If we were to ask readers to comment on the biggest obstacle to being openly atheistic in Mississippi, I suspect we'd have multiple answers. What might pose a serious obstacle for one person might not bother another in the least. Take me for example. I don't have any family in Mississippi, so that doesn't even enter the picture for me. I suspect that is not going to be true of most people.What is my biggest obstacle? I really don't have many significant obstacles to being open about my atheism. Work probably poses the closest thing I do have to an obstacle, but it is really more of an obstacle to atheist activism rather than atheism per se. That is, I'm not particularly secretive about my atheism at work (anyone who asks will receive an honest answer, assuming I decide it is any of their business). However, I am not interested in those I work with learning that my atheism might actually motivate me to action from time to time.
I'm not sure if that makes any sense or not. For me at least, saying I do not believe in gods is different from disclosing that I write an atheist blog, belong to various secular organizations, defend atheist civil rights, etc. But for better or worse, the idea of disclosing such things holds considerably less fear for me than it used to.
How about you? What is your biggest obstacle to being openly atheistic in Mississippi?
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