Probably, but how real are their fears. There are certainly a lot of 
"practicing atheists"
(i.e people who live as if they believed nothing) who don't see to be 
especially "discriminated
against". I have a friend who is definitely an atheist and makes no 
secret of it. He claims to
be discriminated against, but I've seen no sign of it. The best concrete 
evidence he has been
able to give me is that people invite him to church or try to "convert" 
him. He believes in, or claims
to believe in, all sorts of "Christian" conspiracies from the White 
House under Bush to the
management where he works, though he seems to have been above average in 
receiving the
credit, honor, and promotion due him for his excellent work.

It quite possible that if he lived in a small less educated community, 
his fears might be more realized,
but I think not -- or if he had an offensive personality.

David



Warp wrote:
>   Not directly related but:
> 
>   Is it true that there are "closet atheists" in many parts of the US?
> In other words, atheists who pretend to be believers because else they
> would be discriminated against in the community they live in.
>

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