Captured at www.infidels.org/news/atheism/society.html
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Staying in the closet is an emotionally draining experience. Most of us feel bad about deliberately lying, and really bad about deliberately lying to our close friends, family, and loved ones. But staying in the closet requires precisely that. This generates loads of guilt, and carrying around that kind of guilt is pretty unhealthy from an emotional point of view. Making matters worse, you have to expend a great deal of mental effort to maintain the facade, a task made even more complicated by the fact that you are attempting to fool those who know you best and thus are the most difficult to fool.
Staying in the closet tends to isolate you from the atheist community and get you more involved with the theistic community than you might want to be. People naturally gravitate towards people who are like themselves. We tend to choose friends who share our interests, our values, and our beliefs. But if everybody thinks you are a theist, then atheists will tend to stay away while theists will want to get closer to you. This is the exact opposite of what you want. If you come out, those around you who are atheists will be more likely to befriend you, providing you with much-needed emotional support. And in a society that is 90 percent theist, we need all the emotional support we can get.
Coming out is a powerful way of promoting tolerance for atheists. Remember that your theistic friends and family have had their heads filled with stereotypes about atheists by their leaders and fellow theists. By coming out, you can show that these stereotypes are bull. Indeed, you may be the only atheist they know, and thus the only person capable of dispelling the stereotypes. And if they ever become interested in atheism themselves, they’ll know who to turn to when it comes time to ask questions.
