An unlikely mechanism reduces atheist distrust even among believers

Evidence

Gervais found converging evidence to support this prediction. First, across nations, anti-atheist prejudice among believers was reduced where atheists are more numerous, even after controlling for important individual and international differences, such as conservatism, human development, and individualism. Second, in a Canadian university sample, anti-atheist prejudice was reduced among believers who thought that atheists were more common, and this was the case especially among the most deeply religious participants. Last, it was found that experimentally induced reminders of how common atheists are statistically eliminated anti-atheist prejudice. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 312 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Nonbelievers show mild trust toward believers while believers trust only their own; Strong secular institutions reduce believers’ need to distrust atheists — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 307; Anti-atheist prejudice stems from trust concerns, not xenophobia or outgroup dislike (+6 more)

Related

• Anti-atheist prejudice stems from trust concerns, not xenophobia or outgroup dislike (similarity 0.93)
• Cross-national correlations cannot establish causal direction for atheist distrust (similarity 0.93)
• Belief-centered religions generate more prejudice against atheists than practice-centered ones (similarity 0.89)
• Perceived atheist prevalence directly reduces anti-atheist prejudice across nations and experiments (similarity 0.89)
• Outgroup prevalence reduces distrust-based prejudice even as it raises fear-based prejudice (similarity 0.89)
• Anti-atheist exclusion rises when trust matters critically in a role (similarity 0.88)
• Nonbelievers show mild trust toward believers while believers trust only their own (similarity 0.88)
• Atheists generally do not distrust religious believers (similarity 0.88)
• Prosocial religious cohesion inherently requires excluding nonbelievers from trust (similarity 0.85)
• Secular institutions, atheist prevalence, and religiosity decline reinforce each other in a self-amplifying loop (similarity 0.85)
• Distrust of atheists by believers is one-directional and deeply asymmetrical (similarity 0.85)
• Strong secular institutions reduce believers’ need to distrust atheists (similarity 0.85)
• Atheists are distrusted more than other stigmatized groups even amid rising tolerance (similarity 0.84)
• Global religiosity remains stable despite European secularization (similarity 0.84)
• Distrust of atheists persists even among mildly religious secularized Canadians (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Perceived atheist prevalence directly reduces anti-atheist prejudice across nations and experiments #expands (0.85) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 312