The War On Non-Belief

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

While fundamentalist Christians want the world to think that Christianity is a minority religion constantly under attack, nothing could be further from the truth.

And all you have to do is realize the truth is answer this question: Could an atheist be elected to office?

The truth is that religion – espcially Christianity – is alive and well and the majority viewpoint in this country.  And everyone knows it.

So if anything is "under attack", it’s atheism.

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.

And here’s the not surprising part:

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.