Distrust of atheists is a distinct, poorly understood religious prejudice
Evidence
In at least some situations, then, and in the absence of other cues, believers appear to use commitment to even rival gods as signals of trustworthiness. But what about those who do not believe in any god? This question brings us to distrust of atheists, one of the most puzzling and least studied prejudices tied to religion. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 225
Categorization
Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims
- XREF: The puzzle Norenzayan poses — distrust of atheists as ‘least studied prejudice’ — is the keystone for the reader’s Silence argument: the fumi-e converts Rodrigues into the maximally-distrusted category (no god at all) in the eyes of the Japanese.
Related
- Anti-atheist prejudice cannot be explained by xenophobia or general outgroup distrust. (similarity 0.87)
- Atheists are specifically distrusted as moral freeloaders, not disliked generally (similarity 0.85)
- Atheist distrust stems specifically from moral distrust, not fear or disgust (similarity 0.84)
- Atheists are distrusted more than other stigmatized groups even amid rising tolerance (similarity 0.84)
- Anti-atheist prejudice stems from distrust while anti-gay prejudice stems from disgust. (similarity 0.84)
- Believers distrust atheists because they doubt atheists feel watched by God. (similarity 0.83)
- Atheists generally do not distrust religious believers (similarity 0.83)
- Anti-atheist prejudice is specifically about distrust, not general dislike. (similarity 0.82)
- Believing in the wrong god is more acceptable than believing in none. (similarity 0.82)
- Anti-atheist prejudice stems from trust concerns, not xenophobia or outgroup dislike (similarity 0.82)
- Anti-atheist and anti-gay prejudices have distinct distrust versus disgust profiles (similarity 0.82)
- Belief in God’s existence, not lifestyle, drives outgroup distrust. (similarity 0.82)
- Distrust of atheists by believers is one-directional and deeply asymmetrical (similarity 0.82)
- Believers read explicit atheism as a public signal of untrustworthiness (similarity 0.81)
- Distrust of atheists exceeds distrust of Muslims despite atheists posing no external threat (similarity 0.81)