So what is a "local community" exactly? University students? They tend to be pretty much anything-goes in terms of weird ideologies and discussion topics. Workplace communities? Mostly have a tacit agreement not to discuss religion or politics ever. People living near each other? Discussions beyond "nice weather we're having" are pretty rare.
I was also confused by this. I don't know what a "local community" would be, or why I would talk to one.
As far as I can tell, in any reasonably large grouping of people, for all speech acts X, there is some person who will react violently to X.
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; the rally was a way for them to feel part of an in-group. Reason Rally is definitely an event that selects for people who feel excluded by their communities most of the time. But there may be a different concentration of people who have had this sort of experience on LessWrong, and we wondered what that concentration was.
Hence, this survey: LessWrong Members and their Local Communities.
If I get a decent sample size, I will post the data for all to enjoy.
EDIT: I added two questions about current and previous religious views to the poll. If you took it before 11:30PM EST 5/2, I'd appreciate it very much if you would take the time to retake it. :)