Posted on 03/22/2006 4:04:11 PM PST by dukeman
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL-- 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.
The atheist will claim, "There is no God. I am certain of it."
The agnostic will say, "There may or may not be a God. I do not know and far be it from me to say that there is no God."
It seems like a lot of atheists have a chip the size of an astroid on their shoulders, like Madlin Murray O'Hara and the wingnut who want to erase our nat'l motto and take "one nation under God" out of the pledge.
Do you believe there's no Santa Claus, or would you say you're undecided on the issue?
Are you agnostic or a-elephantist about elephants with wings?
There is a difference between saying you believe god doesn't exist and saying you do not believe god exists. I do not think it is a subtle one but some people seem to think it is merely semantic.
I do not actively believe no god exists which is to say I am not utterly and insailably convinced there is no single or set of entities that might contain the powers and committed the actions we attribute to gods.
But I have no reason to actively believe they exist, there's just no reason. As such, I can be agnostic (there's no reason to believe) and atheist (so I won't believe).
Hmm, the pastor of one of the Mega-churches where I live tools around in a Hummer, so I'm not sure materialism is confined to them thar evil athiests 'n such.
What kind are they enough of?
I don't.
Communists and other atheists founded the ACLU, which is a vehicle hellbent on America's destruction.
Atheists are much more dangerous to the Average Joe than Scientologists.
That just confirms that millions of Americans are numbskulls.
He's dead. So that would be kind of sick.
No, the atheist will claim "There is no god based on the evidence presented."
Certainty may be weighted heavily in favor of the lack of evidence, but I have never encountered any atheist, myself included, who would not be convinced if credible evidence existed. An atheist would tell you he/she does not think a god exists.
Or as Dawkins put it, atheists and Christians both disbelieve in thousands of gods. Atheists just disbelieve in one more god than Christians.
yeah me too, but I trust Scientologists more than I trust the dirty night shirt crowd.
Actually there was a study done a few years ago by a couple of profs from Brooklyn College (CUNY) of the delegates to the 2000 Democratic convention in NYC. It showed that a significant percent of the delegates were atheists. The study was published in "The Weekly Standard." I believe the article was entitled "The Secular Party." You may want to check it out.
I'd be pretty surprised. In my own chemistry department, I'm aware of two regular churchgoers out of maybe 25 faculty. I don't go around asking people if they're atheists, but based on conversations where it's come up, there are at least seven atheists I'm certain of, and I'd bet heavily on at least another 9 or 10.
Arhmhmmm... well... These days there's lots of people expressing their opinion on how I should live. You have a valid point, but not sure which is worse. The atheists at least have fun while they're alive. The Islamists don't have any fun, and die pointlessly.
I think I'll stick with my original assesment.
Scientists' Belief in God Varies Starkly by Discipline
By Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 11 August 2005
02:24 pm ET
About two-thirds of scientists believe in God, according to a new survey that uncovered stark differences based on the type of research they do.
The study, along with another one released in June, would appear to debunk the oft-held notion that science is incompatible with religion.
Those in the social sciences are more likely to believe in God and attend religious services than researchers in the natural sciences, the study found.
The opposite had been expected...
http://www.livescience.com/othernews/050811_scientists_god.html
As well they should be. I don't trust them.
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