<p>CHARLESTON, S.C. Two months after the local atheist organization here put up a billboard saying Dont Believe in God? You Are Not Alone, the groups 13 board members met in Laura and Alex Kasmans living room to grapple with the fallout.</p>
<p>The problem was not that the group, the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, had attracted an outpouring of hostility. It was the opposite. An overflow audience of more than 100 had showed up for their most recent public symposium, and the board members discussed whether it was time to find a larger place.</p>
<p>And now parents were coming out of the woodwork asking for family-oriented programs where they could meet like-minded nonbelievers…</p>
<p>They liken their strategy to that of the gay-rights movement, which lifted off when closeted members of a scorned minority decided to go public.</p>
<p>Its not about carrying banners or protesting, said Herb Silverman, a math professor at the College of Charleston who founded the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, which has about 150 members on the coast of the Carolinas. The most important thing is coming out of the closet.</p>
<p>I think these survey results could be somewhat misleading. Being an atheist and selecting “no religion” are not the same thing. There are those who would say “no religion” because they are not formally associated with any church, yet still may have some kind of theist belief. And there are religions (for example, Unitarian Universalists) who welcome atheists in their congregations. Many of those UU congregants would indicate that they have a religion, yet they are still atheists.</p>
<p>+1 I think we would have to see the other choices for that poll before determining the validity of the statement that atheists are growing in number.</p>
<p>That being said, I think the number of atheists in this country is significantly underestimated in many cases.</p>
<p>Love that, edad! Also growing in some areas that I know are the Unitarians. Families who want to meet in a church but not get stuck with the particulars.</p>
<p>The atheists who meet as part of the Ethical Cultural Society don’t meet to discuss not going to church. They meet to discuss ways to do good in the world. “Deed above Creed.”</p>
<p>I agree - it does depend on how the question is put - there are non-theistic religions out there, even if their numbers are small.</p>
<p>One also can be atheist and have a religion. For instance, some Buddhists are atheists, yet depending on the survey, may check that they are religious.</p>
<p>here is the report. I am not surprised by these findings. A number of my kids’ friends call themselves athiests. When I was growing up the word was said with a “hush”. It is quite acceptable now.</p>
<p>I’m a UU and I think that is a funny way to put it! </p>
<p>When people ask about my religion I try to explain that we are non-creedal religion but it can be hard to get people past the questions of “Do you believe in God? Jesus? The Bible?”</p>
<p>Religious institutions occupy a large place in American culture. It’s not at all surprising to me that atheists would get together to form communities that perform the function, but do not take the form of, religious communities.</p>
<p>I would say where I live, you’d still be wary of openly announcing you’re an atheist. It’s tricky enough to admit you don’t have a church affiliation. The surprising thing is that when I’ve started to be more honest about that with people I’ve discovered LOTS of people that have left the churches they were affiliated with and not joined others. We felt like our church was taking great leaps backwards–like soon we were going to be burning witches at the stake–so we left, and now we’re too creeped out to go anywhere else.</p>
<p>I watched an old Woody Allen movie the other day and a character said,</p>
<p>“If Jesus were to come back today and see all the horror that’s going on his name, he’d never stop throwing up.”</p>
<p>I read “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens and found it very intelligent and interesting. I didn’t accept his conclusions or many interpretations, but I thought it was a challenging and worthwhile read; a provocative way to re-evaluate your own suppositions. One of the few books that made me want to email the author and say, “Yes, but have you thought about this…?” I’m sure he gets a lot of those, though, lol.</p>
<p>H, and both D’s are atheists. I’m a “still looking for my religion” person.</p>
<p>We moved to the Bible belt nearly 5 years ago. At casual meetings, parties, generally places you meet people and make small talk, we’d been here about 6 months before we were asked, “Which church do you go to?” It’s happened several times since then…</p>
<p>Daughters were both annoyed with most college search tools. When it came to adding a search criteria based on religion, they’d not select a choice, and then would end up with schools with all kinds of religious affiliations. There wasn’t a choice for “I want a school that does NOT have a religious affiliation.”</p>
<p>I came to atheism a few years ago after a conservative Protestant upbringing, and it’s interesting to compare my views on religion to those of my husband, who has been an atheist his entire life. I can justify the existence of religion, and miss the social network (not to mention the hymns). He doesn’t get the whole thing.</p>
<p>It’s not weird to be an atheist out here in Harvard/MIT land (actually, in science, it’s somewhat weird not to be one), but I haven’t felt comfortable “coming out” to my hometown friends or family. I think it would distress them, and I don’t want them to feel responsible for my soul or anything.</p>
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