http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/us/27atheist.html?_r=1&hpw

Interesting piece on atheism developing a public face in South Carolina.

It's funny that having grown up in a town that was pretty highly church-centered, in retrospect, I realize it was also relatively safe to be areligious.  There were some pretty freethinking teachers in both junior high and high schools, the only cinema in town showed late-night Hammer films on weekends (which for a town of 4000 in the middle of nowhere was pretty cool, I now realize), and there was definitely a laborer's drinking culture.  But I did know people from neighboring villages who were grateful for the expanded sense of freedom that even my small town offered.