Btw, the more I hear about christianity and atheism in the USA, the less
I can relate to it. It's so different here.

  In Finland, to put it bluntly, everybody is by default considered atheist.
I don't know how credible this sounds to an American (and to citizens of
some other christian countries, especially in southern Europe), but I can
assure you that it's more a surprise if someone confesses to be a believer.
In fact, many believers are not eager to tell anybody for the fear of
getting ridiculed. The most common reaction, though, is for people to ask
*why* they believe in such things.

  The Finnish government and media take no stance on religion vs. atheism.
Politicians don't openly take a stance, unless directly asked (and they
seldom are). You won't see people in television professing atheism because,
frankly, it doesn't make sense. Atheism is basically the status quo. Someone
on TV declaring being an atheist is like a man declaring that he is a man.
"Yeah, so? What's your point?"

  The Lutheran church as some kind of semi-official status in Finland, but
it's more a formalism than anything else. It weds and buries people, and
little else.

  Thus I have hard time relating to the USA where, as far as I understand,
atheism is considered by many to be some kind of mental disease. People go
to TV and declare being atheists and cause controversy. That makes me just
scratch my head and be all like "wha... why... huh???" It just doesn't make
sense to me. It just feels hugely contradictory for what's supposed to be
the Land of Freedom, where everybody is equal.

  Apparently in the USA it's a great shock when they announce on the news
that eg. in Sweden something like 80% of the population is atheist. I am
more like: "Really? So few? That's a surprise."

  Maybe it really is different here, but atheism is really the rule, not
the exception. Being a believer is the exception.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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