Dissimulation is S.O.P. in the South. There is more than one meaning to the phrase "Bless your heart..." for example.

MollyBell,you did the right thing telling him you were an Athiest,I would have liked to have seen the expression on his face when you said it.

There is alot teeming in the smooth underbelly of the southern life. Horrors occur in the home, but everyone smiles in public and pretends it doesn't happen. You never share your "dirty laundry" for others to see, because "what would the neighbors think?" And then there is "It doesn't matter what you do on Saturday as long as your in church on Sunday morning" unless the neighbors see ya do then what will they think? OMG I hated living there

I have complicated feelings about holy rollers selling their POV at my front door. My Southern Baptist Family unwittingly abused me because I didn't accept their values. When I finally told them I as agnostic, some ostracized me.

However, now I'm a casual philosopher, who likes Buddhism, not as a religion., and believe that being kind to everyone is important. I suspect the Buddha is a myth, but it really doesn't matter to me. Meditation is good, as are the values taught by it.

Sometimes I feel like playing with them by saying, "Hello, I see you have a Watchtower, you worship the wrong god, let me tell you about our savior the Devil."

Sometimes I feel like pointing a shotgun at them...I don't own a gun or rifle, BTW.

Occasionally, I am kind to them, and I know they didn't abuse me.

I can't punish my family, I haven't seen any of them in over thirty years, most of whom would totally misunderstand me. They live in a mass delusion, like they all caught an alien virus and went crazy.

Fortunately, religion is slowly dying. Millennial's are supposed to be less religious than their elders. It cannot happen too fast for me.

Clergy DO NOT DESERVE deference INSTEAD THEY DESERVE SCORN. ...hell threats and heaven bribes are so evil. ....we Atheists should stop pretending Atheism nor science are "beliefs" or "faiths" .....religions are all fictions invented gibberish usually to control women own children and brainwash boys it's OK to make war and die. ...the South is full of this insanity. ...Billy Graham getting all this fake praise when he died with 25 million buck$ in war weapons stocks after a career pushing Presidents into illegal wars since 1946. ....science is testing and solving problems. ....alleged gawds are religious good for nothing lies ....prEyer is an admission of insanity

I see a presumption that everyone is some form or another of Southern Baptist. But I do not see anything more than polite conversation on the topic of religion.

Yes there plenty of herring about ie two-faced and gutless

I am a native southerner. who grew up "churched." Today, if someone approaches me with some kind of religious invitation, I simply say, "Religion is not a part of my life.", or something like. They get the message without my using the label.

When I was a kid, I was modestly religious. I had a basic belief in God and embraced the concept of religion as something positive and a path to helping people. Then I moved to Dallas.
Granted, there were some people who took my view of religion, but a significant number of the people I met were who were fervently religious were also quite racist. They tended to be more angry, spiteful and rigid.
Obviously not all, but a significant number of the real holy roller types were.
That is when I began to question all religions. Ironically, it was the most religious that turned me off to God. I let go, and I've never gone back.

bubble boy

Well being from south Louisiana it is not that you lie, it's that you find the loop holes. For instance, I was at the park with my daughter when she was younger and struck up a conversation with another woman who had just moved here. She asked me what church I went to and I just told her I was raised Catholic. I didn't tell her a church name or anything and I wasn't lying. The funniest thing though is when I told her that I was raised Catholic she kinda did a nervous laugh and said "I'm sorry". That took me off guard for a moment and then I started laughing because that is not the response I thought I would get.

Oh yes, niceness is much more important than honesty in the south...unless you're me and don't give a damn lol.

Last night, the younger brother of one of my childhood Haiti missionary kid (MK) friends invited me to "like" a missionary page. It actually was a good organization..all good deeds for third world people, without preaching, but it annoyed me that he would assume anything about me (despite my being an MK myself) so I told him that since 85% of white evangelicals had voted for Trump, a self-admitted sexual predator, racist, bigot, etc. I'd changed my mind about Christianity and no longer support it.

I did it by PM, but I noticed that I do tend to call out people who try to assume I believe as they do.

I've in the South most of my adult life, too. I've had a few door-knockers come by, and few invitations to attend church with people I've met. I always tell them I'm an atheist. When asked why, I tell them the concept of their god simply makes no sense. If they persist, I tell them that their god is no different than Odin or Zeus. That usually either pisses them off so badly that they leave, or they try to challenge me. When they challenge me, I start asking them questions that they cannot rationally answer. That's usually the end of it.

I just moved to Birmingham Alabama, and I own and proudly wear T-Shirts that advertise my beliefs. So far I've been cussed out, had a beer bottle thrown at me and a few dozen smirks. I've been here since last Friday. I couldn't care less what these people think of me, and they damn well get used to it because I love my "Science Doesn't Care What You Believe" T-Shirt.

Years ago a local pastor was visiting our home trying to get my wife and daughter to attend his church and he asked me about my religious beliefs. I told him I was an agnostic leaning to atheism. He became agitated and said, "You mean to tell me that if I pulled up to a stop sign and started to go, but then stopped, and another car runs it going the other way. If I'd pulled out I'd have been hit. You're saying god didn't make me stop to save me?" I said, "Well yeah that's exactly what I'm saying." The look on his face was priceless, ????

According to my niece from Texas - talking out of the side of your mouth is more common in the South.

Perhaps he was just lying and using the lie to manipulate you.