How prominent is religion in your community?

[Wander]

So, I was curious about just how much religion is present in various communities around the world. Is it an influential force, or is it barely noticeable? How many churches do you notice in your area? Religious clubs or gatherings? If you attend school or college, have you noticed many people with youth-group T-shirts or clothing?

I live in the southeast, and there's a little more religion present than average; not much more, though. I've seen a lot of Christian-themed shirts and jackets, and plenty of Christmas decorations and posters in front lawns asking you to join with God. There's a man who stands on the side of the road every Saturday with 'Honk if you love Jesus' posters, and there's a church around every corner. I've only ever met one other atheist, and that was when I was a Christian myself, but he was one of the driving forces for my shift to non-belief.

Anyone else?

[hillbillyatheist]

I am in a rural town in the buckle of the bible belt. that should explain it all!

[Castaa]

In my neighborhood in SF, religion isn't a topic of polite conversation unless it's to ridicule the American religious right.

However, there are a dozen or more churches within a half a mile of my apartment. Each Sunday a lot of people come to the neighborhood to attend church services. /shrug

[Isambard]

Everyone around me is a deist. Religious discussions are pretty boring
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[RyanDzundza]

well were i live in the north of England religion is basically non existant, there are a few members of my family who say they are christian but never go to church and is never brought up in their day to day life

the only person person who outwardly talks about religion is the crazy preacher on Market Street in Manchester city centre, who everyone walks around lol its a good place to sit if you want to avoid crowded places, just have to hope he doesnt turn to you

there are quite a lot of churches in my area but that mostly because of the historical importance of religion in england, theres only one that i know of actually gets a good attendance, by that i mean more than half full each sunday the rest are lucky to get 10 old people lol

although there are a few new mosques going up i think these are just to replace the run down ones built in the 50's and 60's

i did attend catholic primary and secondary schools in my youth but just to show how little religion matters in our lives, not one person i knew from school actually believed in god

indeed now that i think about it i live in quite a decent part of the world,
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[OmegaRED]

Not prominent in my area, though the nearest Church has giant letters put up on the side of the Church which read "JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON".

It's near Christmas so I guess they're right
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[greyghost]

[Azathoth]

In my area I've got a Catholic school/church two blocks down from a synagogue. There's also some Buddhist stuff nearby, and other Eastern stuff I don't understand.

My social life used to be dominated by really, really Jesusy Christians but we've had some new blood recently, so there are a few more atheists, or at least people who don't quote the Bible every three seconds and trap you in a corner to talk to you about their latest prayer meeting or whatever.
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[Zaeharren]

I wouldn't say it was especially strong in my area to be honest the north of England in my experiance seems to be pretty secular. Although i do attend a Catholic College but about 50% there go because it's the best college in Manchester some people even went to Catholic High Schools just to get in lol. The Philosohpy Classes make for some fun times that said
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[jaycorath]

I live in one of the older communities of southern california, and we've managed to stay relatively small (just under 100,000 population).

We have a weird situation where religion is very prominent, but also not a huge force in the community. Perhaps its because we have so many churches (in many areas there's a church on every block) so that no one “brand” of christianity can have too much prominence.

BUT, we are starting to go the way of the mega-church. The Lutheran, Episcopalian, Catholic, and other denominational churches seem to be shrinking whereas revivalist and evangelical churches are growing by leaps and bounds.

My family started going to the evangelical church when I was about 6 years old and it was very small at the time. I was able to watch it slowly grow until now and its probably the biggest church in the entire surrounding area and they opened a satellite church in the mountain/pass area a few years ago. And they’ve opened two “community centers” in low income residential areas to provide free after school programs and such for kids. (As an aside, its so great that they’re trying to help the community but I always cringe at the thought of how their religion will be pushed, explicitly or not).

And oddly enough, as a whole, I don’t take our region to be really all that religious. Or at least, not very publicly religious. And nonreligious people tend to be left unmolested.

I think the huge variety of christian denominations actually keeps “the fundies” from being able to overpower the rest. And, I must admit that our evangelical mega-church-in-the-making is more low key than what you may expect from an evangelical mega-church.

The real loonies in our town our the crazy, revivalist, speaking-in-tongues whackos. Friend of mine was dragged to one of their services last night by his step-brother and gave me the whole whacky scoop on what went on.
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[rickcopeland648]

[baddogma]

Near Denver CO it is everywhere but not really IN YOUR FACE. I work with about 50/50 believers-atheists. There is a church on every corner and the JWs and Mormons go door to door. But I can have a suck it Jesus bumper sticker without much hastle.
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[Zaeharren]

Same here; i would have said England was pretty secular on the whole until last week when i read about Nicole Kidman being attacked by fundie Catholics because of her part in the film The Golden Compass. I mean i just don't see the point she's an actress and she is acting wow big deal
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"Faith must trample under foot all methods of reason and discourse" - Martin Luther

"Where do MP's sit, in a chiar like the rest of us" - Emily Wallace lol

"The greatest cause of evil in our world is abortion" - Mother Teresa

[VinceNoir]

Pretty much irrelevant where I live.
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[transientangent]

De Facto Tongue-in-cheek school motto: Atheism, communism, and free love!
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everything is changing
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our existence - a photograph
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did someone realize
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on the history we've been taught
we are living the results of a lie

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