The writer is only 20 years old. Why is it of utmost importance to finish a degree quickly? The degree is not the thing, the education is. Another year or two of study is not so long. Study at an institution that offers a more well-rounded education would be more useful anyway.

Why choose this Christian school in the first place? Surely there are other public colleges to attend. If not, move to where one is or take on-line courses.

Atheist in Hiding is trying to make the school and those who would reject or have difficulties accepting atheism as the bad guys. Some theists may be misguided or any one of a number of other good or bad things, but belief is not the same as behavior. Behavior is what matters.

A in H behaved badly by choosing what s/he knew to be a place with a system to which s/he did not subscribe. The school was clear about what it taught, the writer lied to them and to him/herself. No it's time to cope with the guilt and the disappointment and change course, er, courses.

Stop blaming others for the pressure and walk away from the situation. Nothing says anyone has to "come out" and declare one's faith or lack thereof. It is admirable and difficult to have the good grace to offer opinion when it's appropriate and to keep quiet when it's not. We all can be cruel. Religion - any belief system really - is a convenient weapon to injure people, stifle dissent or distort reality.

I'm an atheist myself, but to argue with my mother, a limited, mean-spirited, right wing Catholic woman (the kind who blockades clinics) who fervently believes she is responsible for my soul, will only hurt her and make her angrier than she already is all the time. Regardless of how badly she behaves, there's no point to my contributing to the intensity of her fury. I gain and the world gains nothing from increasing her misery.

On the other hand, by leaving her be and only standing up for myself and what I believe in when it is appropriate and useful, I get to learn how to be compassionate and I get to have a happier life, one that starts with being kind rather than blind. It's dangerous and self defeating to allow a system - Republican, Democratic, Liberal, Conservative, Vegetarian, Christian, Muslim or atheist - to become more valuable than people.

A in H is stuck trying to use belief systems as a ply to avoid responsibility. It won't work.