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→African-American atheists and loneliness
So, what about the black nonbelievers? It's one isolating experience, according to [[Jamila Bey]].<ref>[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127239913 Black Atheists Say Non-Belief Means Cultural Outsider], NPR, May 28, 201012:00 PM ET</ref>}}
So, what about the black nonbelievers? It's one isolating experience, according to [[Jamila Bey]].<ref>[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127239913 Black Atheists Say Non-Belief Means Cultural Outsider], NPR, May 28, 201012:00 PM ET</ref>}}
Jack Kunerth wrote in the ''Orlando Sentinel'':
{{Cquote|At funerals, Warren Hughes always finds a seat in the back where, when the preaching and praying begins, he can slip out discreetly. He doesn't bow his head pretending to pray because he hasn't believed in prayer, or God, since he was 30 years old...
Warren Hughes is 79, and until a year ago, he had never met anyone like himself: a black atheist. In the atheists groups he has joined, he was often the only black person.
It's been lonely, he said, but that is beginning to change. The number of blacks who identify as nonreligious increased from 6 percent in 1990 to 11 percent in 2008, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
At the same time, blacks remain far more religious than most Americans. They have the highest percentage of church membership of any racial group — 87 percent — and the highest percentage of people who say they absolutely believe in God, Pew says.
This leaves black atheists in the no man's land between the black community they grew up in and the predominantly white world of atheists, agnostics and nonbelievers.
"The black church is so much a part of black life, heritage and culture," said Richard Peacock, who started the Black Nonbelievers of Metro Orlando in 2012. "It's assumed that even if you aren't going to church, it's part of your DNA."
The oldest institution in the black community, the church is the center of gravity for social, economic and political activities. Religion is discussed in the barbershops and beauty parlors, at the post office and City Hall. Churches sponsor youth groups, health fairs, voter registration and assistance to the poor and the elderly.
In the black community, those who deny the existence of God are viewed as devil-possessed or deranged.
"You are seen as basically alien," said Bridget Gaudette, a 34-year-old atheist who grew up as a Jehovah's Witness. "You are confused, you are mentally ill."<ref>[http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-03-22/features/os-black-atheists-20130322_1_atheists-black-church-black-community Black atheists search for sense of belonging]</ref>}}
== Token efforts to extend black leadership positions in atheist organizations ==
== Token efforts to extend black leadership positions in atheist organizations ==