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In my time in KC, I knew, lived with, performed with, and worked with Catholics, Protestants, atheists, Unitarians, Buddhists, a few Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Jews, a Quaker or two, and agnostics...probably others, as well. Nobody was hostile to anybody else, that I saw, but we all did seem to agree that the Westboro Baptists were nutbags, at least. I'm not sure I'm buying widespread atheist harassment. I lived with an atheist for years, and I don't recall a single instance of anybody giving him crap. Just more of the same nonsense. I also surround myself with tolerant, respectful people. I'm not sure who the OP surrounds herself with, but I'm guessing it's a different crowd.
For those who are considering moving here..........notice the hostile posts here. You can learn a lot from observing. Look at how the people here are posting. Very hostile and they are like that in real life!! One of friends who lives here and is about to move as well, said she has been harassed by many people here in KC because they disagree with her being an atheist. If you are subjected to harassment and humilation because you won't subscribe to any of that religious bull then really take note of that. I'm serious! This is 2014 not 1914 unless you live in KC!
I have kind of agreed with some of your posts and observations, but now it seems like you are just making things up or you are cherry picking because KC is just not as extreme as you make it sound. It's pretty much the most average place there is. Having lived most of my life in KC and not being religious at all, I had zero problems there. Sounds like KC is just not your place and that's fine, I get that. I don't like everything about KC either and I wouldn't leave the DC area for KC unless totally necessary, but most of the things you say about KC would probably be the same or worse in metro Atlanta. Maybe you are just around the wrong people in KC or you are not going to like it no matter what happens.
I have kind of agreed with some of your posts and observations, but now it seems like you are just making things up or you are cherry picking because KC is just not as extreme as you make it sound. It's pretty much the most average place there is. Having lived most of my life in KC and not being religious at all, I had zero problems there. Sounds like KC is just not your place and that's fine, I get that. I don't like everything about KC either and I wouldn't leave the DC area for KC unless totally necessary, but most of the things you say about KC would probably be the same or worse in metro Atlanta. Maybe you are just around the wrong people in KC or you are not going to like it no matter what happens.
Move on. Life is too short!
Good luck where ever you end up.
@kcmo
I am going to address you since you are very civil and respectful. I assure you I am not making any of this up. If I can get my friend to come here and tell her story I will. Yes she is harrassed at work by Christian co-workers for being an atheist. Yeah I know it's hard to believe, I have a harder time believing it's 2014 and this stuff is still going on. I told her to contact HR and I get the feeling she is worried about doing this because she doesn't want to cause problems at work. I have another friend who is atheist and she's had issues as well but because she is the Director at her job, people dare not cross that line with her. I've been told you NEED to get into a church or why don't you have a church home and all that junk but I'm kinda firm with people so they back off.
I am not here to fight with people. I am here to tell the truth and let people know there is a different side than what most of these people here post. If you and everyone else has a problem with that then that is your problem not mine. I stand by what I say..............Kansas City is a great place for families. Those married with kids and those who are conservative Christian or bible thumpers. If you are single and not a Christian you will want to think twice before moving here. Kansas City is like a big small town and it's the native who coined that statement. That should tell you something.
I've met quite a few people who asked me about moving to Atlanta and you know what I do?? I tell them the good and bad. I don't own Atlanta, I didn't build Atlanta and I don't care if people have negative things to say about Atlanta because I can acknowledge the fact that their experience might very well be different. You will not see me flying off the top when someone makes a post or thread about the negative aspects of Atlanta because frankly me dear, I don't give a damn!
I am going to address you since you are very civil and respectful. I assure you I am not making any of this up. If I can get my friend to come here and tell her story I will. Yes she is harrassed at work by Christian co-workers for being an atheist. Yeah I know it's hard to believe, I have a harder time believing it's 2014 and this stuff is still going on. I told her to contact HR and I get the feeling she is worried about doing this because she doesn't want to cause problems at work. I have another friend who is atheist and she's had issues as well but because she is the Director at her job, people dare not cross that line with her. I've been told you NEED to get into a church or why don't you have a church home and all that junk but I'm kinda firm with people so they back off.
I am not here to fight with people. I am here to tell the truth and let people know there is a different side than what most of these people here post. If you and everyone else has a problem with that then that is your problem not mine. I stand by what I say..............Kansas City is a great place for families. Those married with kids and those who are conservative Christian or bible thumpers. If you are single and not a Christian you will want to think twice before moving here. Kansas City is like a big small town and it's the native who coined that statement. That should tell you something.
I've met quite a few people who asked me about moving to Atlanta and you know what I do?? I tell them the good and bad. I don't own Atlanta, I didn't build Atlanta and I don't care if people have negative things to say about Atlanta because I can acknowledge the fact that their experience might very well be different. You will not see me flying off the top when someone makes a post or thread about the negative aspects of Atlanta because frankly me dear, I don't give a damn!
So it sounds like you are not making things up, but I just have to wonder if you have just been put in a rather unique situation. I worked in central KC (mostly plaza to downtown corridor) for most of my time there. I don't know what part of town you are working at, but that's where I have spent most of my time working. I did work briefly for a very small company in Johnson County and absolutely hated it, everybody there was born a and raised JoCo and they were not shy about how much they looked down on anything on the MO side and while I do remember more "church" conversations, it was not really an issue there either. Regardless, I couldn't stand working there and the job was actually making me quickly hate KC in general. I mean the people I worked with had nothing to talk about other than KU and their kids soccer games and jabs at KCMO's terrible crime, roads and overall terrible quality of life "over there". So I took a pay cut to get a job with a firm on the plaza and then stayed in the city with jobs after that. I would have left KC all together had I worked there much longer and people (KS side people) don't believe me when I bring this up. I'm sure I could have worked for a firm like Black & Veatch on the KS side and it would have been a totally different situation because the larger company would have employees from a more diverse background and so even if there were some annoying people, they are more quiet or drowned out. And I can see a small company in the city having a lot of religious people. It may not be reflective of the city as a whole, but you just happen to be around a specific group of people that have come together possibly because they have religion in common.
So my point is that it seems like you may be in a similar situation of being around people that you just don't really see eye to eye with and I can actually see what you are saying happening in certain situations.
Regardless, like I mentioned, KC may not be the place for you. I love KC as my hometown, but it does lack some of the things that one might want in larger urban type city and the culture there can be annoying small townish and conservative (which the locals seem to think is an asset) and metro KC really is too spread out with way too much blight and sprawl. Only a very small part of the population in KC is urban oriented or progressive IMO. Growing up in Hyde Park, Brookside etc, I always felt like a minority in KC as a whole which tends to be a very suburban city. That doesn't make KC a bad place, but it's not for everybody, just like DC or Chicago or San Fran is not for everybody. I think you can and many people do live a happy urban lifestyle in KC, but you have to be able to brush aside the nuisances because you are generally going against the grain there. But the trade off is a city with no extreme traffic, low cost of living etc with nearly all the same cultural assets of larger, more expensive and congested cities.
Again, Good luck, sounds like you got a bad taste of KC and it's just not your thing.
I am going to address you since you are very civil and respectful. I assure you I am not making any of this up. If I can get my friend to come here and tell her story I will. Yes she is harrassed at work by Christian co-workers for being an atheist. Yeah I know it's hard to believe, I have a harder time believing it's 2014 and this stuff is still going on. I told her to contact HR and I get the feeling she is worried about doing this because she doesn't want to cause problems at work. I have another friend who is atheist and she's had issues as well but because she is the Director at her job, people dare not cross that line with her. I've been told you NEED to get into a church or why don't you have a church home and all that junk but I'm kinda firm with people so they back off.
I am not here to fight with people. I am here to tell the truth and let people know there is a different side than what most of these people here post. If you and everyone else has a problem with that then that is your problem not mine. I stand by what I say..............Kansas City is a great place for families. Those married with kids and those who are conservative Christian or bible thumpers. If you are single and not a Christian you will want to think twice before moving here. Kansas City is like a big small town and it's the native who coined that statement. That should tell you something.
I've met quite a few people who asked me about moving to Atlanta and you know what I do?? I tell them the good and bad. I don't own Atlanta, I didn't build Atlanta and I don't care if people have negative things to say about Atlanta because I can acknowledge the fact that their experience might very well be different. You will not see me flying off the top when someone makes a post or thread about the negative aspects of Atlanta because frankly me dear, I don't give a damn!
You need to take your own words and live by them. You say you acknowledge that different people can have different experiences, yet you've painted Kansas City with a broad brush and suggested nobody move here. Maybe you don't actually realize your experience is subjective. You didn't just say negative things about KC, you've told people to write it off altogether. I think that's what the problem is. I don't doubt that some people have had your experience (and those similar you've heard about) in the KC area and question anybody who thinks that isn't possible or even likely, but there are absolutely many variables and different people will have different experiences. All of the variables seemed to line up in a way that really turned you off, assuming you are being completely honest and don't hate KC for some other reason. I don't care to go back and re-read everything you've said, but it would help if you gave more specifics so others might understand how and why you had your experience. Things like specific locations, what industry you worked in, etc. might help.
I see tons of threads on here on whether or not to move to this conservative, bible thumping wasteland. If you are married and a judgemental Christian freak then this is your place. All others need to avoid!!!! You've seen the news about the gay waiter being refused a tip but instead left with a homophobic note on. Then another story of a young minority girl changing her name because she was being humiliated...............please pay attention to these things.
I'm in the process of job hunting so I can leave. Please take my advice. Oh and let me add this.....what city shuts down it's downtown all at once to do construction?????? Come here and see what I mean. Multiple ramps/exits and roads are closed because they are working on everything all at once. I have never seen anything so ridiculous yet mirth provoking!
Just curious...did you live in Kansas City proper, a nearby suburb or an exurb there? Oftentimes exurban areas of a city will be more conservative.
Nonetheless, there is never justification for what happened to the gay waiter.
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