How many atheists are truly "out of the closet"?
953930
I am out of the closet with all my friends and family and with many of the people at work, but not all of the folks at work. I display my Darwin fish emblem on the back of my vehicle and I get nasty stares from the jesus fish folks. I have one atheist sweatshirt I wear during the Winter Solstice season.
612363
Last night I went to a great agnostic and atheist websit with 20,000 articles, let me see if I can find it...\n\nOh, and d man, being agnostic is not so simple. I am one too, you should open your mind up slightly.
8092
I don't know an exact number, but perhaps this website could help you:\n\nAtheism and Agnosticism FAQ\nhttp://www.geocities.com/nutrition_mom/\n\nThere are more of us than you think!
452934
Atheism.  Like it or not, there has always been at least 1 Atheist in existence throughout human history.
316461
ARE YOU TRYING TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET??????
757356
You bet I did. I've probably been atheistic in my beliefs for 10-15 years, but only managed to truly embrace it this year.\n\nI struggled off and on with my doubts fo years, too, since I was a teenager. I grew up in a small Midwestern town of less than 1500 people. Everybody knew everybody else and everybody was either Lutheran or Catholic. Growing up, I didn't know ANYBODY who wasn't either, let alone didn't believe at all. Kids made FUN of those who didn't go to church every week. No, I wasn't one of them, I just knew kids who did.\n\nThe atmosphere here is still, in a way, like things were back in the 50s. People are generally polite, friendly, and trusting, honest folk, God-fearing. People unfortunately also keep some of those lingering prejudices from those days, even those that are my age. For example, my best friend in high school is a devout Catholic. Nothing wrong with that, was never an issue. However, within a year or two of graduation, she was pregnant out of wedlock. This was a gal who, as a teenager, denounced her own parents to me because they had her older brother out of wedlock. She loved her son and the father stayed with her and they eventually married.\n\nBut the point is, they didn't have much money to get married right away. When I saw her maybe 6-9 months after her first son was born and she showed me her engagement band, she told me that her son "would now have a father". Didn't outright use the b-word, but you know damn well what she meant. I don't know ANYONE my age who would still call a child of theirs born out of wedlock a b-strd, nor insinuate it. But she did. So that's an example of some of the outdated things people still have around here and it's worse for atheists.\n\nGrowing up, having another faith besides Christianity was bad enough, it was worse to NOT have faith at all. There was a stigma(and still is to a point) that atheists are selfish, sinful people who like to drink, smoke, do drugs, sleep around, etc. They also have the lovely stigma that atheists are Commies(more proof that people still think like it's 1954 around here at times), worship Satan, sacrifice babies, and burn Bibles.\n\nTo a point, I grew up thinking that atheists were angry, dark, evil, frightening people. When I started doubting, I fought it and I fought it hard. I didn't want to be associated with that sort of stereotype. I didn't want people to think I did those things because there's no WAY I'd do any of it. I'm not that kind of person.\n\nSo I doubted and desperately tried to find faith, find any reason at all to believe in God and like what I was taught. Didn't find it. So, seeing as how I was grown up, in college, had lots of friends from bigger cities who were of different faiths, I tried that. I tried looking into Buddhism and Wicca, hoping that if I couldn't find God in Christianity, I could find it somewhere else. Didn't work either. I was scared of being stereotyped, scared of letting the family down, scared of letting God down if he existed, wondering at times why I was made to doubt if God created me and wanted me to believe in him. The usual stuff.\n\nAfter several years of it, I just gave up caring and trying. I figured I'd let religion find me instead of exhausting myself trying to find it. Figured that sooner or later, if there was a religion for me, I'd find it. Lots of fights with the family, lots of humiliation and strife over me being "not Christian".\n\nThe final "puppet string" as it were, I suppose, was my cousin. Up until this February, I kept it quiet, just didn't care or worry about it. I've dealt with lots of nastiness in the family about being not "good enough", even when I WAS a believer and my cousin and his mother were the two biggest instigators. They were the ones who kept attacking and demonizing and humiliating me in front of the family.\n\nMy aunt,
1167720
How much faith do you need to not believe there's an invisible unicorn in your backyard? You can't prove that there isn't. You can only believe that there isn't. An atheists disbelieves in God as much as you disbelieve in magical gnomes in your dresser. They can't be disproved, they're magical, but as a rational person you decide that there are no gnomes in your dresser, but there is a possibility that there are because you cannot monitor your dresser every day all the time. A religious person definitely has more faith than an atheist.
752078
I think there are a lot of closet homosexuals everywhere.  Lets face it, we are nation of bigots.  Look how long it took to allow women and blacks to vote.  Now we seemed more concerned about who marries whom than protecting the nation from real terrorists.
958441
Yes.  I've done tabling with an atheist group.  I have bumper stickers on my car.  If someone asks about my religion, I tell them I'm an atheist.  I tell people about Richard Dawkins' book, "The God Delusion".  I answer religious questions here.
316536
coming out of the closet is more acceptable now than it was in the past.  Back in the day, people were pretty much persecuted for being gay.  They may have felt that the only life they could lead was to pretend to be striaght, to appease their family, friends, and society... sacrifing their actual wants and needs in the process.  As we have become more permissive about it, these older folks feel safer to come out as who they really are.
1008190
Effing brilliant. I nominate you for question of the day.\n\nThis is on par with "My parents are atheists. How do I tell them I'm straight?"
718166
I didn't realize that we had multiple races outside of "HUMAN". Besides, not all those who disagree with organized religion are atheists. I'm a Non-Denominational Happy Pagan Person.
903125
According to CIA figures, 14.39% of the world's population are non-religious.  That's 938,972,000 non-religious people.  Only 2.36% actually identify themselves as atheists.\n\nI'm unsure of how quickly these numbers are increasing (if they are), but I'll try to check it out.
1068406
A truly atheist person should not care whether a person believes in a God.  A true atheist can respect and accept others beliefs and rationally discuss different ideas and points of views intellectually and maturely.  A truly atheist person needs to take the time to edcucate themselves on the power of religion and learn about how religion has shaped our world.\n\nA truly atheist person sees how organized religions have shaped the world and although they do not share those beliefs they do appreciate the impact religion has had throughout history (wars, art, music, etc)\n\nAs an atheist, I have read the Bible and come up with my own interpretations.  I have three versions of the book that I reference just because I know that religion is about interpretation and each person has to discover that for themselves.\n\nI happily discuss and share ideas with people of faith in well balanced conversations.   In fact, I have had several discussions with my family (who are extremely religious), and most of our arguments regarding faith is that they could not leave me alone regarding my non-belief.  They are still trying to counter some of the statements they have been taught that are far stretches from the stories in the Bible because they never took the time to read and interpret the book for themselves.  I give them the respect and courtesy to go to church with them and keep my thoughts to myself.  When they attack me for not believing, trust me, I am well prepared to defend my feelings and correct their assumptions.  I can tell you some stories where I made the pastor of their church have to go back and re-read several passages for them and he did find that my interpretations were rational and plausible.\n\nI know exactly what you are talking about and I have to admit that those "atheists" you are referring to disgust me.  You get those types of people whether they are believers or non-believers.  They give a bad impression on true atheists.  Atheist's should never try to put people down for having faith.  A true atheist should never laugh at one another’s faith.  \n\nI will also admit to being in situations where believers have argued with me telling me my ideas are wrong.  I tell these people that faith is very powerful.  My beliefs are not in a higher power.  There is no need to argue about what is right or what the bible truly means in certain passages.  Our thoughts have been shared and let’s just grow from the knowledge and experience of that.  This is how humanity grows.  Let's appreciate our differences and appreciate the diversified perceptions that help us grow as a society.
732829
"The disbelievers have their leaders"? Who are they? I haven't met them... And I don't think it's in the atheist character to actually accept a leader.\n\nAnyway, I don't agree with you. Nothing is more heterogeneous than atheism. I agree more with some believers than I do with some other unbelievers.
827026
I'm an Atheist...and I say...LMFAO!!!!!!!!  I love it!!!!!!\n\nIt is a HUGE generalization though, but I love the use of facts in there...especially about the divorce rate and the prison population (since some of them blame the crime rate and divorce rate on Atheists and homosexuals).  \n\nI also love the abstinence part.  There is DEFINATELY a huge difference between schools that teach the use of contraceptives and abstinence.  They are going to do it anyways, so please teach them to be responsible about it!!  Some of the Christians have also taken the stance that homosexuals spread disease, when in reality, their KIDS are more likely nowadays to spread it.\n\nLovin' it!  Very well done!
478327
I'm an atheist.\n\nNo. My parents raised me Catholic.\n\nI believe strongly that I'll have another beer.\n\nYes, people can be ignorant.\n\nYes, I am ignorant of almost everything.  My knowledge represents an infinitesimal portion of all possible knowledge.\n\nNo.  I see no difference between homosexuals and heterosexuals other than there sexuality, which is none of my business.\n\nI don't like religion.  I think they are all stupid, but monotheism poses the greatest political threat to me at this point of history.\n\nMy remorse/sympathy/empathy, is independent of religious beliefs.  I really could care less what people believe as long as those beliefs do not threaten me.  If they do, then let the fu*kers die.