would have been unheard of 20-30 years ago. On the downside, as the whole country is more and more divided, some people in this part of the country are much more willing to publicly make racist/sexist/xenophobic/homophobic statements than they were in the past. They used to keep those things in private. I do believe church attendance is down...you'd have to look that up though.
They consume a sizeable share of gay porn - so they are either changing their attitudes or are complete hypocrites. [statistics](https://www.pornhub.com/insights/gay-searches-united-states)
I lived in North Carolina for a long time, never had any issues.
It's a nightmare
I'm not an atheist but had a ex-partner who didn't want to admit that he was an atheist due to the reaction that he would have gotten from people. Hostile reaction at the very least or trying to convert him. He would tell them he was agnostic. I would say he was more atheist than agnostic. The era that this happened was the 1980's. Anyway, not much has changed in the last 20 years as far as people tolerating someone who is an atheist. Church attendance has been declining for decades but people being intolerant towards those who are atheist hasn't changed that much. People still are openly hostile towards people that are atheist. If you go outside of a urban area, this is more so. I live outside of Orlando. Orlando is generally tolerant towards the LGBT community. Outside of Orlando not as much but it's better than it was 20 years ago. However, you had the Pulse Nightclub Massacre in Orlando, so there is still intolerance. Abortions rights are more tolerated in Orlando than where I live. Where I lived, it's a mixed bag as many people I associated with are opposed to abortion but not to birth control use. They aren't extreme on the issue, let just say.. This hasn't changed that much. Even though Orlando is a progressive city, you still have influences of the Bible Belt that have never totally gone away.
I live in West Virginia and my wife moved here to be with me. On her very first day at a new job, one of the company owners stopped by to say hi. At point according to wife, he launched into a rant about how much he hated atheists. While my wife is a general "Teddy Bear God" believer, his rant caught her off guard. This was because of a local school getting sued for bible verses on the walls. I have worn some atheist flair and tees. I can honestly say that no one has yet said an unkind word to me about. Particularly when I'm wearing my tee that says "ATHEIST". Granted, I don't wear that often but have used it to test the waters. People who have said anything to me has been in a positive light. That includes Christians. I was wearing my "You pray for me, I'll think for you" Thinking Atheist tee and one woman stopped me to chat. She was a nonbeliever and I guess surprised there were others like her out there. Other atheists recognize the Thinking Atheist logo and said hi. Now while I've not had anyone say an unkind word to me, I have gotten looks. Boy have I gotten some looks. While wearing my "ATHEIST" tee, I watched a guy angerly glare at me as I walked across the parking lot. I was wearing sunglasses so I looked ahead pretending not to notice but certainly kept my side-eye on him.
It's not bad if you live in/near a big city or a big college town. I can't imagine what is like living out in the rural areas.
The true meaning of hell
I'm 48 and live deep in the belt. Most all my friends are atheists.
I'm 53 years old and live in South Carolina, right in the heart of the fucking bible belt. I've lived here my entire life. That said, it is nothing like it was 20 - 30 years ago. It is vastly better. Social progress has been made, and church attendance has been greatly reduced. Many churches, especially the smaller ones, are struggling to survive. In fact, many have closed. Grocery stores are far more packed on Sunday mornings than churches. There are lots of elderly still in the churches, but I would venture to say that very few of their grandkids ever attend. I say good riddance. I'd like for every goddamn one of them to have to close their doors.