Another atheist outs herself in village government.

[Anymouse]

My little town of 128 people has a government that consists of five unpaid elected officials (the village board), five unpaid appointed officials (the library board), and three paid employees (the village clerk, the maintenance mechanic, and the library director).

When my wife and I moved to town here two years ago, we immediately outed ourselves as atheists. Subsequently, we led a year long fight on behalf of the village to save the Post Office from closure (and were successful).

My wife was then appointed to the Library Board to fill a vacancy. She was elevated later to vice-president of the board.

Then a vacancy came up on the village board, I ran for the position to fill the remaining term against four others and won the seat by one vote over the second-place candidate. (Being a socialistic liberal is worse here than being an atheist.)

On the retirement of the Library Director, my wife was hired to replace her.

Now yesterday, the maintenance mechanic, citing that there has been no blowback against my wife and me, openly declared she has been an atheist for a long time to the village clerk.

Of those thirteen people, three are now out in the open as atheists in this very conservative little village. Though the total number of paid and unpaid village employees is small, the percentage of atheists in the village government now exceeds 20%.

Mostly around here they do not really care who you are as long as you pay your bills and mow your lawn.

[TxDemChem]

1. It's funny how things work out

I think there are more atheists out there than we know, but they've decided to keep quiet. My husband and I are out at our job, but some people seem to love to ask us questions about our journey to atheism. They never say anything offensive; they just ask sincere questions and really listen to what we have to say. Thanks to you and your wife for not living in the shadows.

[Lucky Luciano]

2. What a different world! I was always an atheist from birth.

I just assumed all my life that most people also were by default unless they were naive. Living in a large city means nobody gives a shit about religion. Everyone is focused on enjoying time with friends and family while trying to make money.

[Arugula Latte]

3. I went to a Presbyterian "nursery school" as they called preschool back then.

I clearly remember that one day the teachers asked the kids what we thought God looked like. I made something up about "him" having a long beard, because I didn't want the teacher to be disappointed in me. But I remember thinking: "People don't really believe this stuff, do they?" It was so obvious to me, as a four- or five-year-old, that none of it made any sense.