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Relocating to NC... Where are the atheists?

Hello,

Glad to have found this site! Our family is considering moving from South Florida (we're originally from NY) to NC in a couple of years, contingent on jobs. I am utterly unfamiliar with the state, having been there only once and in the dead of night, from the airport to the in-laws home in Kernersville.

I know this is a pretty broad or over-simplified question, but: I understand NC is quite religious, but are there any areas that are at least less so? I assume the towns close to universities would be, but I'm still unsure. For example, I've heard that Wake Forest is socially liberal, but when I visited some WF websites, I noticed a rather lengthy list of churches!

I'm thinking Raleigh-Durham or thereabouts? (We're not moving to the coast, nor to western NC.) I'm a community college professor, so I'm looking at Piedmont, Wake Technical, Durham Tech, etc.

Any information/advice would be greatly appreciated!

BTW, we'd be looking for three/four bedroom homes under 300k.

Thanks in advance,

David

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by tom arcaro on May 20, 2010 at 7:18am

Welcome to NC! I live in Burlington (east of Greensboro, west of Chapel Hill) and in the college/university setting you'll feel some solidarity. Out in the community, a but tougher. Let me know when you settle.

Permalink Reply by Minus1Kelvin on May 20, 2010 at 8:19am

Again, welcome to NC. I'm a PhD student (should be done in December!) and I'm in Greenville, NC...not too far from Raleigh. My wife and I will probably end up moving to the RTP area for a postdoc position for me at some point in the near future.

Good luck moving!

Permalink Reply by Richard Lawrence on May 20, 2010 at 11:54am

Welcome to NC. I'm in the Kernersville area and am originally from NYC. There are a number of good atheist groups to choose from throughout the state. Once you know what area you are going to settle in, you can zero in your search for both the social and real estate opportunities. Best of luck in the job hunt!

Permalink Reply by Heather on May 27, 2010 at 3:05pm

I'm in Greensboro and we have a group here :-) Raleigh has quite a few atheists too- their meetup group has something like 300 members i think while ours has about 145

Permalink Reply by Bruce Wright on May 27, 2010 at 3:58pm

Hey David

I moved here about 8 years ago, things are looking up in NC. yeah there is a mega church on the corner and the pious locals refer to Cary NC as "containment area for relocated Yankees" my rebuttal is that we are single handedly bring up the collective IQ of the state.Lots of blank stares..

I live on the border of Cary in the County. Lots of really nice homes under 300k and low taxes.. look up this zip 27606 and Crossroads mall area.. Ten minutes from down town and ten to the airport.

If you do move here there are a few of us Atheists, we spend the weekends sacrificing virgins and eating babies. We would love to have you at a baby roast! (you have to bring your virgins)
Good luck

Permalink Reply by Greta K. on June 7, 2010 at 11:16am

Welcome my fellow S. Floridian. My husband and I moved to N.C. about eleven years ago (work related). The first two years was sheer hell. I recommend the Raleigh-Durham area or Asheville. I live in neither of these areas and can honestly say I wish I did. I live in a small town near the Virginia border and we have, at last count, 82 churches. This is for a population of roughly 18,000. Welcome!! The more non-believers in N. Carolina the better!

Permalink Reply by Audra Ray on June 14, 2010 at 2:18pm

Yes, there are quite a few around Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill.

Permalink Reply by Joseph P on June 25, 2010 at 10:49pm

Yeah, north Raleigh, here, and Chapel Hill is really, really liberal, particularly for a North Carolina town. UNC Chapel Hill has been a focus of liberal activities since the 60's.

Permalink Reply by Audra Ray on June 26, 2010 at 10:06pm

I'm south of Raleigh - in Fuquay-Varina. It's much more conservative and religious here.

Permalink Reply by Joseph P on June 26, 2010 at 10:55pm

Yeah, I've driven through the area once or twice. I've never actually gone there on purpose, though, just passed through. It ... felt small-town religious, yeah ... if that makes any sense. Admittedly, I think the last time was 5 or 6 years ago.

Permalink Reply by Joseph P on July 25, 2010 at 3:14pm

Why would you even go outside, to get in the pool? STAY THE HECK INSIDE! I may go out around 10:00 or 11:00, tonight, since I need some stuff from the store.

So, what's the Wake County school board doing? I hadn't heard anything about it. And how do we even have many conservatives on it, after the 2008 election? Wake County went hugely for Obama, and we should have had mostly liberals riding in on his coat tails, from party-line votes.

Oh, and where's this mega-church? I missed the reference, from Bruce's post. I should go check it out. I've always wondered what they're like. I've only ever been inside of Catholic churches, Pentecostal, Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptist (non Convention), Lutheran, and Episcopalian. Never seen the mega-church thing, up close and personal.

Permalink Reply by aerie on September 2, 2010 at 3:39am

Oy! I grew up in Cary & have benefitted greatly from my 70s & 80s Wake Co. education & school diversity! I remember a junior high science project was the history of man from ape-ish to neanderthal to ice age man & so on (all new discoveries & terms now!). Had a ball with it & got an A+ using my Brittanica & World Book encyclopedia as references. LMAO! Religion never entered our classrooms! Science teachers didn't have to 'clarify' evolution or tell us that 'intelligent design or creation' is another 'option' of scientific study so as not to offend any one (what my kids' science teachers have said to the class prior to their unit on abiogenesis & evolution). But I'm not one of those people who long for for 'good ol' days' though I do long for those days w/o the religious extremism.

I've been away from the Triangle area for about 10yrs now (miss it dearly!). This is unwelcome & disturbing news about the school board. And I'm familiar w/ Colonial Baptist Church. When my ex-hub & I were first married & I was a fundy, we attended this church when it was so small that it held services in the Cary high school band room! But, ex was devoted to his Church of Christ literal 'saved-by-water baptism' crap so we went elsewhere. It disturbs me that this church leader (he was creepy & disingenuous to me even then) has gotten so huge & no doubt powerful b/c of so many wealthy, Cary xtians.

But there's hope, because of the very diversity of Cary itself: so many Asian, Indian (it used to be called 'little India'), & so many other cultures are present & have been for decades. Even 20 yrs ago, I went to school w/ many Asians, Chinese, Japanese, & Indian Americans, but my kids have never even *met* any of these people where we live now, let alone shared a class with them! Maybe it's these folks who won't allow the christianization of Cary to take over. And hopefully those 'relocated Yankees' won't fall for it either! I had a huge crush on a hot, yankee college guy whose accent alone could make me do naughty, non-southern baptist things :D. He was from Manhattan & he was the first atheist I ever met...good times....goood times!