At Reason Rally a couple of months ago, we noticed that a lot of atheists there seemed to be there for mutual support - because their own communities rejected atheists, because they felt outnumbered and threatened by their peers, and the rally was a way for them to feel part of an in-group.

There seem to be differing concentrations of people who have had this sort of experience on LessWrong. Some of us felt ostracized by our local communities while growing up, others have felt pretty much free to express atheist or utilitarian views for their whole lives. Does anyone else think this would be worth doing a poll on / have experiences they want to share?