We have been watching the national and international campaign by leaders against atheists, who appear to be fair game for hateful, ill-informed rhetoric. Even Newt Gingrich (who has been criticized for violating two oaths to God in having affairs while married) has campaigned on the need for any candidate to be faithful. Recent polls show these statements are playing to the majority bias against non-believers. Now, researchers at the University of British Columbia and the University of Oregon have released the results of a study that shows that religious people would just as soon trust a rapist as they would an atheist or non-believer.
An article published in the current online issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology contains various studies. One study involved a more liberal pool of University of British Columbia students involved a hypothetical of someone leaving false insurance information on cars. “People were far more likely to say he was either an atheist or a rapist and not part of a religious group.” The author noted “[w]ith rapists, they’re distrusted because they rape people. Atheists are viewed as sort of a moral wild card.”
Here is the abstract:
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2011 Dec;101(6):1189-206. Epub 2011 Nov 7.
Do you believe in atheists? Distrust is central to anti-atheist prejudice.
Gervais WM, Shariff AF, Norenzayan A.
Source
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia.
Abstract
Recent polls indicate that atheists are among the least liked people in areas with religious majorities (i.e., in most of the world). The sociofunctional approach to prejudice, combined with a cultural evolutionary theory of religion’s effects on cooperation, suggest that anti-atheist prejudice is particularly motivated by distrust. Consistent with this theoretical framework, a broad sample of American adults revealed that distrust characterized anti-atheist prejudice but not anti-gay prejudice (Study 1). In subsequent studies, distrust of atheists generalized even to participants from more liberal, secular populations. A description of a criminally untrustworthy individual was seen as comparably representative of atheists and rapists but not representative of Christians, Muslims, Jewish people, feminists, or homosexuals (Studies 2-4). In addition, results were consistent with the hypothesis that the relationship between belief in God and atheist distrust was fully mediated by the belief that people behave better if they feel that God is watching them (Study 4). In implicit measures, participants strongly associated atheists with distrust, and belief in God was more strongly associated with implicit distrust of atheists than with implicit dislike of atheists (Study 5). Finally, atheists were systematically socially excluded only in high-trust domains; belief in God, but not authoritarianism, predicted this discriminatory decision-making against atheists in high trust domains (Study 6). These 6 studies are the first to systematically explore the social psychological underpinnings of anti-atheist prejudice, and converge to indicate the centrality of distrust in this phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).
Source: Blaze as first seen on Reddit
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>but to get good people to do bad things you need religion;
Good one.. APA*
“Those who can make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities..”
and as the whole point of ‘religion’ is ‘do as you are instructed’..
Free Thinkers, OTOH, well, freely think about things.. Go Figure..
Why is it that say, wolves, don’t eat each other? Is it because they have a god to ‘give’ them morals? Or is it perhaps because genetic continuation of the species requires a species to at least refrain from destroying its own (healthy) members? Whoa! Could there truly be no ‘muffin in the sky’? 😉 Could _this_ be why we (are supposed to) have morals! 😉 Amazing that wolves, unlike some humans, need no religion to remind them of the need for moral behavior..
I’m good with the wolves..
enjoy
*Also Phrased As
Well I am an absolute believer in God which teaches me that humans can not be trusted because humans are not perfect. I figure that if you have to tell me what a good Christian you are; you probably arn’t. I have experienced some of the worst bigotry and hatred and injustice at the hands of “Good Christians”. What religion a man professes is absolutly no predictor of his charactor. Neither is his belief or disbelief in God. Humans don’t become untrustworthy because they are Athiest. Humans act according to the concept of right and wrong they learn as children. Whatever religion the parents profess. Whatever religion the child professes or doesn’t. But hey; go ahead and trust the very religious professors of virtue and while your at it, you may as well go ahead and trust Lawyers, Insurance Salesman, Cops and; well; Rapists I guess.
It is hard to do a controlled study on the effects of religion. Have any been attempted?
A bit from Monty Python:
Meh, doesn’t surprise me. As an atheist I trust people based on their actions and my gut feelings (my personal god perhaps?).
Most people seem to be decent enough regardless of belief.
Likewise I believe there is a similar spread of theists and atheists who are dodgy.
I go with that saying: good people do good things, bad people do bad things but to get good people to do bads things you need religion; okay there are exceptions but relion is really good for getting the devote to do just about anything as long as they believe in “a greater good”.
Gene H.,
🙂 (regarding, muffins…)
Mmmmm.
Muffins.
“…a fear of some cosmic muffin who loves you sooo much that it will burn you in a pit of fire for all eternity if you do not worship it.” -Frankly
lol….. Thanks for laugh, Frankly…
Well, we know that theists in general and Christians in particular are always moral, never murder, rob, rape, steal, lie or cheat so it must be all those atheists that are causing all this trouble – they, after all, are incapable of having any moral compass since that can only come from a fear of some cosmic muffin who loves you sooo much that it will burn you in a pit of fire for all eternity if you do not worship it.
That started a slow “shunning” to make her leave the agency. -Andy
Shunning, modern-day witchhunts, bullying, harassment… Good, salt-of-the-earth folks, some of these “religious people”…
I hope that your wife was able to find another job, Andy. Good for her… for speaking up and bucking these lunatics.
My wife worked for a social service agency managed by a group of churches. The director a “paper” clergyman (no position in a church) made the statement that only believers could be moral. My wife said that I was an agnostic and one of the most moral and ethical people she knew. That started a slow “shunning” to make her leave the agency.
And now we know Rove’s new “let’s whip the teabaggers into a frenzy” plan.
Right-wing authoritarian follower personality types almost always wear their Christianity on their sleeves. And RWAs that are Social Dominance Oriented exploit that acceptance of authority to control them.
What rcampbell said. Trustworthiness is not defined by a persons self-adopted labeling even if that label is indicative of a set of values that are unknown. Torquemada was a Christian and he was a mass murderer. Trustworthiness is properly based on individual action and interaction.
Elaine M.,
I am sure the Koch Brothers already have an answer for that…
AN,
Good Morning to you….and yes…that is a sad…truism…..
RC,
Yep…
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” – misattributed to Sinclair Lewis
Have the two universities conducted studies to find out if atheists would just as soon trust a rapist as they would a true believer?
The feeling is mutual.
Prof PZ(Pharyngula) takes a look at the study, too.
The study is an interesting look at what motivates distrust in individuals with religious beliefs.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/12/05/atheists-as-bad-as-rapists/
And I would trust an Atheist quicker than a self professed christian any day of the week….You will be known by your deeds….and what would the boy from Bethlehem have to say about them….turn the other cheek…70 times 7….or take Paul…dust the sand off the sandals…..