It seems that during the dark ages, the church had a ton of power, and could cause people's entire lives to fall apart with excommunication. Since the church had such control, was it common for people to come out as atheists? If so, what happened to them?
To start with: what do you mean by the "dark ages"? This is a term that is really no longer used by historians, as it is both pejorative and not really very accurate. Do you mean the entire medieval period? Or some subsection of it?