Atheists remain most disliked religious minority in the U.S.

[rug]

September 12, 2016

Ten years ago University of Minnesota sociologists conducted research showing that, among a long list of racial and religious minority groups, atheists were the most disliked group of people in the United States. Last month they followed up with new research that shows that Americans still have negative opinions of atheists and the non-religious--and now they have a good theory about why that is.

Their findings are available online in the article “Atheists and Other Cultural Outsiders: Moral Boundaries and the Non-Religious in the United States” (Social Forces). The research team comprises Department of Sociology professors Penny Edgell, Douglas Hartmann, and Joseph Gerteis and graduate student Evan Stewart.

Survey data collected in 2014 shows that, compared to data collected in 2003, Americans have sharpened their negative views of atheists, despite an increase in people identifying as non-religious and an increase in public discussion of non-belief.

The findings of this most recent survey support the argument that atheists are persistent cultural outsiders in the United States because they are perceived to have rejected cultural values and practices understood as essential to private morality, civic virtue, and national identity. Moreover, any refusal to embrace a religious identity of any type is troubling for a large portion of Americans.

http://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/atheists-remain-most-disliked-religious-minority-us

http://sf.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/08/17/sf.sow063.abstract

[asiliveandbreathe]

1. Oh how nonsensical - oh let me ask the religious ones

how they feel about an atheist - non religious cultural outsider - Are you kidding me - LMAO -

I'm not a Muslim so they (the almighty white anglo-saxon protestants/evangelical) have a negative view

I am not Jewish so they (see above) have a negative view

So very christian of them....what book do they adhere to...pray tell..oh, never mind....

[rug]

2. Here, read the full report.

They explain their methodology.

http://sf.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/08/17/sf.sow063.full.pdf+html

[TexasBushwhacker]

3. Here's the thing

Many atheists continue to be closeted, especially in the workplace. People don't like or trust what they don't know. Think of the days before gay people were open about their sexuality. People hated gays because they didn't know any, or rather didn't know that they knew some gay people. Once gay people started livingly more openly, people got to know their gay friends, family members and co-workers. Once they knew them, they found out they are just regular people, no better or worse.

The same can be said about atheists. I don't ever pretend I'm religious, but I don't announce that I'm an atheist, at least not at work. If people knew, some wouldn't like it, but most would quickly realize that I'm the same smart, generous, trustworthy person they've known, who just happens to be an atheist.

[rug]

4. It's hard to hate someone you know well.

[TexasBushwhacker]

6. Exactly

Which is just one of many reasons that integrated schools are important.

[Leontius]

8. No it isn't.

[rock]

5. "Atheists remain most disliked religious minority in the U.S."

Sure, disliked by the godled but I'll bet that the're loved by the godless.

[rug]

7. See #2.

[ZombieHorde]

9. Ha! They got me.

"...rejected cultural values and practices understood as essential to private morality, civic virtue, and national identity."

I've seen the results of morality, virtue, and national identity, and I'm not impressed.