Is Chattanooga a nice city for a non-religious person?

[dawn24]

I moved here from Denver almost 3 years ago and I would say that this definitely is the buckle of the bible belt. I grew up in Atlanta and went to the University of GA but I moved from Atlanta because I couldn't stand the prejudice anymore. I moved to GA when I was 10 from LI, NY. I loved Denver and the surrounding cities, ski areas. Chattanooga is a small town and if you are not from here, you are not from here especially if you are not religious. I consider myself spiritual but here you definitely see the word Christian everywhere you go. There is no separation between church and state. They pray at school, public but most people send their kids to private Christian schools. Hardly anyone in my development goes to public schools. I would move back to Colorado in a second. I liked it here at first because it was warmer and I met some women right away but they moved and I haven't gotten to meet anyone that I really connect with. They don't call it the buckle of the bible belt for nothing!!!!!!! If you have kids it will be a real big issue...

[BlueCuzco]

They pray at school, public but most people send their kids to private Christian schools.

I attended Chattanooga public schools from 1998 to 2007. There was never a slight suggestion of a prayer, besides the standard ten second "moment of silence". Never heard of prayers in other schools, either. But there was that thing at LFO...

Hardly anyone in my development goes to public schools.

That's true (I mean, in general; I don't know about your development), but that has less to do with the buckle of the Bible Belt thing and more to do with the specific development of Chattanooga. But that does explain to some extent, I think, why schools here are in general so crappy: lower percentage of kids in them, a lower percentage in people interested in supporting them.

[orgonebox]

Originally Posted by Caramelka

We live 70 miles south from Chattanooga. We are looking a for a nice place to live that is family-oriented. We are in our 20s, love spending time outdoors, love zoos & nature trails; good libraries; museums; we are non-religious (but not atheists). We do not care about night life or alcohol drinking. Do you have any animal shelters (I'd like to volunteer there but we do not have one nearby)?

I am tired of extremely religious people around here (we live in a very rural area of Alabama). I am fine with their beliefs but I do not want them to be forced on me in almost every conversation. Would you describe Chattanooga as a very religious or a more liberal place? Would you say it has a lot of diversity in languages & accents?

We are also considering Huntsville, Atlanta, Nashville & Knoxville.

Eh, I think Chattanooga is typical of the south in that it is fairly religious. People want to know where you go to church and how much of your lifestyle conforms to their moral compass. Suggesting that the christian book of stories is mostly mythology invites alienation, odd stares, and garbage thrown on your lawn. Mostly I avoid talking to people for more than five minutes just to stay away from religious conversational tangents. Stick to weather, sports, and other banal topics. Anything more summons jeebus and shiny eyeballs and giant industrial-strength corrugated steel crosses.

When it comes to family orientation, however, Chattanooga's downtown seems to be very family friendly, as are many of the social events. Families for miles around swarm the aquarium on the weekends. A lack of squashed children in the road indicates a degree of pedestrian friendliness in the downtown area also. But only the downtown area. If the kids get to be too much, you'll love the fact that the liquor stores open at 8 or 9am. Just don't get too drunk to pull little billy/betty out of the snapping turtle's jaws.

The city is also kind of a ghettoized bubble town - liberal green ghettoes, working class, poor, conservative, etc. Find your bubble and do not stray outside it seems to be the rule here. But eh, not so bad. Not so good that I want to stay, but plenty will disagree and continue to live here in spite of my departure.

[BlueCuzco]

Originally Posted by orgonebox

The city is also kind of a ghettoized bubble town - liberal green ghettoes, working class, poor, conservative, etc. Find your bubble and do not stray outside it seems to be the rule here.

Unfortunately this is really the case, more or less. The suburbs and sections of the downtown area do act like bubbles, and residents of one don't usually have an reason to stray into another. I think that macro-problem is the next target on RiverCity Company's list, getting people and businesses to move downtown and also to feed in all the students on the UTC campus.

[ChattArea]

I'm not religious and live here. The only "religious" person I've encountered that even discussed a religion with me is a man that tried to sell me one of those church pamplets for $2 that he got for free. lol. This happened in the lot of the Gunbarrel Road Wal-Mart. Although this is the Bible belt, Chattanoogans aren't the type that will follow you around and witness to you.

[nola2nooga2harlot]

Where do you go to church? was the FIRST question everyone asked us when we moved here.... Wiccian/Buddist/Catholic stopped the questions.
Like many of the other posts I wouldn't be so fast to say "that's the way it is in the South" I'm from New Orleans, which is Deep South, and we ask who'se 'ya mama, and where ya from? not where do you go to church.
So, come on up,or down. It's a sleepy town, fighting with the encroaching taxes, gangs and big city problems. It has great music, wonderful festivals and a variety of foods. Weather is nice. People are great! with or without religion. There is a wonderful radio host Robert T. Nash who will fill your brain with the in's and outs of what is up and down in the highways and byways of the Scenic City.

[OpelikaMan]

CARAMELKA: Sounds like you have issues. Every city or area has non-religious people and religious people. No one is going to force anything on you unless YOU LET THEM. Maybe your conscience is getting to you. Maybe you just want to blame something on Alabama. Do you really think Tennessee is any different??? If so, you are really misguided. Live where you want. That's your perogative. But, you will run across religious people no matter where you live. That's life.

[Nonlocal]

I'm not religious, and at times anti-religion. I keep my thoughts to myself, and in almost two years of living here, I have yet to have a single person impose theirs upon me. Religion seems to be kind of a "to each their own" topic here in Chattanooga, which is great. With that said, religioun still has a large presence (at least, larger than I'm used to being from the North), and there are many churches and religious influences around. But as a non-religious person, I feel accepted here. An accepted minority.

Edit: A previous post in this thread reminded me of one incident. I attend Chattanooga State Community College and there was some religious group handing out little pocket bibles/pamphlets for a few days straight, shoving them in everybody's face. That was annoying. Little things like that pop up occasionally, but in one-on-one interactions with everyday people I have yet to have any breaches of personal spiritual space.

[Smiled]

Stella...
Merry Xmas!

- Committee to Keep the "X" in Xmas

[u4icmusic]

I've found that there are just as many non-religious people in Chattanooga as their are religious people. I've also found the religious people here to be very friendly and to mind their own business. I haven't met anybody yet that is trying to push their religion on you. The trend in the USA and the world is that people are becoming more secular and getting away from organized religion, even in the south.