On 28/04/2012, Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> wrote:
When I have had occasion to visit Dallas, Texas for a number of weeks after I was graduated from college, and again a decade or so later when I stayed with friends in the suburbs north of Atlanta, Georgia, I was curious to find out whether anyone inquired even indirectly about my religion or lack thereof. Nobody ever did.
That is, to be sure, only one data point (well, two), but accords with my sense of the matter, which is that inquiring into people's religion or lack thereof is regarded as rude and deranged, and is therefore Not Done. Which in turn makes one wonder, quite a bit, about the vast majority of the militant atheists who claim to have been 'persecuted'.
Another data point: In 2007 I visited a relative in Tulsa, OK. The house was in a gated few streets with a shared swimming pool. It was summer and I went up alone for a dip and briefly small-talked with some strangers in the pool. After I explained my accent and where I was from and who I was staying with, it was the first thing they asked me. "So, what church are you with". Honestly, patricarchal sky-fairies are pretty much the last thing on my agenda, and not wanting to be rude, and not yet having discovered pastafarianism, I was gobsmacked. Can't recall exactly what I said, but it possibly included the word "atheist". Obviously did not compute, and conversation went nowhere pretty fast after that. Probably should have pretended to be drowning, or something more acceptable. I wasn't persecuted, though, as far as I know.