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Author Topic:   Atheists identified as America’s most distrusted minority
melatonin
Member (Idle past 6209 days)
Posts: 126
From: Cymru
Joined: 02-13-2006


Message 1 of 60 (299672)
03-30-2006 7:55 PM


Atheists identified as America’s most distrusted minority, according to new U of M study
What: U of M study reveals America’s distrust of atheism
Who: Penny Edgell, associate professor of sociology
Contact: Nina Shepherd, sociology media relations, (612) 599-1148
Mark Cassutt University News Service, (612) 624-8038
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (3/28/2006) -- 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.
Edgell believes a fear of moral decline and resulting social disorder is behind the findings. “Americans believe they share more than rules and procedures with their fellow citizens”they share an understanding of right and wrong,” she said. “Our findings seem to rest on a view of atheists as self-interested individuals who are not concerned with the common good.”
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.
The study is co-authored by assistant professor Joseph Gerteis and associate professor Doug Hartmann. It’s the first in a series of national studies conducted the American Mosaic Project, a three-year project funded by the Minneapolis-based David Edelstein Family Foundation that looks at race, religion and cultural diversity in the contemporary United States. The study will appear in the April issue of the American Sociological Review.
http://www.ur.umn.edu/...
Thought this may be a place for holmes and crash to continue their discussion.
So athiests may be the most distrusted minority in the states.
Changed URL display length to fix page width - The Queen
This message has been edited by AdminAsgara, 03-30-2006 07:57 PM

Replies to this message:
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melatonin
Member (Idle past 6209 days)
Posts: 126
From: Cymru
Joined: 02-13-2006


Message 2 of 60 (299676)
03-30-2006 8:05 PM


oh sorry, I just realised I could post this straight in news
Should I repost or can you move it to news?

  
AdminJar
Inactive Member


Message 3 of 60 (299679)
03-30-2006 8:06 PM


Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

  
nwr
Member
Posts: 6408
From: Geneva, Illinois
Joined: 08-08-2005
Member Rating: 5.1


Message 4 of 60 (299681)
03-30-2006 8:11 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by melatonin
03-30-2006 7:55 PM


What about "non-religious" people?
I guessing that if the same question were asked about non-religious people, they would have a higher degree of acceptance. People just don't understand the meaning of "atheist".

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by melatonin, posted 03-30-2006 7:55 PM melatonin has replied

Replies to this message:
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melatonin
Member (Idle past 6209 days)
Posts: 126
From: Cymru
Joined: 02-13-2006


Message 5 of 60 (299684)
03-30-2006 8:22 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by nwr
03-30-2006 8:11 PM


Re: What about "non-religious" people?
I do find it strange. In europe atheism is a well-respected position.
Moreover, in the UK, where we have no separation of church and state, there is little of the militant christianity you seem to have in the US. Maybe we just become sick of having it shoved down our throats as children.

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Replies to this message:
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MangyTiger
Member (Idle past 6354 days)
Posts: 989
From: Leicester, UK
Joined: 07-30-2004


Message 6 of 60 (299694)
03-30-2006 8:55 PM
Reply to: Message 5 by melatonin
03-30-2006 8:22 PM


Re: What about "non-religious" people?
Moreover, in the UK, where we have no separation of church and state, there is little of the militant christianity you seem to have in the US.
Little but a growing amount, sadly (and worringly). Not just amongst the Christians either - the Sikhs and the Muslims have both showed signs of wanting to flex their muscles lately.
Maybe we just become sick of having it shoved down our throats as children.
So are you old enough to have experienced school assemblies in the '60s and '70s with the interminable hymn singing and prayers? Mind you, that format was preferable to the attempts by the with-it and hip (hah!) Christian teachers to drag assembly into the modern age with acoustic guitars and sing-alongs
Edit: Removed double quote.
This message has been edited by MangyTiger, 03-30-2006 09:01 PM

I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

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nwr
Member
Posts: 6408
From: Geneva, Illinois
Joined: 08-08-2005
Member Rating: 5.1


Message 7 of 60 (299695)
03-30-2006 8:55 PM
Reply to: Message 5 by melatonin
03-30-2006 8:22 PM


Re: What about "non-religious" people?
I do find it strange. In europe atheism is a well-respected position.
It has to do with how they are depicted on the media. What people mostly see are the in-your-face angry atheists. The people who simply don't have any religious beliefs are ignored, so people don't identify them as atheists.
Moreover, in the UK, where we have no separation of church and state, there is little of the militant christianity you seem to have in the US. Maybe we just become sick of having it shoved down our throats as children.
It seems that most of the militant ones left Britain, and headed this way.

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 Message 5 by melatonin, posted 03-30-2006 8:22 PM melatonin has replied

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melatonin
Member (Idle past 6209 days)
Posts: 126
From: Cymru
Joined: 02-13-2006


Message 8 of 60 (299697)
03-30-2006 9:05 PM
Reply to: Message 7 by nwr
03-30-2006 8:55 PM


Re: What about "non-religious" people?
It seems that most of the militant ones left Britain, and headed this way.
haha, true and we'll be forever in your debt for that.

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melatonin
Member (Idle past 6209 days)
Posts: 126
From: Cymru
Joined: 02-13-2006


Message 9 of 60 (299698)
03-30-2006 9:12 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by MangyTiger
03-30-2006 8:55 PM


Re: What about "non-religious" people?
Yep, I was in primary in the seventies, so have that experience.
Had fun with my son. He's quite militant on this issue and we've had words with teachers for him not singing along and refusing to pray.
Luckily the likes of that Green guy hold little sway, more a pest than anything. But it's something we need to keep an eye on (edit: especially these Vardy faith schools). The muslim and sikh lobby do seem to be more of a worry.
This message has been edited by melatonin, 03-30-2006 09:16 PM

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Modulous
Member
Posts: 7801
From: Manchester, UK
Joined: 05-01-2005


Message 10 of 60 (299704)
03-30-2006 9:56 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by MangyTiger
03-30-2006 8:55 PM


prayers and hymns
So are you old enough to have experienced school assemblies in the '60s and '70s with the interminable hymn singing and prayers?
It didn't end in the 70s, I had a hymn book in my assemblies in the 80s
OK, not strictly on topic, but I'm taking a break and kicking back in the old Coffee House.

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 Message 6 by MangyTiger, posted 03-30-2006 8:55 PM MangyTiger has replied

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MangyTiger
Member (Idle past 6354 days)
Posts: 989
From: Leicester, UK
Joined: 07-30-2004


Message 11 of 60 (299706)
03-30-2006 10:08 PM
Reply to: Message 10 by Modulous
03-30-2006 9:56 PM


Re: prayers and hymns
To quote Faron Young - "It's four in the morning"
You, me and melatonin all around - what's with the mass insomnia in the UK today?
I'm going to do my bit to cure it by going to bed now

I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

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Chronos
Member (Idle past 6226 days)
Posts: 102
From: Macomb, Mi, USA
Joined: 10-23-2005


Message 12 of 60 (299709)
03-30-2006 10:36 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by nwr
03-30-2006 8:11 PM


Re: What about "non-religious" people?
People just don't understand the meaning of "atheist".
Exactly! If people ask, I don't identify myself as an atheist since there's so much stigma surrounding the word. If I call myself non-religious or even agnostic, it really softens the blow. From my own experiences, folks seem to think that atheists "hate God" or "are in rebellion against God."
I don't kow if that 3% figure is accurate either, I thought it was ~>10% atheists in america.

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subbie
Member (Idle past 1255 days)
Posts: 3509
Joined: 02-26-2006


Message 13 of 60 (299713)
03-30-2006 11:36 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by melatonin
03-30-2006 7:55 PM


Many of the study’s respondents associated atheism with an array of moral indiscretions ranging from criminal behavior to rampant materialism and cultural elitism.
Hmmmmmm, perhaps I'm criminally unfamiliar with terms of art used in sociology, but it occurs to me that the (presumably) religious people who responded to this poll vividly displayed their own "cultural elitism" by assuming that atheism is associated with an array of moral indiscretions.

Those who would sacrifice an essential liberty for a temporary security will lose both, and deserve neither. -- Benjamin Franklin

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Wounded King
Member
Posts: 4149
From: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Joined: 04-09-2003


Message 14 of 60 (299734)
03-31-2006 4:41 AM
Reply to: Message 13 by subbie
03-30-2006 11:36 PM


Not to mention how hard it would seem to be able to single out atheists as ramapantly materialistic, how could they find that 3% amongst all the rampantly materialistic christians and other denominations?
TTFN,
WK

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Mammuthus
Member (Idle past 6475 days)
Posts: 3085
From: Munich, Germany
Joined: 08-09-2002


Message 15 of 60 (299736)
03-31-2006 4:49 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by melatonin
03-30-2006 7:55 PM


quote:
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.
This could also be taken to indicate another trend in the US which a decline in the overall education of Americans. It is of interest that the East and West coasts where the largest concentrations of institutes of higher education are located are more accepting. Also strong religiousity, particularly fundamentalism correlates well with lower education levels.
I am curious though how they defined atheists in the study..or did they not define it at all?...what would happen if they had used the term agnostic and done the same poll?

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