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This collection features more than two dozen narratives by atheists from different backgrounds across the United States. Ranging in age, race, sexual orientation, and religious upbringing, these individuals address deconversion, community building, parenting, and romantic relationships, providing a nuanced look at living without a god in a predominantly Christian nation.
These narratives illuminate the complexities and consequences for nonbelievers in the United States. Stepping away from religious belief can have serious social and existential ramifications, forcing atheists to discover new ways to live meaningfully without a religious community. Yet shedding the constraints of a formal belief system can also be a freeing experience. Ultimately, this volume shows that claiming an atheist identity is anything but an act isolated from the other dimensions of the self. Upending common social, political, and psychological assumptions about atheists, this collection helps carve out a more accepted space for this minority within American society.
Acknowledgments
Introduction. The Other Closet: An Introduction to Atheism and Coming Out Processes
Part 1. Leaving Faith: Arriving at Atheist Identity from Religious Backgrounds
1. How I Got to None of the Above, by Alvin Burstein
2. Religion and the F-Word (Feminism), by Lynnette
3. Clap Our Hands Like Trees, by Chris Matallana
4. Ex-Mormon, by Cora Judd
Part 2. Cultural Contexts in Coming Out as Atheist
5. An Unexamined Life, by Naima Cabelle
6. User Error: Coming Out as Atheist in Utah, by James Mouritsen
7. The Names We Call Home, by Shawn Mirza
8. A Life of Class Consciousness, by David Hoelscher
Part 3. Two Closets? Identifying as Both LGBTQ and Atheist
9. A Tale of Two Closets, by Stephen S. Mills
10. The Permanent Prodigal Daughter, by Sherilyn Connelly
11. Far from Home, by David Philip Norris
Part 4. Ain't No Mountain High Enough: Navigating Romantic Relationships as an Atheist
12. An Atheist's Simple Revelation About Love: It's Complicated, by Ethan Sahker
13. Swept Under the Rug, by Kristen Rurouni
14. On Love and Credulity, by Matt Hart
Part 5. Family Life and Atheist Parenting
15. Dinner with Grandma, by Ronnelle Adams
16. Parenting Authentically in an Interfaith Marriage, by Kevin J. Zimmerman
17. Having a Baby Made Me an Atheist, by Amy Watkins
18. Born Secular, by Adrienne Filardo Fagan
Part 6. The Search for Connection: Coming Out to Friends and Questing for Community
19. Slow Growth, by Justus Humphrey
20. An Atheist in the Bible Belt, by Brittany Friedel
21. Coming Out and Finding Home, by Pam Zerba
Part 7. Atheism at Work: Tales of Coming Out to Coworkers and Colleagues
22. Is This the Way to Amarillo?, by Samuel W. Needleman
23. Cracking Open the Closet Door, by Camilo Ortiz
24. My Favorite Atheist, by John Douma
Part 8. Atheism and Aging: The Challenges of Entering Older Adulthood as a Nonbeliever
25. The Road Less Traveled, by Ursula Raabe
26. A Contrarian Life Story, by Elizabeth Malm Clemens
27. Dark Matter and Missing Socks, by Margaret M. Bennett
Concluding Thoughts: The Open Door
Notes
Bibliography