Atheists identified as America’s most distrusted minority

[moobu2]

digby posted this today..Thought people here would be interested.

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (3/20/2006) -- American’s increasing acceptance of religious diversity doesn’t extend to those who don’t believe in a god, according to a national survey by researchers in the University of Minnesota’s department of sociology.

From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in “sharing their vision of American society.” Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.

Even though atheists are few in number, not formally organized and relatively hard to publicly identify, they are seen as a threat to the American way of life by a large portion of the American public. “Atheists, who account for about 3 percent of the U.S. population, offer a glaring exception to the rule of increasing social tolerance over the last 30 years,” says Penny Edgell, associate sociology professor and the study’s lead researcher.

Edgell also argues that today’s atheists play the role that Catholics, Jews and communists have played in the past—they offer a symbolic moral boundary to membership in American society. “It seems most Americans believe that diversity is fine, as long as every one shares a common ‘core’ of values that make them trustworthy—and in America, that ‘core’ has historically been religious,” says Edgell. Many of the study’s respondents associated atheism with an array of moral indiscretions ranging from criminal behavior to rampant materialism and cultural elitism.

http://www.ur.umn.edu/FMPro?-db=releases&-lay=web&-format=umnnewsreleases/releasesdetail.html&ID=2816&-Find

[Hissyspit]

1. Blatant stupidity.

[moobu2]

5. An important point in the study

The more education a person is, the more accepting of atheists they are..

The researchers also found acceptance or rejection of atheists is related not only to personal religiosity, but also to one’s exposure to diversity, education and political orientation—with more educated, East and West Coast Americans more accepting of atheists than their Midwestern counterparts.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. I believe in God, yet I find atheists to be among the best people

I think Americans grow and more close-minded every day. It saddens me.

[cliss]

10. Same here. I would rather take

an Atheist, than a Christian Fundmentalist, any day.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. I used to think I was an atheist

atheist

adj : related to or characterized by or given to atheism; "atheist leanings" n : someone who denies the existence of god


then I realized I was realy an agnostic

ag·nos·tic
n.

1.
a.One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.
b.One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.
2.One who is doubtful or noncommittal about something.



I promise I'm not a threat to society. I have excellent morals. :)

[Hissyspit]

7. I imagine most who answered the study couldn't differentiate the two.

And therefore would lump atheist/agnostic together.

I consider myself atheist because under close scrutiny the concept of God doesn't really make sense, but ultimately, of course, it really is unknowable - that is part of the concept of God - anything you could figure out God would possibly be manipulating your perceptions.

[Warpy]

4. Funny, since atheists tend to watch their food stamps

around anybody who feels the need to tell the world what a great Christian he or she is, probably because showing it is too much trouble.

I guess the type of believer who thinks only using their religion like a club to batter all those "other" people with so they won't misbehave can't possibly conceive of people who are joyous and ethical because of who they are, not because of some threat from a god.

[oneighty]

6. Godless people I have known

give much and expect nothing in return.

Their givings are totally free of bindings.

180

[mitchum]

8. They associate atheism with criminal behavior, but just how many...

self-professed atheists are sitting on death row or serving life sentences for brutal murders? Sorry, but I think the skygod-worshiping christians have us beat there.

[donco6]

9. Common misperception.

They believe that if you don't believe in God, you must not have any morals. Which may be true. But that doesn't mean we don't have ethics. Which are superior to morals any day of the week.

[rzemanfl]

11. So, as long as you have an imaginary friend to help you out, you

are okay, even if your imaginary friend tells you that you should kill people who have different imaginary friends than you do and that only people who have the same imaginary friend you do will live forever?

If a business had never produced a tangible result from its product in 2,000 years, would it stay in business and own lots of property?

[ladjf]

12. This is a clear indication that the ones interviewed knew nothing

about the values of most atheists. Personally, I would trust an atheist airline pilot, brain surgeon or even stock broker more than a devoutly religious professional, since I would presume that they would be more likely to objectively deal with the issues at hand.

[400Years]

13. There are probably way more atheists than people know.