Study Shows Athiests are as Distrusted as Rapists.

[Sinister Rouge]

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loca ... lumbiaHome

 

A little bit ironic, eh?

[sage]

Words fail. Truly.

Off to share this tidbit with my fellow collegiate heathens...

[doggie]

the religion of gullibility. if you believe in god somehow you are a better person even if you suck. We see this with the duggers. they believe in god so everything they do is good.

[deelaem]

And studies say monkeys might fly out of my butt. :roll: I never give much credence to these junk science "studies".

[lilwriter85]

I remember there was a poll done here in the U.S. in which the researchers asked people about what types of people they wouldn't want their children to marry and atheists were high up on the list. I'm not surprised by this study.

[Wolfie]

I'm guessing that the people they asked are the same ones who have such a low opinion of humans that if there weren't rules and laws the world would be anarchy.

[bananacat]

Religion is as much about group identity as it is about doctrinal beliefs. It doesn't surprise me that many people don't like atheists, because we are just seen as outsiders. Labels are really important to a lot of people, and I get a different reactions when I label myself as "non-believer" or "non-religious" versus "atheist".

[Sinister Rouge]

And studies say monkeys might fly out of my butt. :roll: I never give much credence to these junk science "studies".

So you don't believe that a gross distrust of athiests exists? Or is it that it seems a bit sensationalistic to compare it to trusting a rapist? Not defending the study per se, just curious.

Coincidentally, I was told last week that a repentant Baptist murderer would have a place in heaven, whereas in regards to my animal-rescuing, foster-parenting, gay-rights and native-rights advocate, non-murderous Athiest ass, "it would be up to God to judge you, not me." I.E., "you're gonna burn in hell, babes." :roll:

I think it may be getting so much attention here (Canada) because it seems so shocking to us, as we are quite a secular society overall - and where there is a presence of religion, it's more subtle and much less polarizing, I think, than it tends to be in America (generalization, I know, but I think many would agree that religion tends to be a much bigger deal down there than in most of Canada). There are communities with strong religious ties, no doubt. I hear we have our share of fundies,too. But it just doesn't seem like Canadians overall are as... fervent about which God you should believe in and how things should be done. The part I found shocking was that fact that nearly 70% of respondants were Christians, because I don't believe that many Canadians would identify as Christians (maybe as having some religious beliefs, but not expressly Christian, KWIM?)- until I realized most, if not all of them, were from the U.S.A.

Don't something like 90%+ of Americans believe in a god?

[Guest Anonymous]

It looks as though the participants were drawn from the student body of UBC. What is UBC and is the student body representative of the population of the USA? If not, then I'd consider this to be most likely a 'junk study', or at least a very biased one.

[Sinister Rouge]

"For one part of Gervais' six-part study, researchers compared views of atheists, homosexual men and the general population, noting that the first two groups are "often described as threatening to majority religious values and morality."

Both are explicitly denied membership to the Boy Scouts of America, the study adds.

A sample of 351 Americans between the ages of 18 and 82 were quizzed on their feelings for each group. Sixty-seven per cent or subjects were Christian while 14 per cent said they did not believe in god.

The results suggested anti-atheist prejudice was characterized by distrust, while anti-gay prejudice was characterized by disgust.

For another part of the study, 105 UBC students between the ages of 18 and 25 were presented with a description of an untrustworthy person – an "archetypal freerider" who committed selfish and illegal acts when he thought he could get away with it.

Subjects were more likely to find the description representative of atheists than Christians, Muslims, gay men, feminists or Jewish people. Only rapists were similarly distrusted.

"People did not significantly differentiate atheists from rapists," the study said."

It only talks about two of the six parts of the study. It really is difficult to say, one way or another, without reading the whole thing.

[FuManchu]

The thing about all these people who say that they wouldn't want their daughter to marry an atheist is that is many cases their daughters have married atheists, with their blessing - because the atheists in question went to the right kind of church regularly and automatically said 'yes' if asked whether they believed in God. As long as the superficial social requirements are satisfied, many people don't ask questions.

[crazyforkate]

It looks as though the participants were drawn from the student body of UBC. What is UBC and is the student body representative of the population of the USA? If not, then I'd consider this to be most likely a 'junk study', or at least a very biased one.

UBC is in Vancouver, Canada, not the United States!!!!!!!! There is a world out there, you know.

Vancouver is a very liberal city with a very multicultural population in a rather secular nation. And as we know, universities are liberal cesspools 4 ebul. So these results surprise me. That said, there are a lot of recent immigrants- maybe from more conservative societies, maybe with strong religious faith. That might account for the numbers, even among a relatively young population.

[Rachel333]

Yeah, I have no doubt that atheists are distrusted, but if you look at the study I don't think it shows much. Junk science for sure.

[Mama Mia]

Wow .. in Vancouver ??!! That is really shocking to me. It would be shocking if it was in freaking Arkansas or Mississippi... but Vancouver ?? Wow, I am floored. I think of Vancouver as just one more city in the chain along the Pacific Coast -- like Portland or Seattle or San Francisco ... damn, I would not have expected this. I am floored.

[AtroposHeart]

Athists, rapists top list of people religious believers distrust the most

Religious believers distrust atheists more than they do members of other religious groups, gays or feminists, according to a new study by University of B.C. researchers.

The only group the study's participants distrusted as much as atheists was rapists, said doctoral student Will Gervais, lead author of the study published online in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

That prejudice had a significant effect on what kinds of jobs people said they would hire atheists to do.

"People are willing to hire an atheist for a job that is perceived as low trust, for instance as a waitress," said Gervais.

"But when hiring for a high-trust job like daycare worker, they were like, nope, not going to hire an atheist for that job."

The antipathy does not seem to run both ways, though. Atheists are indifferent to religious belief when it comes to deciding who is trustworthy.

"Atheists don't necessarily favour other atheists over Christians or anyone else," he said. "They seem to think that religion is not an important signal for who you can trust."

The researchers found that religious believers thought that descriptions of untrustworthy people - people who steal or cheat - were more likely to be atheists than Christians, Muslims, Jews, gays or feminists.

Gervais was surprised that people harbour such strong feelings about a group that is hard to see or identify. He opines that religious believers are just more comfortable with other people who believe a deity with the power to reward and punish is watching them.

"If you believe your behaviour is being watched [by God] you are going to be on your best behaviour," said Gervais. "But that wouldn't apply for an atheist. That would allow people to use religious belief as a signal for how trustworthy a person is."

Religious belief is known to have a variety of social functions. Past research has found that common religious beliefs can promote cooperation within groups.

Gervais started his line of inquiry about the exclusion of atheists after seeing a Gallup poll that suggested the majority of Americans would not vote for an atheist presidential candidate. Gervais and his colleagues conducted a series of six studies on a group of 350 American adults and a group 420 UBC students.

But even in more secular Canada, distrust of atheists ran high.

"We see consistently strong effects," he said.

"Even here in Vancouver, our student participants still say atheists are really untrustworthy."

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Atheis ... z1fd7JCdFY

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Atheists+rapists+list+people+religious+believers+distrust+most+study+finds/5794699/story.html

[Lily]

This is why I'm in the agnosticism closet.