Is it wise to pretend to be Christian to safely travel through the US?

Question

In this Economist blog it is stated:

In the most religious parts of America, it is tough being a secular teenager. Many of the kids at Camp Quest say that, at school, they either keep quiet about their lack of belief or are teased for it. What they like about Camp Quest is that no one tells them they are going to Hell.

Then there is this epic Top Gear episode "lethal car decorating", where it appear that it is not safe to just vent an opposing opinion.

I guess Top Gear is mainly comedy, but are there regions in the US, where you better pretend to be a Christian, just to be safe?

Answer 1

There is absolutely no reason to need to pretend to be Christian while visiting the US. The US doesn't have an official religion and is a very diverse nation where people travel often. It is also a very large nation, and unfortunately some people do commit crimes against people for their religion/lack of religion. This is like any other diverse nation. There's no issue with being a secular teenager in America, unless you actively argue with those who have different beliefs than yours. (And if you do actively argue, you don't typically have threats of violence or anything; its just the people of the majority belief may not want to be friends with you).

In the United States in 2009, a nation of 300+ million people had 1376 hate crimes with a religious bias; the majority being anti-Jewish (70%), anti-Islamic (9.3%). Only 0.7% were anti-atheism/agnostic. Also, while I couldn't find data that broke down by victim-group by type of crime (so this also includes hate crimes committed against other races, sexual orientations), a large majority of the hate crimes are vandalism/property-destruction/intimidation (63%) and adding in simple assault (assault without intent of injury) and other property crimes you cover (~90%) of hate crimes. The other 10% is mostly aggravated assault with the addition of about 17 (0.2%) that were murders or rapes; and many of these are possibly based on racial or sexual orientation motivation. Note the number of Hate Crimes in Great Britain is similar (1621 religion hate crimes), despite having 1/5th the population of the US.

When meeting strangers it is best not to deliberately insult/mock/convert them from their own religious/political/other beliefs--this is regardless of where you are traveling. People often get upset when their beliefs are mocked, but again this turning into assault or worse is extremely rare. However, if your waitress says "God Bless" or something and you mock her for believing in an imaginary being in the sky (rather than just ignore it), I wouldn't be surprised if you get worse service. Also, note only about ~20% of Americans actually go to church/synogogue/mosque every week, though ~40% will report weekly attendance. While politicians do pay lip service to God/Christianity in US politics more than in some other nations (e.g., European nations), its mostly playing politics. When surveyed on religion about 75% of Americans self-identify as Christian (25% Catholic, 16% Baptist, 8% Methodist, ...), about 5% are Jewish or Buddhist or Muslim or other religion, 15% reply no religion, and 5% refuse to answer.

Answer 2

In general, no, you do not need to pretend. Just be respectful.

There's no check at the border, nobody questions you. There's no official state religion, and the whole "Freedom of religion" thing is huge there.

Of course, wherever you go - in any country, there's going to be people who discriminate.

For the most part, however - most people, in every country, are more curious than judgmental.

Answer 3

As @MarkMayo pointed out there is no official religion. As the person who had lived in Indiana (a pretty religious state though not part of the Bible Belt) the issue at hand is actually disrespect rather than religious affiliation.

That actually was the whole point of the Top Gear episode you have linked.

One of the few occasions you might have to pretend to be Christian would be a KKK Rally.

In most rural areas of the Bible belt if you are polite and respectful no one would care what is your religious affiliation or if you have any.

There are areas where you might be treated with extreme suspicion but this doesn't have to do with religion, but rather blood relations.

Answer 4

There are situations where for social acceptance pretending to be of the right faith matters but that's all. It's not a safety issue other than in extreme cases (such as the KKK rally Karlson mentioned. I would NOT recommend shouting "Allah akbar" in a KKK rally--but I would suggest staying away in the first place anyway.)

Answer 5

General recommendation when traveling anywhere is to avoid discussing any controversial subjects with locals. This include religion, politics, minorities rights, etc. Always divert conversation away from these subjects. If you're a tourist you're there to see, not to make a statement.

Also discussing other subjects, don't try to be smartass about local customs. You might for example despise NASCAR or handegg (aka American football), but you won't win any friends by trying to convince locals that F1 is true racing and soccer is true football.

This doesn't, however, mean that you need to pretend to be a follower.