Evan Carroll wants to spread positive atheism.

It's a mission that may be deemed unusual and blasphemous to some in the predominantly Christian master-planned community of Kingwood. With roughly 75 mostly Protestant churches in the area, Carroll started the Kingwood Humble Atascocita Atheists to give the community a local group for atheists, agnostics and nonbelievers.

Carroll, 25, is a student at Lone Star College-Kingwood and works as a software engineer and real estate agent.

"The group isn't here to be anything negative," Carroll said. "I just want to create an open dialogue."

About 15 to 25 people attend the socials with men and women ranging in age from those as young as 16 to those in their 70s. Carroll said he realized that atheism was the best choice for him when he was growing up. His father was Methodist and his mother Jewish, and Carroll briefly attended a Catholic school when he was 13.

"There were just some things that I couldn't understand," he said. "I didn't understand how the Eucharist was the body of Christ or any of the other traditions, and I just didn't feel a connection to any of it."

Carroll posts information about his group's socials on the Internet. He said he has nothing to hide.

"We're a group just like any other group," he said. "There's no reason to hide who we are, especially if we are trying to educate people what it means to be atheist."

More Information AT A GLANCE ON THE WEB: The group has a page on meetup.com and a Facebook page. There is also a website Carroll maintains, www.kha-atheists.org. See More Collapse

One member of the group is Carroll's co-worker, Chason Deshotel, who lives in the Atascocita area.

Deshotel, 26, said it was important that when the group started that it was to take away the stigma that is associated with atheism.

"There are a few religious people who think you're immoral when you tell them your an atheist," Deshotel said. "That's simply not true, and sometimes it's hard to convey that."

He said while he usually keeps his beliefs to himself, being in the group has allowed him to be more vocal and confident about them.

"I don't usually tell people that I'm an atheist unless I know them really well," he said. "Evan doesn't have a problem with wearing his `Friendly Neighborhood Atheist' Shirt."

Carroll said he doesn't make a public display to incite or agitate residents, but to show that he is not ashamed of his beliefs.

Carroll often posts on the Kingwood and Atascocita community websites and creates discussion threads pertaining to theological topics and some questions that he has himself about religions.

Carroll said many responses to his threads tend to be antagonistic compared to when he is out in public.

"What I pose are questions to think about or some of our events, and unfortunately people use that platform to bash the group and myself."

Deshotel said in the beginning many times on Kingwood Underground, one of the community websites, Carroll's posts were flagged and sometimes deleted by users.

"You knew which ones were Evan's posts because you would see the red tag," Deshotel said. "And they ranged from people saying that they would pray for us to get out of their community."

But Deshotel said that some users who are not atheists come to the defense of the group.

He created a Facebook page that has 162 members, though most of the members participate online, compared to those that go to the socials.

"I stand by that number," Carroll said. "I count those who have shown an interest and supported the group."

Andy Meyer, a 28-year-old lab technician, said he was looking for a group like Carroll's that was close to his residence in Spring.

"I was looking around and Evan's group was perfect," Meyer said. "A lot of the socials he holds are midway between Spring and Kingwood; so it helps me out.

"I think that the great thing about the group is that religion isn't breached that much," he said. "We stay away from it, and the only time it's really brought up is when we discuss politics."

Meyer agreed with Carroll and said the group does not serve to cause conflict with other religions within the community.

"We respect everyone's religious views, and hope that people can respect our views," Meyer said.