Atheist
Atheism increasingly finds a home in the Bible Belt.
Carmel Perez Snyder
August 6th, 2013
Oklahoma is home to more than 6,500 churches. It’s also home to one of the largest atheist meet-up groups in the U.S.
That latter fact might seem incongruous in a state often characterized as the buckle of the Bible Belt. But some experts suggest the large numbers of self-described atheists aren’t so surprising.
“I am a native Oklahoman, and I have found that while Oklahoma is a conservative state with a strong religious presence, it is a state that has a very fierce independent spirit,” said Charles A. Kimball, director of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma. “There’s a lot of respect for diversity, and that includes religious diversity, in this state.”
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer learned about such diversity firsthand while he was covering the aftermath of the Moore tornado. In a live interview, Blitzer asked a Moore resident, Rebecca Vitsmun, if she was thankful to God for surviving the May 20 twister that destroyed her home.
http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/article-18940-atheist.html