Atheists in church

[Spongebob]

I was reading a testimonial on another forum about a long time Christian who eventually became an atheist and left their church, but missed the community of people.  It got me to thinking, is there some justification for us as atheists to continue to be a part of a church body but as an open atheist?  The community of people can be a nice thing and isolation only creates ignorance for Christians who see atheists as monsters.  If they new they had like twelve of them in their church, perhaps they would be more understanding, especially if they knew us well and understood our way of thinking.  I'm quite certain there are people attending most churches who have significant doubts and possibly many who are closet atheists.

I remember as a child there were stories about a guy who attended the 1st Baptist Church in my town who would sleep through sermons and interrupt and do other mildly obnoxious things.  People said he was an atheist and we would all gasp with horror.  I never learned the truth about those stories and for all I know they could have been urban myths.  But now it makes me wonder.  I could be that guy sitting in the pews, though I wouldn't interrupt or sleep.  I would debate with Christians and they would try their best to convert me.  But we would still be friends and perhaps they wouldn't fear the word "atheist".