politics, cultural-identityWhen browsing this site and reading the questions and answers I get a general feeling that for some people being an atheist is a really big deal. Talks about “coming out of the closet” is hard for me to understand. It is probably a cultural difference, because I live in the Netherlands and over here no-one is discriminated for being an atheist and no-one is afraid to let anybody know they are an atheist; as fas as I know. Therefore I find it strange that a lot of atheists I meet online feel like they are rejected by society and are putting unnecessary emphasis on being an atheist or dare not speak of it with their family or friends. I can see how people from countries with orthodox religious regimes would act like that, but people from the USA, for example, also do, while it is clearly stated in their constitution that the country is not built upon or associated with any kind of religion. What causes this “outlawed” status of atheists in some supposedly free countries?
Middle US
I live in the middle of the US. My father has been pretty good about it, despite being a minister at his church. My mother refused to vote for me when I ran for political office. My grandmother has a tendency to tearfully sob when she sees me that she wants to see all of her babies in heaven.
I haven’t faced any overt acts of discrimination. Snide comments from the brother in law thinking he’s being clever. I’ve lost one girl that things went pretty well with up to that point. I actually encountered an anti-scientific fellow last night (fb argument about punishing kids physically) that ended with something like “God will sort that ego out for you Mr science.” Hopefully child services will sort out that child beating problem for you, Mr godly.
Nothing of great impact, but it wears after awhile. I refuse to see my grandmother, and any political conversation around my mother ends up with me being discounted for being an atheist. I don’t hide the atheism bit around extended family or strangers, but it’s not like I walk in with a “Godless” button on my shirt, either. Unless they say something crazy.
Southern US
I live in the southern US and work in a high tech field. I have had complaints filed against me at work due to speaking my mind on the subject. I grew up in a rural area of Kentucky in the 80’s and what denomination you were was a very important question to most people. Catholics still faced some bit of discrimination, and religious minorities didn’t exist. We were lead in prayer in elementary school, and the idea on not believing in god was considered absurd.
I now live in a larger city and its not as evident but a mega church in the area boasts a large percentage of the community and civic leaders. My last job was for a fortune 50 company and at least 15% of the parents home-schooled their kids to avoid the secular teaching in the schools.
Israel
I live in Israel, and I actually find it very easy to be an atheist. The biggest majority of my friends and social circle are atheists, and most are very secular, while some do believe in some supernatural phenomena, it is actually uncommon for me to find myself talking to theists, about faith or otherwise. It’s hard for me to understand the issue of “closet atheism”, because I never had any problems whatsoever because of my lack of dogmatic beliefs.
If I take my workplace or past workplaces in high-tech and more specific the software engineering industry, there are many believers but they mostly are secular, or keep their beliefs privately without trying to push them down anyone’s throats. So in Israel, with a very large secular base of people, it’s almost a non-issue.
There are however whole towns with high percentage of orthodox communities, and I guess that if you’re born into such place it will be much more problematic for you, at least in the inner circle of family or community, but once you get out of these ghettos especially to Tel-Aviv and the central area, it’ll be pretty much as in any major western European city.
Canada
I live in Canada and I do not think I have ever suffered discrimination because my atheist beliefs. I don’t push what I believe on others but I will without hesitation challenge those who push there religious beliefs on me. My truck has a bumper sticker that says “Atheism cures religious terrorism”, I get more positive remarks than negative.
About a year back I came upon an accident on the highway that had just happened. A young lady had lost control of her car and crashed over the side. It was about a 50 foot drop. The car had rolled at least twice and was laying on its side when I got to the bottom. As it turned out the girl didn’t have a scratch on her. When we got to the top, back on the road there were about 20 people hanging out. We turned and looked at the car and after a moment of quiet, The girl says I think my car saved my life, someone else said that’s a well designed car that’s for sure, and that was it. Not one person said anything about god or a miracle. I walked away grinning ear to ear, thinking man I love my country.
Germany
Germany, here. Most of the people around me are either outright atheists or they are lip-service-paying Christians who may or may not attend services in church once or twice a year. Thus, being godless does not lead to any issues to speak of.
By way of background: Like Sweden, England and a number of poster boy countries for secularity, Germany has never even considered separating church from state: The two are firmly glued together, with the state collecting taxes on behalf of the churches and enforcing mandatory religious (/ethics) classes in schools. Much of this deal dates back to an accord (the Concordat) between the Catholic Church and the country of Germany, last confirmed by Hitler in the Third Reich.
One would expect this to be more of a problem, but because Germany is a prosperous and stable country with decent social welfare, people don’t go running to God so much. So most people are very lukewarm about their religion and it plays no major role in peoples’ lives. Gay marriage is legal, and women come over from religiously dominated Poland to get their abortions done. Prostitution is legal too, and the state tries to help drug users rather than locking them away forever.
South Africa
In South Africa, I had trouble with my security clearance (for work) since I didn’t show any religious affiliations in my application.
I function in a pure research environment and yet, still at our year end meeting we were prayed for.
UK
In the UK its pretty easy, in fact I would say amongst my peer group its the norm.
Heck we even have a national ad campagin : There probably is no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life
And an established association.
Oklahoma
I live in the center of the bible belt. I don’t tell anyone I’m an atheist.
The outlaw status of an atheist here is because of the stigma attached to atheism due to the fanaticism of the religious and the vast number of believers compared to non-believers. It’s not a subject that is discussed, everyone assumes that you are a christian. Being an non-believer is beyond the average person’s comprehension in Oklahoma and they assume you must be some kind of evil satanist or, contrarily, they think you don’t really mean it because you seem like such a nice guy.
New Zealand
I live in New Zealand and I can honestly say out of the hundreds of people I know there are only a couple that I know for sure are Christians and I have never had a conversation on the subject with them. It is a private thing and would be seen as rude to bring it up.
I actually find it a pain not being able to discuss the topic with anyone. There are heaps of mini mega churches with all the same money grabbing ways as anywhere else.
I have many “spiritual” friends whos ideas I find crazy but we all get on.
I dont respect peoples ideas but I do respect the person.
Belgium
In Belgium, being Atheist is not an issue.
Their is a tradition of secularity, free examinism , free thinkers and free masonery, although it’s a traditionally and still vastly a catholic country.
But that does not means we have a lot of political debates/issues/questioning about the secularity and in which limit you can show your religious adherence in society.
Common debates are:
Regularly, there is also a debate about the financing system of religions, which is actually done by the state and thus all tax-payers disregarding their belief preferences.
Russia
I think it may be tough everywhere because it's sad to see people believing in superstitions in such a technological time.
It's not a problem being an atheist in Russia, we still have an ability to say our atheistic opinions aloud, but there are many orthodox believers which may take the matter to court when they think we oughtn't say something they consider undesirable to church yet legal: usually 282nd article of the Criminal Code is leveraged which is considered controversial and anachronistic and should have already been abolished.
For example there was a precedent when orthodox believers brought organizers of an art exhibition to court thinking that they showed something that may cause intolerance.
As to secularism there is still (and will probably grow if policy of govt is not changed) lots of people that won't let you implicitly or explicitly fulfil your constitutional rights of free speech. For example see how Moscow Advertisement, Information and City Appearance Committee denied billboards quoting the Constitution of Russia.
While we can be relatively free while while showing our view, it's obviously that the government heads feel sympathy for religion (Medvedev and Putin in the bottom left corner appropriately).
There are occasionally bad news like introducing courses of religious education in public schools, showing that Russian Orthodox Church is keen on embedding religion in young people's minds.
Some enthusiasts created a site Atheist Campaign Russia (facebook page) similar to Atheis Bus Campaign and have recently succeeded in helping to children from the medical center in their struggle with the monastery (1, 2).
I hope anything will change for the better, otherwise we are going to fall into obscurantism.
Northwest Spain
I live in Northwest Spain and being an atheist is not a problem. Despite the image of Spain that many foreigners seem to have as a strict Catholic country, it isn’t; look at these stats for example: in 2005, 18% of Spaniards didn’t believe in any god or spirit or life force. That places Spain as a more atheist country than, say, Norway, Iceland or Switzerland, and way far from other Southern European countries such as Greece or Italy.
From my personal observation and experience, the situation shown by these stats has only increased since 2005. This other poll (scroll down a couple of screens to the bar chart) is from 2010 and shows Spain as a more atheist-inclined country than, say, Australia, Canada or Great Britain, and at par with France.
Lastly, a recently published national poll shows that, for the first time in documented history, atheists in the 18-30 age group surpass believers. And fast changes are happenin in other age groups.
Being an atheist in Spain is not a big deal. Still, I think there is a difference between Southern Spain, which is culturally closer to Italy and Greece, and Northern Spain, where I live, much of which has an Atlantic (rather than Mediterranean) culture.
Also, Spain’s culture and society have changed dramatically in the last few decades. This means that attitudes towards religion and atheism tend to vary a lot depending on age segments and also education profiles. If you live surrounded by academics in their 40s, you’re probably never going to meet a Christian. People of older age and who didn’t have the luxury of a higher education are usually more religious, as expected.
US Northeast
I grew up in a former communist state. Now I’m a US citizen living in the northeast. I am usually hesitant to talk about religion because most people would automatically think, yeah yeah, of course you were brain washed and are a godless atheist. This I actually have to vehemently disagree, communism, the way it existed, was indeed very much like a religion.
Oddly enough, many people who are from the same old country in my neighborhood became christians after they had settled in the US.
Missouri, California, Texas, Minnesota
I have lived in Missouri, California, Texas, and Minnesota. Missouri was a theistic hellhole, with a church on every corner, fish on every other car, and evangelicals everywhere. I was hassled about my lack of belief, and lost a few girlfriends, but really, good riddance. The stupid is so thick you can almost see it there! I just did not (and still do not) hang out with religious types; I have little respect for them.
Texas was dumb on steroids, they take pride in ignorance there the way most people take pride in accomplishment. Unless you are in a college town you can expect to get hassled unless you go to a church of some kind.
California was fine, it’s just not an issue there most of the time.
Minnesota is strange - still quite religious, mostly Lutheran and Catholic, but they are much more restrained here in their proselytizing. There are a few fundamentalist whackjobs here, but not like in Missouri. I haven’t kept any secrets about my lack of faith but there hasn’t been any problems like there was in Missouri. They are just nicer people here, overall.
In college I traveled to Britain and Europe, and was heartened by the secular environments there. It was so nice to live in secular communities that I sought them out upon my return. I don’t think you Dutch guys know how good you have it! :-)
The American South can be a very difficult place to live as an unbeliever. It’s crumbling infrastructure and worsening educational system is not going to improve things anytime soon.
Persia (Iran)
In response to my friend’s request, I put it shortly in this way: being an Atheist in my country Persia, is mind-blowingly a dangerous “sin” and you will probably end up being hanged or something, if the authorities find out about it.
Now okay… that was a bit of dramatizing in there I know, but nonetheless, you will be pretty screwed up if you ever, publicly claim that you are a non-believer, not to mention an Atheist, a DAMNED HERETIC! :)
But I’d also draw a fine solid line between the authorities (i.e. the government of Iran) and its people here. While the Persian people don’t really care about such stuff, and in fact most of them that I knew were not religious or anything at all, the authorities do. And they do care a lot, and mostly out of political reasons which I’m sure it won’t be necessary for me to mention them.
Seattle
I live in Seattle in the northwest United States. It’s pretty easy here. But other parts of the country are, well, almost like a different country and I think I would have difficulties elsewhere. I would be interested on hearing people’s experiences related to living in the southern United States.
India
I live in India and atheism hasn’t really been a problem. Most of my peer group are apathetic towards religion. The few who are religious don’t seek to impose their beliefs on me.
Turkey
I live in Turkey, it is not hard to be an atheist in developed cities, people simply don’t care. However they easly get offended if you tease their religions(mostly Islam indeed)
UK
I live in the UK. Most of my family would associate themselves with atheistic beliefs. In college, I’d say nearly 20-30% here are atheist. My biology teacher warned that when teaching evolution that if anyone had a problem with it then he apologies in advance - probably the only religious concession I’ve heard here.
Western India
I live in western india, Here politically and socially there isn’t any big deal if you are atheist or not as long as you don’t HARM other peoples religion by your viewpoint. In big cities people don’t care about you, in small towns and villages you rarely have any mindset to be an atheist.
Suburban Cleveland, Ohio
In the 60s and 70s, I grew up in an area where the religious folks were about 50/50 Catholic and mainstream (e.g. non-fundamentalist) Protestant, with a lot of folks with little or no religious connection. In school, talking in a way that could be construed as negative about anybody else’s religion was likely to get you punched, so kids just didn’t discuss religion.
Fort Worth, Texas
Yeah, it’s one of the buckles on the Bible Belt, but it was actually pretty cool, too. When I was there in the 80s, if you were single, intellectual, politically left-wing and not religious, you’d keep running into the same folks at the bike club and the Irish bar and the bookstores and the Sierra Club and parties, and they were all loads of fun. And if you weren’t pushy about being a non-believer, nobody bugged you about it.
Rural Texas, near San Antoino
A typical ice-breaker question from a new acquaintance would be, “What church do you go to?”, and the preferred answers were Baptist, Pentecostal/Charismatic, or (if you were Mexican) Catholic. The best excuse for not going to church was to be a hard-drinking sinner. Since I was none of those, people thought I was nice but weird. It was never a problem, though. People would invite me to church, and I’d politely decline, and that was that; I never was discriminated against.
San Francisco Bay Area, California
Non-issue. Total non-issue. If anything, being really religious here is weird. In fact, there was a Christian radio station in my county, and they just sold out to the local classical music station because it was just too hard to keep it open and solvent.
Netherlands
I live in the Netherlands, and for me it’s not hard at all to live as an atheist, except for when it comes to talking with my family about it. This is, however, as I was born in Katwijk, which is actually quite known in my country for the more oldfashioned religious beliefs held by many citizens (even though its not as bad as say Urk or Staphorst).
I’d like to make a more general point here: there is a very important difference between atheism and secularism. Atheism is a private conviction (or belief, if you will), while secularism is a mode of action, or a way of doing things. This is most easily understood by looking the constitutions of many western civilizations, which make clear distinctions between church and state (which in effect means that those civilizations are secular).
Southern US
I live in (a very religious part of) the Southern US, and I’ve never had a problem. Mind you, I don’t evangelize, and I don’t throw a fit whenever other people do the public praying thing.
Canada
I live in Canada. Canada is mostly a secular country. According to recent stats about 25% are non religious. People rarely debate evolution vs intelligent design as in US. Thus politics tend to focus more on core issues such as health care, education and security, rather than about sexuality or prayer.
Poland
I live in Poland, which is a very Catholic country (officially ~90% baptized).
In cities it is a non-issue. There are many atheist, rest is highly tolerant (well, maybe except some older ladies). To an extent, it is even in better taste to joke of believers than of atheists.
In rural areas, it is not that good. As life there is centered around a church, anyone openly atheistic (or even not attending the masses) may be rumored of being communist (in this context: collaborator against the society), satanist or just treated as an outsider.
Also, things gets complicated when it comes to families. Most atheists I know (say, 20-25yo) have believing parents. Often the families (esp. grandparents) want their children to be Catholics or, at least, have Catholic weddings. Furthermore some people, even not very devout ones, want to have a Catholic spouse.
score: 2
I’m in the US, although I’ve avoided the South and highly rural areas. You don’t get overt discrimination -at least not if you are quiet about your non-beliefs. Actually, most of the time I’ve been Buddhist (but thats a godless religion mainly about self improvement). But at the political level, it is quite bad, Christian belief is virtually mandatory for any sort of political career, and a lot of people will consider you to be amoral and untrustworthy if you aren’t. Also in the dating world, you are mostly rejected (not a problem any more as I am married), but that didn’t happen until I was nearly 40 (and not because I wanted it that way). If religion hadn’t become a big moral war (anti-abortion versus everyone else), I think it would be more like people describe for Canada. But, with a large chunk of the population accusing another large chunck of being baby killers, politics has become highly toxic. When I was growing up, I don’t remember this sort of divide, although the openly expressed view of most of the population (myself included) was that being atheist was far worse than being a criminal. But it just never came up to be used as a political wedge like today.
The other thing thats happened here, is that the not-very-committed believers are generally in the more liberal churches, while the more committed, and active ones have flooded into the evangelistic side of things. So while the percentages of believers hasn’t changed much, the sense of being in a cultural war, with no-holds-barred from the conservative side, is disconcerting.
I’m from Australia and I find that quite a lot of people I bump into here are atheists. Most of the people who claim to believe in a god don’t bother going to church or studying the bible.
Occasionally I see a nut standing on the corner at the Town Hall on a milk crate preaching that we are all going to hell, or something to that effect, but I have never seen anyone paying attention.
I’m quite openly atheist wherever I go, including the work place, and generally have no fear about being discriminated. To be honest, I would probably feel more insecure if I were preaching about faith rather than asserting my atheism.
A small number of my friends are religious to varying degrees, but they seem to tolerate my occasional atheist remarks, and my occasional “Hey, look at this nut!” link to some religious youtube video I put up on Facebook.
All that being said, I have noticed over the past decade or so that Australia is SLOWLY moving towards the direction of the U.S.A. I worry that even though atheists outnumber theists in this country, it will change in the future - and I worry how we may be treated then.
Australia
In Australia the increase in influence of the religious right has led to increased discrimination against the non religious. The discrimination is tacit, with government tending to favour the religious in return for large voting blocks. Alas, the hold they have on cultural and political discourse is increasing while at the same time their overall numbers diminish. I think there is a consolidation of christianity going on and it is largely at the cost of secular ideals.
Poland
In Poland, it is hard for children to be from an atheist family. Usually everyone else attends religion lessons, discuss what they become on the occasion on First Communion etc. When a child does not take part in it, he is considered other. And this is always very bad to be other in such conformistic societies as school.
On rural environment it is not wise to declare yourself atheist. Better to say you believe in God and not Church or so. It is easier for people to understand you hate priests or particular priest for some reason.
Ireland
Ireland here, it's not difficult from the point that you can walk up to any priest or anyone else for that matter and say that you're Atheist. 99% of the time it will be accepted and will not have any negative repercussions. And anything negative from the other 1% is small-scale, e.g. on the same level as any other personal disagreement.
But the church still has some influence in society. Every day at 18:00 & 00:00 there is a minute dedicated to a Catholic message - a 'prayer' - on the national TV channel, RTE1. This is very annoying, but if you're quick with the remote control it's not too bad. However, what's more of an issue is the Irish Blashpemy Law which was passed in 2009. This prohibits "publication or utterance of blasphemous matter", and a maximum fine of €25,000. According to Wikipedia, 'The offence consists of uttering material "grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion", when the intent and result is "outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion"'
To be 100% honest, there are better reasons to leave ireland in 2011 than the religious issues. Everything else (weather, government, economy, options, etc.) is much worse!
Brazil
I live in Brazil. Most of my family has strong religious beliefs, but they don’t take much issue at the fact that I’m not a believer. Of course, as I don’t get in trouble, they have already said that, as I am a “good person”, God answers their prayers and protects me.
Most of my friends either are atheists or just aren’t overly religious. One of them made a joke yesterday saying I should work on the day before Christmas as I “don’t have anything to celebrate”. But it’s mostly harmless.
Even though I don’t have trouble being an atheist, I’m not sure this applies for all of Brazil. One or two months ago, a TV newsman made a baseless correlation between atheists and criminals, saying that “murderers don’t follow God, and atheists have no limits in their actions”. An atheist organization complained, and he was pressed to apologize during his show.
Denmark
No, not at all. I am from Denmark, and while we have some overly religious people here, a lot of people haven’t really considered the question fully at all. That is, they have not decided if they are religious or not, because it is not seen as an important thing. And they might very well never make a decision.
US
I live in the US and have never had the slightest problem proclaiming my atheism.
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