They absolutely do assume you’re religious. I love the look on their faces when they find out differently.

After mentioning that I work with a Lutheran Church quilting ministry (I make quilts), the other person asked me if I was Lutheran. At that point, I said that I am Agnostic. I was raised Catholic. It may be the thinking by quite a few that the ONLY people doing good, or are kind, considerate, etc. are Christian. IGNORANCE!

Oh, yes. All the time. And whether I set them straight or not depends on how much I care that they know more about who I am. I am on the other end of my career and don't have the kinds of pressures you are facing.

I tell people at work that I don’t believe in religion, they reply with “you have to believe in somthing”, and I say, no I don’t. You can’t argue with them, so eventually after they get red faced, they quit, but they still love me. They stopped quoting the Bible at me when I quoted it back, actually quite fun. I even made up my own religion called bullshitism, in which we worship the great space turtles, and the pastors are called turtle priests. They get a kick out of it until they think I actually believe what I’m saying.