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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?

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    @greg121: yes, you seem naive. Have you ever been to US?
    – vartec
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 11:16
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    Yes it does sound a bit ridiculous, but if you have travelled outside the tourist zones in the US you might find it less surprising that somebody would find the need to ask a ridiculous sounding question like this.
    – hippietrail
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 11:41
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    @gerrit: I'd say similar in terms of tolerance, however difference is that in rural US they are armed to their teeth, while Poland is one of the countries with the least firearms per capita. Also murder rate and violent crime rate in US is 5 times higher than in Poland. So in Poland you'd risk getting insulted, not being shot at.
    – vartec
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 13:28
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    @vartec , merely being of a different religion, or no religion at all, is of little consequence in almost any non-homogeneous setting in America. If you are planning on attending a KKK rally, or, as a less inflammatory example, Sunday church, there may be a certain expectation of belief or at least adherence to custom of those settings... failure to adhere to custom could be uncomfortable in the case of church, and straight dangerous in the case of a Klan rally. You are absolutely correct that purposely offending locals in America is a potentially dangerous proposition, regardless of reason.
    – LJ2
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 14:14
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    An interesting variant of this question would be: Is it wise to hide homosexuality to travel safely through the US/Poland/Russia/Uganda/...?
    – gerrit
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 14:33

6 Answers 6

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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.

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  • great detail in the answer, +1! It'd be nice to have a link for the stats in the final paragraph though, if you have one.
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 18:49
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    @MarkMayo - Added links for citations left out. (Both wikipedia).
    – dr jimbob
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 19:01
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    @drjimbob - great, thanks! Welcome to the site, btw, look forward to more great answers like this from you!
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 19:19
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    "There's no issue with being a secular teenager in America" can you please remove this irrelevant and IMO very wrong sentence :/
    – djechlin
    Commented Dec 28, 2015 at 21:25
  • @djechlin - It was relevant as the question quoted a blog describing being a secular teenager in America. About 20% of American teenagers will openly tell pollsters they do not believe in God; this isn't some insignificant oppressed minority. Religious freedoms are protected by law. Yes, some ignorant people may harass, or tease or try to convert you if you don't share their locally dominant religious view (which isn't always Christian).
    – dr jimbob
    Commented Dec 29, 2015 at 7:21
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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.

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    Agreed. Don't wear anti-Christian T-shirts. Don't have loud conversations in restaurants about how stupid Christians are. Don't drive round town playing heavy metal on Sunday morning. Oh, and don't go to KKK rallies.
    – DJClayworth
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 4:24
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    @DJClayworth : well this is a good advice for all religions/world-views/ethnicities. If you don't purposefully insult them and their culture, they leave you alone. Maybe with the exception of a civil war or revolt, but in that case you have to really ask yourself the question whether you want to travel there.
    – vsz
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 15:45
  • @DJClayworth i'm curious why you provide that advice. wearing an anti-christian shirt might get you some weird looks at restaurants, but i absolutely don't think you would be in any danger, and it's certainly not illegal. do whatever you want in the us. by and large, no one cares.
    – user428517
    Commented Sep 25, 2015 at 22:06
  • @sgroves I take it you've been everywhere in the United States?
    – Karlson
    Commented Sep 26, 2015 at 3:37
  • @sgroves I did not say that wearing anti-Christian T-shirts would be dangerous or illegal. I said it would be disrespectful.
    – DJClayworth
    Commented Sep 26, 2015 at 19:13
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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.

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    Also, don't refer to American football as "handegg" and you'll be just fine. ;-)
    – jjeaton
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 19:35
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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.

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    Saying there's no official state religion really understates the truth. The first amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". This is normally referred to as the "separation of church and state" and basically means that the Government can't/will not ever act in any specific way for/against any specific religion. ("Cults" and similar things being the exceptions)
    – Doc
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 3:19
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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.)

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    I would not recommend shouting "Allah akbar" at meetings by certain European political groups either.
    – gerrit
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 12:20
  • @gerrit: OTOH, Islam is currently number one religion in quite a lot of Western European countries :-P
    – vartec
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 13:21
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    @vartec No, it is not the number one religion by any means in any western European country. On the other hand, insulting Islam loudly can certainly put one in a risk zone.
    – gerrit
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 14:34
  • I have zero experience with the KKK, so maybe I could be wrong. I haven't heard any stories of violence at one of their rallies in recent memory, other than from people protesting them. Thus, I would guess that you could shout your favorite religion of choice's slogan and the worst that will happen to you is being rudely asked to leave and escorted out if you dont. There is absolutely no reason to pretend to be anything you aren't, in any public place in the US. Just be aware that antagonizing someone may get undesirable results, but that isn't a problem with a country it's a problem with u.
    – Dunk
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 22:48
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    However, I should add that there are certainly neighborhoods in the US that you shouldn't go; regardless of who you are, because they are high crime areas.
    – Dunk
    Commented Feb 13, 2013 at 22:52
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Having traveled extensively throughout the U.S., I can say that overall it is a very safe place to visit, regardless of your religion. There are isolated incidents of issues, but statistically it's pretty small.

Freedom of Religion and Respect

"Freedom of religion" is an important cornerstone of the U.S., and most of the U.S. is very tolerant of other religions (assuming you are respectful of their beliefs).

Most people would be curious, rather than hateful.

Don't Offend the Natives

If you say offensive things about Christianity or Americans, that is a different story. When visiting any country, it is best to not offend the natives.

Most Non-European Foreigners are Assumed to be Non-Christians

Unless you are European, pretending probably would draw more attention to yourself, rather than less. Americans tend to assume that non-Americans and non-Europeans are not Christians, and might be surprised if you claim you are one.

A friend of mine from China is Christian, and some of the Americans I introduced her to were actually surprised she was Christian. They assumed she was Buddhist or something else. These same people also didn't realize that most Filipinos are Catholic.

So there really is no need to pretend to be Christian. Unless you're European or American, it is assumed you aren't one.

Avoiding Being Converted / Proselytization

The biggest issue some people have with openly not being Christian, is that some Christians will try to convert you. So pretending to be Christian will sometimes get them to back off. This is why many Americans pretend to be Christian, when they never really even go to church and are much more secular in nature.

Secular Society

The U.S. has a very secular society, that does not hinge on your religious views. Specific communities might be more religious than others, but overall, the economy and government policies are all secular. This usually creates a divide where people are secular in their daily business and in the workplace, but religious in their free time and at church.

Instead of pretending to be Christian, it might be better to just stay off the topic, and keep things secular.

Isolated Communities

There are isolated communities that don't take kindly to strangers (of any kind). Usually those are small backwoods towns that most tourists would never find themselves in. The issue in those towns is that you are a stranger, and being Christian wouldn't necessarily help you in that situation. They'd find something else to be annoyed at.

Overall

In most cases, there is no need to pretend. You may find yourself in situations where its best to keep your mouth shut and blend in, but that is true in any country, whether born there or not.

As long as you respect others, and stay out of bad neighborhoods, you will probably be fine, regardless of what religion you are.

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  • Perhaps you mean "most non-European foreigners are assumed not to be Christian."
    – phoog
    Commented Dec 30, 2015 at 15:40
  • I mentioned that in the body of the paragraph, but didn't put that in the section title. I updated the section title so that the article is more skimmable.
    – Scott M. Stolz
    Commented Dec 30, 2015 at 15:42

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