Atheists are distrusted as norm-wildcards whose beliefs cannot be inferred

Evidence

This is likely because although religious people might infer that ethnic outgroup members or gays hold norms that differ from their own, atheists might be seen as holding norms that are directly antithetical to their own. Or, it could be that atheists may be distrusted because people are unsure what exactly atheists believe. A Christian or a Hindu, for example, might be able to infer some of the norms of a Muslim, but an atheist might be viewed as a wildcard; religious people might distrust atheists not only for the norms they are perceived to follow, but also for their perceived lack of norms. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 295

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘wildcard/no norms’ framing parallels the reader’s fumi-e analysis: both hinge on observable signals of belief commitment; an atheist offers none to read. — connects to: Atheists remain the only American group that cannot win majority approval; Atheism is perceived as a public threat to cooperation, not a private belief; Atheists are intuitively distrusted as much as convicted rapists (+6 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 295

Broader Connections

• American atheist distrust stems from anomalous high religiosity #corroborates (0.82) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 306
• An unlikely mechanism reduces atheist distrust even among believers #responds-to (0.75)
• Cross-national correlations cannot establish causal direction for atheist distrust #qualifies (0.72)