Yes!

Prior to my actual coming out, I was very selective as to who I told. I don't know your age but when I was beginning my journey as an atheist, I knew NO ONE who was an atheist. I'm sure there were some but no one talked about it because it was so risky.

I am glad for you that you encountered no problems when you told people. I like toi think that humans are becoming more tolerant, if not supportive, of other views than their own.

Thank you for responding. I wish I had known as a child what I came to understand in my early 20's. Even then, I didn't have the courage to go public until I retired a couple of years ago and it was very liberating. Now, I am the treasurer of FreeThought Fort Wayne, Inc. and I love what we are doing as atheists and humanitarians in our community. I like the AHA motto of "good without a god" and that's what we do in our group. It's not easy as we are in Indiana, the bible belt of the north. That's OK, we carry on and hope for the best.

I'm glad you understood your friend's actions as a high schooler. I hope too that as a chemist he eventually understood the logic and reason always win the day. At the 2016 AHA conference, I heard a stat stating that when people were asked to rate atheists they considered them one level above pedophiles. They also mentioned that nations who were very religious (think USA) are very dysfunctional compared to nations (generally Scandinavian) that have more atheists and foster free thinking. The USA has a very long way to go.

I acknowledged I was an atheist at about the same age as you were. Unfortunately, in the late 60's, the climate was very different from what it is these days and I was overcoming an abusive childhood so I lacked the courage to be upfront about my views. I feel like I wasted a lot of years pretending to be someone I wasn't. It felt like my life was a lie--which it was. These days I am very forthcoming and it is very liberating.

Yes, the USA have a very long way to go.
Some European leaders are out of the closet.
Things are change a lot every day. Not all Christians looking at us the way have in the past.
not that I care, very much, about their opinion.

KLMFTFW I hear you I was fortunate to come out in 94 and had a very supportive family so I understand how luck I was in that regard. We all have a different story in some ways and even today there are people who dare not be open even in the US and in some other countries it is still a death sentence.