On Thu, 24 Jul 2014 04:48:34 -0400, Warp wrote:

> I hear there are still some places in the US where there are basically
> closet atheists who pretend to be Christians because else they would be
> shunned and discriminated against.

Actually, a more accurate way to say that at the moment would be that 
there are some places where it's OK to be an out Atheist.

It's gotten better in the past few years, but, particularly in small 
towns in the south, it can be extremely difficult to be an out Atheist.

Distrust of atheists is high enough that most people won't vote for a 
politician who says they're an atheist.  Hell, Barney Frank - the first 
openly gay US senator - came out as an atheist only *after* he retired.  
It was safer (for his career) for him to be out as gay than out as an 
atheist.

And he was one of the two senators from Massachusetts.

Jim
-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

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