Cross-national correlations cannot establish causal direction for atheist distrust

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 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Atheism is perceived as a public threat to cooperation, not a private belief; Atheists are distrusted as norm-wildcards whose beliefs cannot be inferred — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 295; Perceived atheist prevalence directly reduces anti-atheist prejudice across nations and experiments — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 312 (+1 more)

Related

• An unlikely mechanism reduces atheist distrust even among believers (similarity 0.93)
• Anti-atheist prejudice stems from trust concerns, not xenophobia or outgroup dislike (similarity 0.91)
• Belief-centered religions generate more prejudice against atheists than practice-centered ones (similarity 0.90)
• 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)
• Atheism is perceived as a public threat to cooperation, not a private belief (similarity 0.87)
• Perceived atheist prevalence directly reduces anti-atheist prejudice across nations and experiments (similarity 0.86)
• Atheists are distrusted as norm-wildcards whose beliefs cannot be inferred (similarity 0.85)
• Atheists are distrusted more than other stigmatized groups even amid rising tolerance (similarity 0.83)
• Distrust of atheists persists even among mildly religious secularized Canadians (similarity 0.83)
• Atheist distrust stems specifically from moral distrust, not fear or disgust (similarity 0.83)
• Atheists generally do not distrust religious believers (similarity 0.82)
• Nonbelievers show mild trust toward believers while believers trust only their own (similarity 0.82)
• Anti-atheist prejudice tracks wherever religious majorities dominate (similarity 0.82)
• Distrust of atheists by believers is one-directional and deeply asymmetrical (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

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