Believers found to distrust Atheists

Believers found to distrust Atheists

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111130100220.htm

A recent study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology was one of the first to explore the social psychological processes involved with anti-atheist sentiments. The study is titled Do You Believe in Atheists? Distrust is Central to Anti-Atheist Prejudice. The researchers did a series of six studies with 350 American adults and 420 Canadian university students posing a number of hypothetical questions and scenarios. Study participants found a description of an untrustworthy person to be more representative of atheists than of Christians, Muslims, gay men, feminists or Jewish people. The researchers found that religious believer’s distrust was the central motivator of prejudice against atheists.

The researchers became interested in the topic because a recent Gallop poll found that only 45% of American respondents would vote for a qualified atheist president, the lowest among several hypothetical minority candidates. The poll respondents rated atheists as the group least representative of their vision of America and that they would most disapprove of their children marrying. The researchers stated, “Outward displays of belief in God may be viewed as a proxy for trustworthiness, particularly by religious believers who think that people behave better if they feel that God is watching them. While atheists may see their disbelief as a private matter on a metaphysical issue, believers may consider atheists’ absence of belief as a public threat to cooperation and honesty.”

It shouldn’t matter what someone’s religion is or if you don’t have one. All people should be treated the same, the way you would like to be treated.