Living in a predominantly religious area and contemplating moving.

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Permalink Reply by The Nerd on July 27, 2011 at 8:16am

St Louis is actually rather friendly for atheists, especially with the multiple active secular organizations we have.  I have a pool of 30+ atheist friends and acquaintances I've accumulated over the past 2 years since I moved here, and it's steadily growing as our atheist events gain popularity.  Plus it's not too far away from where you are now!  I will admit I've heard some people say that this area is kind of conservative, but I think it's a "grass is greener on the other side" thing going on for them.  They don't know any better because they've lived here their entire lives.  I grew up in Indiana, so I know what conservative locations actually look like, and this isn't it.  Hell, we even have an annual naked bike ride here!

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Permalink Reply by Allena Weber on July 27, 2011 at 8:53am

I wish you the best of luck.i know w.v. is definately religious.

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Permalink Reply by Brutal Antipathy on July 27, 2011 at 1:09pm

According to one poll, the least religious states are Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and Alaska, in that order. I can say from personal experience though that I have seen little difference between the number of visible fundies in Alaska than in Texas. For some reason AK has a huge number of personalized license plates, and a considerable fraction of them are religiously themed.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Frank on July 28, 2011 at 9:22am

You probably already know this but stay the hell away from Alabama.

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Permalink Reply by treefireguy on July 31, 2011 at 9:31pm

Albuquerque has a good economy.   There are a ton of government/scientific/type jobs here.  New Mexico in general is a good place to be an atheist in my opinion.   The "predominant" religion here is catholic, but those folks definatly don't prothlesize from what I've seen.  

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Permalink Reply by Starscream on July 31, 2011 at 11:22pm

I've heard Oregon and Washington State are 2 of the least religious states.  I think Seattle is considered one of the least religious cities in the country.  It's uber progressive there from what I can tell.  I have a friend that lives there, and it sounds great if you can handle the boring dreary weather.

 

Also consider that most northeast states even if they are high in religious affiliation are not nearly as closed minded as people from the south.  Stay away from anywhere with high percentages of baptist.  In the north, church is what you do on sunday morning.  In the south, wednesday services are very common in addition to sundays, as well as lots of social church functions.

 

Maybe you're asking your self the wrong question.  Cities in general are much more progressive and you'll find a lot more people you can relate too.  You might just want to move to Chicago. 

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Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on July 31, 2011 at 11:38pm

I grew up in western Illinois (Quincy), spent 5 years in Urbana, moved around the country - a little in Louisiana, a little in San Antonio, Turkey (Army), a little in Rochester NY, then wound up in Lafayette Indiana foir 5 years.  I hated Indiana so much (or Indiana hated me) that when I had an opportunity in Corvallis Oregon, I packed up and moved without ever setting foot in the Northwest before.  I had only read books.  Except for 4 years in Chicago, I've lived in the Northwest for the remainder of the past 20 years, mostly in or near Portland.  I currently live in a suburb of Portland, Vancouver WA.

 

There was a culture shock for me - it's definitely not the Midwest, and people are different.  It's hard to say how, but they are. However, I love it here.  I don't think I could handle any where else now.  With many, many, many trips back to Illinois until my parents died, each time felt like going back to the scene of the crime.  The closer I got, the worse I felt.  PTSD I guess, but I found it hard to even converse with most people from my home town.

 

Portland Oregon is very nonreligious.  The suburbs are not as much so.  I think Seattle is also nonreligious.  They are both big cities of course.

 

It's best if you can visit whereever you might want to live.  Even then you don't know until you live there.

 

As for boring dreary weather, the ocean shores are incredibly beautiful, there are forests full of huge trees to hike in, the volcanoes are awsome, the wineries and breweries are great, and where I live it only snows about a week a year, if that much.  Summer is usually dry without a rain from about late May to September, but then it starts to drizzle and the days get short and gloomy, it's true.

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Permalink Reply by Loren MacDonald on August 3, 2011 at 11:19pm

having spent some time all over the u.s. including living around the chicago area, I throw my vote for California, especially Northern California...

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Permalink Reply by Mike Haynes on August 26, 2011 at 1:51pm

Linda and I spent a week in Portland, Oregon a few years ago. They seem a lot more progressive and laid back there.

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Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on August 26, 2011 at 3:35pm

That's true. I've lived in a lot of places and pacific northwest is high on my list. You could do a lot worse.

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Permalink Reply by Grace Fitzpatrick on August 26, 2011 at 4:11pm

I've lived in Kansas, Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Arizona and West Virginia.  Of those states, I would say Arizona was the least religious, but I believe that has changed.  Of those remaining states, I think Kansas is the least religious.  It is less religious now than it was when I lived here before in the 80s.  Years of conservative government have made an impact and seem to have created a strong liberal undertone which I hope will prevail someday.  I don't know anyone whose happy with Sam Brownback right now.  His attempts to end abortion or make them seriously hard to get have failed and been met with opposition.

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Permalink Reply by Steph S. on August 26, 2011 at 4:52pm

Austin, TX is a very progressive city with a large IT/tech industry and many colleges and universities. Home of Atheist Community of Austin (ACA). Here are some links about Austin, TX.

http://www.atheist-community.org/

http://www.austin360.com/

http://www.austintexas.org/visitors/plan_your_trip/

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