The other day I found a question really interesting, and it went like this “how can I stay mentally sane while being a closeted atheist in a religious majority country?” and I really don’t know because I was never mentally stable to start with, but I do have some recommendations on how to stay sane.
The first thing I want to say is to never come out of the closet before you are ready, I was forced to come out during a tremendous fight with my family and it had horrible effects, you should wait until you are ready and with arguments for your position clear. Besides, I think being in the closet for a long period of time gave me a good look of how people really are towards atheists, what they really think, because once you’re out, they would probably never be the same. For example:
When I was in the closet my uncle said during a dinner- “atheists are horrible people that all they want is not to think about judgement while they do horrific things in this world, but judgement will come up to them!”-. But after I came out of the closet they suddenly were “concerned” about my soul and my spirit, but no one called me a bad person.
So, don’t worry if your family seems horrible and you don’t want to say anything to them about your atheism, I understand, but please don’t try to ignore the things they say, take notice.
And that leads me to another recommendation. Usually the way religious people defend their faith is by using arguments that are ridiculous and poorly backed, in my case it was all attacks to morals and personality of atheists. You can easily take that, and even if you don’t want to argue, take those “arguments” and use them to be proud of your atheism.
I’m not saying that all religious people are assholes towards atheists, because they are not, but at least in the case of my family they continue to be insensitive people towards atheists. I’m happy I get to be far away from them, but when I was a closeted atheist, what I did is that I took all the hate and not only accepted it, but welcomed it.
The last thing I have to recommend is for you to talk about your situation. I would recommend to talk to people that are in the same position that you are, having an atheist friend made all the difference to me when the times were rough, but if that’s not possible you can go to a professional.
When I was having trouble I went to a professional as well, but she happened to be a Christian so I never had the courage or the confidence to tell her what was happening, and that’s why I recommend to find yourself an atheist person to talk to.
Remember, there is nothing wrong with being a closeted atheist, and you don’t need to come out before you think is time to do so. You can come out by levels, for example, tell people you are a deist before telling them that you are an atheists.
Don’t forget you can do things for the atheist community while being a closeted atheist.
All I have to say is to take the most benefit you can out of being a “spy” for the other side ;P as you can, at least in my case it had helped me a lot to write.