I'm a fellow small town dweller. People here are insanely religious, but I've never had any issues with people singling me out. However, I am not open with my atheism and I do not have a Facebook account. Even if I did have a Facebook account and I made posts related to atheism and such, I doubt it would really get around town or anything. I've also had people invite me to church, and I have always politely declined. I've only been pressed on the subject once and the conversation went like this:
Guy: "You know you and your wife are welcome at our church anytime. Why don't y'all visit us this Sunday?"
Me: "Thank you for the offer, but I'm good."
Guy: "Is there a reason why you don't go to church?"
Me: "Well, I don't want to."
That was the end of that. Of course, you have the added issue of being gay in a small town. In some ways, I can imagine that as being worse than being an open atheist. Honestly, I believe that might be more of the issue than anything else. I have no meaningful advice other than to ride out the rough time and then get out as fast as you're able. Small towns are going to be small towns. They have very few redeeming features, at least from my perspective of always living in one. If you really just can't handle it, bail on your lease, pay the early termination fee or whatever, and leave. Having a stellar rental history isn't worth dealing with half of year of small town bullshit if you don't want to.
Guy: "You know you and your wife are welcome at our church anytime. Why don't y'all visit us this Sunday?"
Me: "Thank you for the offer, but I'm good."
Guy: "Is there a reason why you don't go to church?"
Me: "Well, I don't want to."
That was the end of that. Of course, you have the added issue of being gay in a small town. In some ways, I can imagine that as being worse than being an open atheist. Honestly, I believe that might be more of the issue than anything else. I have no meaningful advice other than to ride out the rough time and then get out as fast as you're able. Small towns are going to be small towns. They have very few redeeming features, at least from my perspective of always living in one. If you really just can't handle it, bail on your lease, pay the early termination fee or whatever, and leave. Having a stellar rental history isn't worth dealing with half of year of small town bullshit if you don't want to.
"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid." ~ Benjamin Franklin
