Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A large amount of discussion has come up in recent years over the increasing amount of self-identifying "nones" with regard to religious beliefs in this country.
I grew up in the late 1990s - early 2000s in Appalachia. At the time, being an atheist or an agnostic had a very negative stigma here - at best, it was a curiosity - at worst, people would outright shun you, shame you for your lack of faith, try to convert you, etc. I was always accused of being a "devil worshipper" because I liked heavy metal music and wasn't a Christian.
Over the years, this stigma seemed to slowly go away. By the mid-late 2000s, the culture seemed to shift a little bit. While the area was still religious, people seemed to be more open with their lack of faith. I moved to bigger cities out of the region, and felt much more comfortable being "open" about my lack of faith.
Over the last five years or so, things seem to have shifted dramatically back in favor of religion, probably more than it was even twenty years ago, even though there are far more "nones" now. There have been headlining court cases that are clearly influenced by religious belief, and are not at all popular among the general public.
About a year ago, I was in a chain sandwich shop near a university. It's a fairly liberal area, at least for the area. They had very loud religious music on. The local Bojangles is always playing modern Christian music.
I worked for a medical system with over 10,000 employees for years. Point being - not a small business. At any sort of company potluck/dinner, prayers would be said. This would have never flown a few years prior to this when I was in a different area.
Churches seem to be increasingly prominent, and wealthier. They seem to be a large part of new construction in the area. The bigger, wealthier churches are very plugged into local politics. I see an increasing amount of churches and religious organizations advertising on billboards, etc.
As far as transplants, the people who are coming here are often extremely religious and conservative. They're largely moving for political/religious reasons.
Does anyone else feel religion is becoming much more "in your face" over the last few years to the point that you feel a social stigma for your nonbelief?
Does anyone else feel religion is becoming much more "in your face" over the last few years to the point that you feel a social stigma for your nonbelief?
Not me, but I live in a very liberal city in the northeast and I'm a 100% telecommute worker and "don't get out much", so I'm probably not exactly a bellwether. I do, however, perceive this to be more of a Bible Belt + rural phenomenon in the US at least.
I would theorize that to whatever extent religion is in fact more "in your face", it would be happening in parallel with the rise of certain political forces (Tea Party, Trumpism) which, of late, are also "in your face", "loud and proud", etc. Christian fundamentalism is deeply embedded in / wedded to those movements. But beyond mentioning the association, unfortunately it's not discussable here.
There's a school of thought that this really just represents an abreaction to liberal theology and politics, that it is not sustainable ultimately, and so represents a kind of "death throes" that we are experiencing this. And I agree with that, but there's nothing that says we won't have a huge, lengthy and painful detour into ascendant authoritarianism that will cause a lot of human suffering for some period of time, and plausibly might even intersect with enough other bad trends in the world to literally end civilization as we've known it.
Also, I do not believe that religious liberalism has somehow decisively triumphed in the world. It's just lipstick on a pig to me. In theory it should result in more "live and let live" but I can tell you that I've observed a dark underbelly to liberal religion that is just as oppressive as Christian jingles at your local Bojangle's. I don't think it's as overtly dangerous probably, but it can be just as exclusionary and judgmental -- just in different ways.
Yes and no. Within my family, there are a few tricky spots to navigate. I have an aunt who is pretty disapproving of my atheism, but she 'loves me otherwise', heh. My parents and brother are Catholic, regular attendees of Mass, though I'm aware that my father and brother have had their moments of doubt. My mom is pretty steadfast in her faith. Around them, I prefer not to mention the topic, although I'll occasionally vent to my parents about religious idiots (I also vent about idiots of other stripes from time to time). They're a relatively sympathetic audience, even if they don't agree with what I'm saying. My mom will occasionally push back in defense of 'religious idiots'; my dad never does.
Regarding society at large, I don't know. Buffalo isn't a particularly devout place. When those 'least Bible-minded cities' lists emerged several years back, Buffalo was included in the top ten of the 100 or so metro areas included for indifference towards the Bible. Top ten 'post-Christian', as I believe the researchers termed it. Topping the list were Albany NY, Burlington VT, Providence RI IIRC. But Buffalo's a pretty middle-of-the-road area, and I assume the average person I may encounter to be a believer if not a zealot. Majority of my friends are nonbelievers. I got into an actual shoving match with a theist at a poker game a few years back over his disagreement with my atheism, but alcohol was the primary factor there (for both of us). We reconciled not long thereafter, though both of us were banned from that particular game for a few months
No, never have and probably never will. I don't tell anyone unless they ask or somehow conversation leads to it, which actually isn't that often. Being an atheist has never been a big part of my life, it just rarely comes up. On the rare occasions someone is rather devout and talking to me about their imaginary friend in the sky, I just try to keep it light and laugh. I don't insult them but basically I just say I need evidence to believe something exist. And no, a book written long time ago doesn't count as evidence.
it seems strange to me to hear the view expressed by some atheists on the forum that they "worry about social stigma" because it is also stated on the forum by some atheists the boasting about "not going along with the crowd" and "being able to think for themself" and not "blindly following" or "doing what they're told." The thought occurs to me that if that was truly the case of not caring what other people think, then there would not be a worry about social stigma.
it seems strange to me to hear the view expressed by some atheists on the forum that they "worry about social stigma" because it is also stated on the forum by some atheists the boasting about "not going along with the crowd" and "being able to think for themself" and not "blindly following" or "doing what they're told." The thought occurs to me that if that was truly the case of not caring what other people think, then there would not be a worry about social stigma.
Yes, because some atheists boast about "not going along with the crowd", "being able to think for themselves" and not "blindly following" or "doing what they're told", therefore other atheists should not "worry about social stigma", such as those 13 countries where being an atheist is punishable by death.
it seems strange to me to hear the view expressed by some atheists on the forum that they "worry about social stigma" because it is also stated on the forum by some atheists the boasting about "not going along with the crowd" and "being able to think for themself" and not "blindly following" or "doing what they're told." The thought occurs to me that if that was truly the case of not caring what other people think, then there would not be a worry about social stigma.
Where I am, being an agnostic/atheist is frowned upon socially. A lot of socializing and networking occurs through church. There's still a strong sentiment out there that if you're not a Christian, you cannot be a "good" person.
Here in sunny California, we're mostly happy heathens. Nobody I know takes religion seriously.
One thing I learned after the Sep 11 attacks was that some people are really SERIOUS about religion.
One of the local companies announced that they were moving headquarters from San Fran to Dallas. They brought in a spokesman from Texas to answer questions. When she said that "Texans are all about the 3 Fs: Football, Family, and Faith."
At that last point, you could hear a collective gasp. About 80% of the employees chose to terminate rather than move.
it seems strange to me to hear the view expressed by some atheists on the forum that they "worry about social stigma" because it is also stated on the forum by some atheists the boasting about "not going along with the crowd" and "being able to think for themself" and not "blindly following" or "doing what they're told." The thought occurs to me that if that was truly the case of not caring what other people think, then there would not be a worry about social stigma.
Thinking for oneself and caring about other people's opinion of you are not mutually exclusive. Even if one doesn't respect the primitive viewpoints held by a majority of the populace, one still has to coexist with these people, and alienation solves nothing. I have major political disagreements with 'the average person' as well, which I won't get into here, but if you combine my atheism with my political views, well, I've often found myself thinking that I'd be better off in Europe
Where I am, being an agnostic/atheist is frowned upon socially. A lot of socializing and networking occurs through church. There's still a strong sentiment out there that if you're not a Christian, you cannot be a "good" person.
view described above demonstrates being influenced or affected by "what other people think of you."
which is not "thinking for yourself."
(generic "you" --- not talking about any specific person)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
