We need to stand up and be counted.
Being an atheist in a rural area is not easy. One of the first questions someone asks is -what church do you go to? People look horrified when you mention atheism. My employer says Christian prayers over employee meals, with the head of HR clasping her hands, lowering her head, and praying right along. Constantly awkward. Religion has an iron grip out here.
Aye. Here it’s not “stand up and be counted”, it’s “stand up and be felled”.
I don’t hide it, it’s more of a Russell’s teapot situation. It’s not real, why would I talk about how I don’t believe in imaginary things? I also don’t openly talk about how I don’t believe in Unicorns, or Dragons or Magic or anything like that.
Now Religion as a societal force is 100% real, but being anti-religion doesn’t make you an atheist, it makes you a humanist.