I am a mostly closeted Atheist, because I am a teacher in Texas. I have been blasted by strangers when in chat rooms for "ruining children" with my views, and Texas is a Right to Work state. That means they can just non-renew my contract for any reason. I would prefer to remain employed. However, I was raised in and out of the JW cult, so I have been subjected to that religious bigotry and hatred all of my life.

I'm open in so much as if I'm asked but apart from that, I have the same beliefs as my dogs or my fish. it works just fine for them.

It always depends on the situation. If I need to confront someone with it I will tell them. If I feel comfortable with telling them I will. If it feels like I'll just be spitting in the wind then it's none of there damn business!

I was an open agnostic and humanist until about the age of 40. I made a mistake in getting dragged into Christianity and then moved to another state where I joined a small church (even worked as the assistant to the pastor!). I've fought hard to 'wake back up' this last year and now have come full circle back to agnosticism. Now though, I'm in the closet to all but my mother (a confirmed atheist) and my kids (who didn't grow up with Christianity and thought I just lost my mind when I became a believer). All of my friends, really everyone I know where I live, is connected with the church and I don't feel comfortable at all in letting them and other believing members of my family know. I'm so relieved to find this site to have others to talk with as I am really isolated.

For a long time, I kept it to myself. I'm from the South and lived for a number of years in a Muslim country (ESL Teacher), then got in a relationship with a religious person. Now I'm much more open about it.

Closet. Family and close friends know but the community does not. Reason: Safety

In the closet. I don't want to lose the the people I love so much.

I'm mostly a closeted atheist. I never lie about being atheist and if it comes up I tend to tell people I'm "not religious". But all of my family members are Christian (as far as I know) and as far as I know all of my co-workers are religious and nearly all of my friends are religious. Unless the topic of religion comes up it just doesn't seem worth mentioning.

For my safety, closet

Open and I have never felt I had to hide it, but then, I live in the UK where religion is not hugely important to many

I am an open atheist. As a result, I was instrumental in freeing two different theists from the clouds of their faith based delusion. This takes hundreds of hours but is worth the effort as for one, his life has become better as he no longer has nightmares of his chruche's warnings of burning hell forever. All those I have freed have thanked me for allowing them to see the world without having to hate anyone that is not a member of their faith. I don't openly debate all religious assertions but often point out mistakes in the baseless assertions of the religious. In some cases (at work) I usually quietly ignore the nonsensical assertions of the faithful but will respond when directly asked a faith vs science question.

I'm very openly atheist. I've lost "good, loving, caring" christian friends whom I've had to block on social media because of the constant hate and threats they give me for no other reason than not believing in their fairy tale.

It's not much of a loss to me because I've found that the more you push those people away, the better life starts to get. I'm not talking all theists though. There are some that don't care and as long as they aren't shoving their religion down my throat, we get along great.

I don't fear the religious in the slightest though. I know more about their book than they do, and can make them look pretty stupid if I have to. Having the knowledge behind me helps to be as open as I am.

I'm open about it, even though black people do not seem to respect it or there are many of it. That kept me from coming about earlier. But being 59 now, I don't really care what my family thinks anymore.

Closeted to many but not all. Dying to come out fully but grew up in a very Catholic country so surrounded by theists who won't get or support it. I'm giving less of a s**t the older I get and want to be fully out soon. Nobody ever asks but if they did, I'd be honest that I don't believe in God. The look on their faces would be priceless.

Open only to the people most close to me,and the few that share my beliefs.Unfortunately most of the people I am around and know are believers,so I do not bring up the subject of atheism because I am not into a hostile reception.

I'm quite open about being an atheist, why worry not really an issue.

Honestly closeted

I am a proud militant atheist. I never hide it, even from devout religionists.

Im very open about my atheism, christians can rave and shout about they're ideals, if they can why can't I.

I'm very open about it. Why shouldn't I be? There's too many 'Christians' shoving their religion down everyone's throat, so I feel that I should be a voice of reason.

Open anti-theist, because it's a responsibility to promote awareness of the negative consequences surrounding theism and the delusional and/or incompetent thought patterns that results in theism.

Very open!

I am a pretty open Atheist. I was raised Baptist until one day I sat and read through the whole Bible and realized it's just not morally right to me.

I'm only closed about it towards my grandparents because they are very religious, I don't usually talk about it but if anyone asks, then I'll tell them.

I don't advertise it or try to recruit people to atheism. It is not a movement with rituals and so on. However, if anyone asks I have no problem telling people that I do not believe in fairy tales,