Quoth Mrs. Cake:
Wait, I thought that you were a member of every and any church that would have you, until they kicked you out for talking to the dead? 
And if someone’s athiest, that means that they’re athier than all the other athy folks.
I used to be closeted about my atheism because I didn’t want to argue about it.
Then I realized that the more people who were “out” and expressing their atheism confidently, the less discrimination there would be against atheists. So now I don’t go out of my way to advertise my lack of belief, but if someone asks I tell them flat out I’m an atheist.
OK, first of all, I don’t think anyone can practice all the tenets of Christianity in today’s society. Not without giving up everything they own and going off to live in the desert.
Secondly, I’m a non-closeted atheist, but I can understand closeted atheists. Depending on where you are, it can be reeeeealll inconvenient to admit you don’t believe in God. Part of me wants to believe that I’m out of the closet because I’m brave and forthright, but being honest, I have to admit that it’s probably because I can’t shut up about atheism or anything else.
I don’t have a problem with closeted atheists really. I understand where they’re coming from. Still, as others have remarked in this thread, they won’t get much done until they come out of the closet.
Thank you, ST, for the belly laugh of my day. 
Slight side-track. Am I alone, or do fellow Atheists love it when they find out that someone close to them or someone they admire is an Atheist?
Atheism often requires a ‘leap-of-reason’ (IMO much more awesome than the over-hyped ‘leap-of-faith’) and I respect people who’ve made that leap. If, as Richard Dawkins suggests, Religious beleif is similar to a succesful gene in that it has evolved ways to survive and prosper, then the absence of faith must surely suggest a particularly powerful mind to overcome an also powerful meme.
Not only powerful, but dangerous. I’m lumping all religion into the one meme to illustrate what can be the consequences for those who might choose to oppose any of it.
I’m still getting used to the idea of not being Christian anymore. It was not so bad to call myself agnostic, but as yet, I am just practicing saying “atheist” in my head. I don’t want to hurt God’s feelings.
I’ve been told he’s a big strong guy. He should be able to handle it.
Atheist is a lot more powerful word than agnostic. You can hold your head high. 
I wonder whether some of your closet atheists are in hiding, not because of fear of controversy, but because they are ashamed of losing faith. I am where I am because I took my beliefs seriously enough to question them. It was a difficult and painful process. I think I was brave to do it, but I still feel like I have failed by not being faithful. It’s one thing to “backslide” and become apathetic about a religion that was more of a social hobby. It’s quite another to think long and hard and deny your god.
Oh LORD YES!!! The Christian Idenity types are just so …messed up.
They’re all " Praise Jesus …but really hate blacks/Middle Eastern/folks with dark skin, without even thinking that Jesus may have had dark skin!
I don’t believe in god, but I still fear him. For a while I tried to trick god into thinking I still believed in him, but eventually I had to accept that if god exists he already knows I don’t really believe in him. And he knows I am sorry. Hopefully that counts for something.
As flies to wanton boys are the gods to us; we kill them for our sport.
It is a Big Thing. According to some, if we’re wrong we’ll be cast into a lake of fire for eternity. If that idea doesn’t give you pause, at least at first, you’re not being real.
How many Christian Identity people has any Dopers ever met?
I’m lean to a mild British-Israelism & I have met perhaps 2 or 3 people who I suspect may be inclined towards CI, and only because of their racism (they thought I was way too racially tolerant, but since I was conservative, I was OK by them). I can only point to one person regularly on TV (Pastor Arnold Murray) who espouses a mild form of it (his TV persona is “lovable redneck grampa”- he may not be so docile in real life). Otherwise, these are only people I’ve read about or seen on TV.
Here’s wikipedia’s take on them. Seems pretty accurate to me. I grew up (b. 1945) in Bakersfield, CA and I’m pretty familiar with those who share at least part of their philosophy. I had to keep my distance, and my mouth shut, partly because I was at the time a roman catholic. Worse, I was a “nigger lover”.
You can get some information about modern hate groups from these folks.
Disclaimer: I am a card-carrying member. 
Next time you’re in a group, say “looks like Obama’s turning out okay, huh?”. Ignore the one’s who make nasty comments, but beware of those who suddenly get quiet and look at you funny.
No, do not actually do that. :eek:
Definitely not in the closet. But it’s not a subject that comes up a lot. I’m on SoCal, and we’re pretty secular around here, and there doesn’t seem to be too much of a stigma if you are. Even in very conservative Orange County. At least, I think, there isn’t a strong assumption of Christianity that you might see in, say, Texas. I know when I meet people, my initial assumption is “secular”. Except for Latinos. Then my initial assumptions is “Catholic”, especially when they’re immigrants. But even that is proving to be wrong more and more often among the younger ones.
No, you’re not. It is just our human nature to wish we were not alone.
I went through that stage. I am still loath of making fun of a god I don’t believe exists. Indoctrination is a powerful thing.
I went to Catholic school, and I remember at about 8 I had decided that Jesus was just a cool guy, if he ever existed. Then by the time I had left high school I was just convinced there was “something”, because how the hell could I believe that Christians were right and everybody else was wrong? By the time I graduated from university I was an agnostic who had frequent guilt pants. I REALLY wanted to believe, I really did, but I could not drag myself back into delusion.
About 8 years ago I just thought “who am I kidding?” and just “became” an atheist. I keep it quiet, as here it’s better to be a paedophilic mass murderer, who feasts on the flesh of kittens and puppies than being an atheist. Anything but an atheist, “you have to believe in something”.
So my friends know (cause they can walk out if they don’t like it) but not my family (except my sis and husband, who are an agnostic and atheist, respectively) nor anyone else around. They probably assumed I am just a lapsed Catholic.
I am an atheist. Certainly not militant, though I enjoy the occasional debate about religion and god with my friends. I’m really only in the closet around grandma. She knows I don’t go to church, which is bad enough, but I don’t think she would take the A-word very well.
Last time she asked I just told her I was a deist, which was palatable, if unsatisfying, to her.
You would be surprised; among many of the hard-core evangelicals/fundamentalists around here, the assumption is that most people are NOT Christian, at least not by their definition.
Their definition of Christian is (as best as I can tell) to be a born again Christian who wears it on their sleeve, and EVERY aspect of their lives has some Christian tie-in (investing, food, social activities, car buying, what vendors they patronize, etc…).
If you keep your religious cards close to your chest, then they’ll frequently assume you’re non-religious or “secular”, even if you’re solidly Christian, just not of their variety.
I actually had a friend of mine from college, who I’d known for something like 8 years shocked that I was a Christian, because I mentioned that I went to church. I’d never done a thing (well, other than try to get in her pants one time 7 years prior) that would have indicated any non-Christianity on my part.
I have a couple pair of those. I keep them well hidden most of the time, but once in a while something compels me to drag them out and wear them for a day or two.
Oh yeah, catholic school. Me too. That’s where I got them, in the fifth grade. They’ve grown with me.