I am in a town where religion is a big deal -- church attendance is a big part of socializing around here. And many of the cars sport bumper stickers that positively gloat at how the unsaved are going to hell.
That said, I have experienced no problems being an atheist. Many of the people I work with know I'm an atheist, but no one seems to care much -- of course, I teach at the local college, so maybe that isn't surprising.
A few months ago, I was talking with my neighbor. I think she was going to invite me to church. Anyway, when she asked me whether I went to church, I said, "no," and she asked whether I believed in god, and I said, "no." The poor lady. She was rather shocked, and had a hard time believing that I was an atheist and accepted evolution and all that. I was trying not to laugh -- she was so earnest, but so nice. I haven't noticed that it has caused any problems between us, though -- we still chat when we see each other, and she is very, very nice. Even brings me things like banana bread every once in a while.
Anyway, she must have told the pastor of her church about me, because he introduced himself at the coffee shop in town where we both hang out in the mornings. But even though we have discussed some fairly deep things about life in general, religion never comes up in our conversations. I'm not sure whether my neighbor's church is more "liberal" than she is, or whether the pastor is just being a gentleman about it.
Anyway, such has been my experience.
"These monkeys are at once the ugliest and the most beautiful creatures on the planet./ And the monkeys don't want to be monkeys; they want to be something else./ But they're not."
--
Ernie Cline