If your "friends" care about your faith/lack of faith and/or what your job is, then they aren't really your friends. True friends should not even raise the question, or at least be civil and willing to see your reasoning if they do. The right friends are out there. Yes, they can be hard to find, but they are there.

I could only vote on sky-daddy belief, because that's all I have experience with. In my case, I rarely discussed religion with my friends, so I wouldn't even necessarily know where they stood with sky-daddy.

I have different "tops" that impact me; I would characterize them instead as "skinny ends of the bell curve":

1. Intelligence (raw, global): many people are intimidated and/or insecure around you, and many of those avoid you. Many of whoever is left are uninteresting to you. (Commonly overlaps with career and education; just not in my case.)
2. Morality : many people are intimidated and/or insecure around you; they may resent you, and fear you will judge or "snitch" on them. Some just don't want to to be around you because they don't want to be reminded of how they don't measure up in the goodness department.
3. Emotional intelligence/Pyschological health : you have a hard time relating to people who are caught up in personal dramas you find immature and petty. You find few people mature and healthy enough to respect your boundaries and relate to you on the level you prefer.

I'm a quality-over-quantity person myself. For what I'm into--and the level at which I'm into it--it's hard to beat my own company. And I'm fine with it.

I guess it depends on how you define "friends". I have never had quantity when it comes to friends, nor do I particularly want it. Quality is a problem, too, if you're talking about close friendships. If you're talking about casual social acquaintances, I have not found these things to be problems.

I don't expect very much from my relationships anymore. It's the only way to have a frustration and angst-free dotage.

I also think people underestimate the degree to which it's possible to know another person before the topic of metaphysical beliefs even comes up. Most people aren't that philosophical. They just want to share common interests and activities without fighting all the time. As such, they tend to automatically avoid questions of politics and religion. And I think that's actually wise. I mostly keep those thoughts to myself and my immediate family.

Of course I live in the northeastern US, not in the Bible Belt. My answers are based on that experience. I don't live among people who pry concerning such matters.

I made a financial jump last year that I didn't really plan or expect, simply from some stock trades...and as a cumulative result of 15 years of saving and investing. I've bought nothing "big" since, and told only one family member, who has told no one else. I had a number in mind 20 years ago regarding a yearly earnings where I could say I solidly "made it". I more than doubled that goal last year. I didn't expect to have feelings of guilt, trepidation...even loss. I felt like that goal from 20 years ago gave my life a certain focus (I'm not entirely sure I ever really expected to achieve it). I don't know if it is loneliness I'm feeling exactly, but I do feel like I accomplished this huge thing...and now I feel like if I tell anyone, it's just going to complicate every relationship I have. I've set a new goal for this year. It doesn't yet feel the same, though.