Go to the local high school or University. Seek out the science teachers. Then ask them if they wouldn’t mind talking about their political views. If you’re at a University, try searching out the psychology or philosophy departments as well.

Worth a shot if nothing else works.

People who like to read tend to be a cut above the norm – though not always. You could end up with Christian novel readers or romance readers, so make sure you specify that you’re interested in reading some particular genre (award-winning contemporary fiction, literature, mystery, nonfiction, etc).

Probably the most interesting people in your area will turn up to discuss books if you can get the word out.

The other thing to think about is a Cafe Scientique, a Drinking Liberally group or some other kind of meet up group.

Quakers tend to be nonconformists but they try to go about doing good.

Beware of evangelical or conservative Quakers — many of these meetings have been “infected” by the religious right and its propaganda!

Good lucK.

I met my wife through a church organization in college, and all four of our parents are devout Christians for whom God is not a bit of theology or an argument, but a being that they feel they have personally experienced, spoken with, communed with, etc. My father is a minister by profession, and it would be pretty much impossible to disavow my folks’ religion without essentially arguing that they are insane.

So we have not told them. I say “We” because my Wife, though a devout follower for about 8 of the 10 years I have known her, was able to see the light, and follow me over to The Dark Side. (Can you see light coming from the Dark side?)

So while I am still “in the closet” in a lot of ways from my parents, and the local Ku Klux Klan, (yes, we still have them around here), I am very lucky to have a fellow, freshly minted ex-christian as my wife. I don’t know what I would have done had she not been willing to look at things with an open mind.

We are slowly making strides toward post-church friends, and a wider sense of community, but we are not there yet. Thank goodness for the Internet!

http://atheistnexus.ning.com/

You can look me up there if you want:

http://atheistnexus.ning.com/profile/BarrydelaRosa

Lucky for me, I’m moving to London (England) shortly and will be going to regular Atheist, Brights and Humanist meetings that I found through MeetUp.com.

I’m fascinating by the number of you who are going to churches though. A lot of atheists seem to find this idea objectionable, and maybe they are happy to find other venues for socialising that replace church. But I can also understand how for ex-Christians church still represents a major social hub.

As for me, it helps that I’m a grumbling curmudgeon with no real interest in human contact…

Mostly I make friends through class or over the internet. Just recently I met someone by having a pun war on a mutual friend’s facebook page. I used to belong to a quirky little internet community, but life got in the way… Then I went on to Pharyngula and that filled the gap for a while, but then came the cracker thing and it’s impossible to get a word in edgeways.

Another thing I do is study sign language. Because it’s a language with speakers spread more or less evenly across the country and most native speakers unable to learn english, they tend to form small, tight-knit signing communities. We’re starting to do that in class, and that’s a great way to get the sense of community.

As for atheist groups, I understand they get together and discuss science and philosophy rather than religion most of the time. I’ve never been to one myself, though… I’m not a clubs type of person.

I find forums for podcasts dedicated to certain ranges of topics to be good for this purpose. I like the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Forums, to a lesser extent the Astronomy Cast forums, and most of all the Freedomain Radio forums. Ironically these largely atheistic (culturally) podcasts are a lot like church–you listen to the “sermons” in the form of downloaded episodes and talk with other members of the “congregation” on the forums.