Will we fit into Dallas? (Austin, Fort Worth: HOA, house, neighborhood)

[Midwest runner]

Hi we're 40ish, dh is product mgr, I'm a sahm w/ 2 smaller kids. We are libretarians, very casual, outdoorsy, atheists. We're the type who like to dress down in our free time. We very tolerant, if not indifferent, to others' religious political views. We've been more likely do vote republican in the past elections. But, we're concerned that because we're atheists in a strongly devoutly religious area that we won' t fit in or be ostracized.

Any thoughts? Would we be a better fit for Austin? Isn't Austin a bit more humid year round?

Thanks

[Squirl]

Where are you moving to? I have lived in the DFW area for 30 years and have never experienced it as a strongly devout religous area.......thus isn't Grundy Center, Iowa. My goodness, you just gotta be kidding!!!!

[BoxCar Willie]

I don't know. I guess you MIGHT fit. I'm sure they make places big enough for MOST folks.

I wouldn't worry about fitting in unless you think you're too good to be here in Texas. Most of the folks I know don't put on airs [of course I'm in the lower class of folks] You'll have to come here and find out.

[Ablebodied]

You'll be fine. People won't know you're atheist and won't care. There are a lot of atheists in Texas, including Dallas.

[ReppingDFW]

I'm not an atheist, but I'm irreligious and nobody has really given me anything for it. I've lived here for all 21 years of my life and I've only once had somebody ask me where I went to church.

This really isn't the Bible Belt anymore. People in the DFW area come from everywhere in the country. If you were moving into rural Texas, there might be some cause for concern there..

[Souleiado]

We are in the bible belt only technically . Nobody here will come to you right away and ask you about which church you go or for who you are voting . The fact also that so many foreigners are living within the metroplex , makes it a more unique place . Religion here is extremely diverse , I think we have every version of anything possible , and a big number of atheist ,making people far more tolerant than other places. You are going to fit just fine.

[loves2read]

one person's perspective--
We live in Hurst--not a large town-- in Tarrant county--a bastion of conservative voting and thinking

my husband and I probably fall into the agnostic aetheist category but our best friend is a Catholic who religiously goes to Mass every Sunday...no problems with opposing points of view and we regularly discuss issues that come up involving religion--not just pedophile priests--and sometimes we agree and sometimes we don't...
but she believes like us that religion has no place in public schools and she taught in public schools for more than 25 yrs

I know some people who are much more rabid about their religion than she is--
there are people on my court who said they bought their house to be close to their church (evangelical Protestant), two Catholic families--one who send their two children to parochial elementary school but probably won't to secondary, a widow who belongs to Church of Christ and is active in her church yet can curse occassionally when the HOA does something really stupid in her opinion...
the friction in my neighborhood this past year has been about the HOA, how it should be run and who should do it--and no one was (not) elected to the HOA board based on their religious views...

My Facebook friends include Mormons, Presbyterians, Methodists, evangelical Christians, Catholics, agnostics, Hindus, and someone I think is probably a Wiccan...

so unless you buy next to someone who refuses to let you keep your beliefs to yourself (and there could be people like that in any area) no one is likely to care that much about your religious beliefs or your politics...

[R1070]

It's sad that stereotypes and the media labels Texas and even DFW as a place that is closed minded and intolerant. That is simply not the case. If some citizens here are strong to religion and even republican they stick with the Texas mentality of live and let live rather than judge and harass.

[PanTerra]

No problem.

[ReppingDFW]

Originally Posted by Souleiado

We are in the bible belt only technically . Nobody here will come to you right away and ask you about which church you go or for who you are voting . The fact also that so many foreigners are living within the metroplex , makes it a more unique place . Religion here is extremely diverse , I think we have every version of anything possible , and a big number of atheist ,making people far more tolerant than other places. You are going to fit just fine.

According to the map, yes.

However, Dallas and Collin County have more Catholics than Southern Baptists, so they are exempt from it in my opinion. The rural areas surrounding DFW and some of the Fort Worth suburbs are easily in the Bible Belt.