As an immigrant to the US who's childhood path went from poor rural Texas, to poor urban Houston, to poor Oakland and then to SF, I share many of your sentiment

As an immigrant to the US who's childhood path went from poor rural Texas, to poor urban Houston, to poor Oakland and then to SF, I share many of your sentiments. As an atheist in Texas, I often felt at odds with my peers and subsequently learned from an early age to not voice my opinions too loudly. While this isn't exactly the best way to grow up, I more or less accepted it as the price to pay for having very different world views. Interestingly enough, while I actually shared many of the same political views as my SF peers, I grew increasingly uncomfortable with the open hostility that anyone challenging those views would face. In many ways, I found it harder to be an open minded left leaning atheist in SF than a left leaning atheist in Texas. The hypocrisy I saw on display was very disillusioning. For all the talk about SF being progressive and tolerant, I found it among the most provincial and closed minded places I've ever lived.