Are Atheists Really Hated in the US?

[Mister Agenda]

Depends on what part of the U.S. you are in. In the South, where I am from, there are very few atheists.

In the South, where I live, there are lots of atheists.

So, an atheist down here would be very mistrusted and actually seem somewhat anti-social. In New York City (Just the city, not the majority of the state of New York), you will find more atheists. But even there, I think they would be mistrusted. I'm sorry to step on toes, but I think most people find atheists to be a bit left-of-center, a bit off, not quite right, anti-social.

I'm sure New York is more tolerant, but not by an order of magnitude or anything. It takes a certain kind of person to announce their atheism given the prejudices against it, which may skew your sample size. Atheists aren't much persecuted, but it's hard to persecute a minority group when most of them are, to one degree or another, hiding who they are.

And everyone acts like England is this bastion of atheism. I lived there for eight years (1982-1990), and I don't think I ever met one atheist.

Knowingly ever met one atheist. Unless you have infallible atheist radar. I was 42 before I knowingly met my fourth atheist, but I started a social group for the nonreligous and one of the first people to show up was someone I already knew but didn't know was an atheist.

Granted, I never met anyone who went to church either, but certainly no atheists.

Certainly?

Even now, I talk to my daughter who lives there, and she doesn't go to church but she certainly believes in God. For that matter, I don't go to church, but I'm a very strong Christian. When I think of all the people I knew in England, I honestly believe they would answer something like, "I don't go to church, but I believe in God."

I believe you honestly believe that, but I don't think you've thought it through.

Well now, it's funny you mention immoral hedonists. What's a person, like me, a newcommer, supposed to think when the first thing I see are avatars of cartoon characters having sex, or a figure with a large erection, or even your avatar, which I think is some woman from a magazine, or in other atheist forums where half the posts are in some way about sex, sexual freedom, homosexuality, sex with animals, etc?

Maybe the avatars are meant to scare off theists who are easily offended.

I'm not saying atheists are all immoral hedonists, but one would certainly get that impression by visiting atheists sites on the web.

Depends on the moderation, doesn't it? JREF and FRDB might be more to your liking. In other words, there's plenty of atheist sites you haven't seen, and in any case, ours should be compared to other online communities that are indifferent to religion rather than to theist sites. Pretty much any such community that isn't explicity about atheism, skepticism, or science will be (in the West) majority theists.

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I think we tend not to shy away from sexual topics, which to someone who has been sheltered, may seem a bit shocking. However, I'm not aware of any evidence that atheists are more likely to behave in a sexually immoral fashion: we're just less likely to feel guilty about having the same sexual experiences theists do. Anecdotal, maybe someone knows of a study.