Non-Religious moving to GR suburbs

[magellan]

Originally Posted by burgler09

What is it with these people coming to the board and thinking all of Grand Rapids/West Michigan is how a small part of Holland used to be? We aren't hicks and we don't care what church you belong to...

Grand Rapids for the most part is very tolerant, sure you'll have close minded people religious nuts, but for every close minded religious nut, there's close minded atheist who wants nothing more than to convince everyone to believe how he does.

You'll see both ends of the spectrum, and then the other 99% of your daily life you'll see the people who are simply moderate.

Well since atheists only make up about 3% - 5% of the population of the U.S., it's probably safe to say that there are far more closed minded religious people than closed minded atheists (purely statistically speaking).

I think the OP has legitimate concerns. People who are actively religious (Christans) don't understand the social pressure they put on people who are not religious, by talking about it all the time in social "water cooler" situations. Talk about something dumb like Angelina Jolie's legs.

Kids talk about religion as well, don't kid yourself.

Don't be surprised iluvmi, that once people find out that you used to be practicing Catholic, and aren't anymore, that you will be invited to bible study groups, faith based networking groups, and church's a few times. But you will also find a lot of people who are agnostic, or atheist, or who are very LIBERAL Christians.

[actinic]

In Kent County Santorum beat Romney 42.4% to 40.3. The suburbs were even more one-sided in favor of Santorum. Yes, the area is still very conservative with whatever connotations, religious or otherwise, one wants to place. This isn't a surprise and shouldn't be for anyone who has lived here, especially in the 'burbs.

[The Flyer]

All of Grand Rapids and it surround suburbs are great i think that no matter which one you pick you'll be fine I if you don't wanna be near all the conservatives in Holland then move to the Township that's just north of the actual city I'm not saying there aren't conservatives but you are much less likely to run into them as most churches are on the Southside therefore most conservatives are there (southside is the nickname given too the city of Holland to distinguish those of the city and the Township also called "the northside" as its referred too by the locals)...also note if you mow your lawn on Sunday if you live in the city people can be a bit weird about that.....but Holland along with its surrounding suburbs are all great Holland has a great downtown and awesome beaches,bike paths,trails,parks and its just gorgeous with lots of thing too do its a great too raise a family good luck!

[The Flyer]

I live in Holland and while i agree its conservative its not as bad as it seems i have never been asked what church i belong too Holland has gotten better since the nineties,eighties ect like someone else said you might be invited too youth-group related activities as for talking about it does come up occasionally but its usually about youth group it never goes any farther than that....i happen too know non-religous people and they do just fine or at least no one has ever been rejected,socially on religous/non-religous grounds.schools are all pretty good Zeeland and West Ottawa are your typical suburban-rural school districts Zeeland has gotten bad press in past years and has had some issues but its a great district people are generally fairly accepting im African-American and have never had a single problem due to race so that saying "if you're not dutch you ain't much" has fallen out of effect as ive never heard anybody even say it and ive live here for 13 years