American mainstream media have long criticized discrimination was accepted the same day. The version the Washington Post pub- against Jews, African Americans, and Hispanics, yet they've been lished can be seen online at wwwwashingtonpost.com/opinions/why doing an excellent job of playing down, if not outright ignoring, -do-americans-still-dislike-atheists/2011/02/18/AFqgnwGF _story.html. chronic bigotry against atheists. The rarity of atheist-friendly op-eds Of course, the essay had to conform to the Washington Post'slength on major papers' opinion pages has been a reflection of this bias. restrictions and also to its long-standing but unfortunate policy of Having conducted groundbreaking research on the links crediting no more than two coauthors. between differing rates of and nonreligion and socio-eco- Having an item appear on the pages of one of the country's two nomic conditions, I have submitted op-eds to major papers for years major national papers is always a significant event-the Washington without success. After the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell," it Post and the New York Times still carry more clout than newer media. occurred to me that the time might finally be right. Rather than The op-ed's print version alone appeared in over half a million copies. explicitly (if politely) claiming that religion is inferior or that Becausethe Post is the capital's paper, numerous persons of influence is superior on a societal basis, I envisioned a call for ending bigotry read it. Its online impact became apparent when sent a against disbelievers, in the tradition of Martin Luther King's" Letter message that it was exploding on Facebook, with more than eighty from a Birmingham Jail." It would start with a calm but unmistakably thousand people recommending it. From what I gather, this essay outraged description of the problem, back up that call with statistics became one of the most widely read opinion pieces in Washington discrediting the common thesis that the lack of religion is bad for peo- Post history, which would make it perhaps the most widely read ple and societies, and finally demand an end to this nonsense. And it atheist tract since the wave of "new atheist" best sellers. The would be signed by Americans who have conducted social research nation has been put on notice that atheists need to be treated as into matters religious and otherwise. I sent a draft to Phil Zuckerman, first-class citizens. who did a rewrite. , Darren Sherkat, and Linda LaScola The following is an expanded version of the original op-ed, also signed on. I submitted the piece with high expectations, and it signed by four of its coauthors.

Stop Dumping on Atheists (Or, Knock Off the Anti-Atheist Bigotry)

ong after Jews and African Amer- ist soldiers are rated potentially deficient relations). How many openly nonsupernat- icans made great strides, and even as when they do not score as sufflciently uralistic persons host a prominent national Lhomosexuals gain respect, accept- "spiritual" in military psychological evalu- opinion program? When a recent survey ance, and new rights, a major portion of ations. It remains common to comment found that atheists tend to know more Americans still don't like atheists much. casually that "there are no atheists in fox- about the Bible than Christians do, why Those who don't believe in are consid- holes"-try replacing the word atheists did the resulting panel discussions on CNN ered by many to be immoral, wicked, with Christians, Jews, or blacks and see and the like feature the usual sets of angry-to the degree that youth are forbid- how it sounds. One person's atheism fre- believers of various sorts, with nary an den to join the Boy Scouts merely because quently becomes a point of family strife in atheist to be found? Surveys find that they refuse to believe in the . a way that used to be typical of those of most Americans refuse or are reluctant to It would be considered an outrage if Jewish differing (even while atheists vote for nontheists (who vote for believers boys or young blacks were so treated. Athe- tend to be tolerant of their more-pious all the time). In other words, nonbelievers are one have found that on basic questions of ism, and mental health/well-being is minority still commonly denied in practical and human decency-things like extremely complex. After all, Denmark, terms the right to assume public office, the governmental use of torture, the death which is among the least religious coun- the constitutional ban on religious tests penalty, corporal punishment of children, tries in the history of the world, consis- notwithstanding. racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-Sem- tently rates as being the happiest of Bigotry against skeptics of the supernat- itism, environmental degradation, human nations, full of satisfied, contented citizens. ural is deep-set, yet it has slipped under the rights, militarism, and the like-the irreli- And in studies of apostates-people who American sociopolitical radar-so much so gious tend to be more ethical than their were religious but then went on to reject that even Bill Maher on his Real Time religious peers. They tend to be sharply their religion-large numbers report feel- (February 11, 2011) said that gays are the more ethical than the extremely religious. ing happier and more liberated in their only group still subject to widespread dis- At the societal level, we know that murder post-religious lives. crimination in the United States. A Muslim rates are far lower in secularized nations Nontheism isn't all balloons and ice panelist pointed out that Muslims are like Japan or Sweden than in the far more cream. Some studies suggest that suicide too, but of all people the creator of Reli- pious United States, which also has a much rates tend to be higher among the nonre- gulous had forgotten to include his own greater portion of its population in prison. ligious, although others disagree. nontheist cohort. Even within our own country, those states But surveys indicating that religious The stunning anti-atheist discrimina- with the highest levels of in God and Americans are happier and healthier are tion is egged on by religious conservatives church attendance, such as Louisiana and apparently misleading because they include who stridently and uncivilly declare that Mississippi, have significantly higher mur- among the "nonreligious" fence-sitters who the lack of faith is dangerous and detri- mental to society, rendering nonbelievers intrinsically suspect and justifying their marginalization as second-class citizens. It has long been an American political sport to verbally assault those who commit no "From what I gather, this essay became one of the most greater crime than to conclude rationally that the evidence does not support the exis- widely read opinion pieces in Washington Post history, tence of extraordinary entities and powers. which would make it perhaps the most widely read atheist These slanders exploit the anti-atheist feel- tract since the wave of 'new atheist' best sellers. JJ ings genuinely held among the public; still, they would not be tolerated if directed toward other minorities. Almost as disturbing as casual and common prejudice against nontheists is how rarely the bias is denounced by the der rates than far less religious states like are as likely to believe in God as not. mainstream that dependably springs to Vermont and Oregon. Atheists confident in their unbelief do about the defense when other minorities face As individuals, atheists tend to score as well as devout believers. On most meas- intolerance. high on measures of intelligence, especially ures of societal success, from rates of Is all this knee-jerk dislike of atheists verbal ability, and scientific literacy. They poverty to teen pregnancy, abortion, and warranted? Not even close. raise their children to solve problems STD infections, obesity, and crime-from A large segment of scientists is skepti- rationally, to make up their own minds on juvenile and adult mortality to healthy cal when it comes to anything supernatu- existential questions, and to obey the economies, illicit drug use or mental ral. In other words, many of our best and Golden Rule so as not to cause harm to health-high levels of secularity are consis- brightest-people upon whom the suc- others. They are more likely to practice safe tently correlated with positive outcomes in cess of our nation depends-are ungodly. sex than the strongly religious and are less all FirstWorld nations other than the United Atheistic scientists tend to be good and likely to be nationalistic or ethnocentric. States. very productive citizens. Yet they are dis- They value freedom of thought. They tend None of the advanced, secular democ- paraged for their refusal to conform to the to be voracious readers. And while many racies suffers from the combined social ills religious norm. studies show that secular Americans don't endemic here in Christian America. A new and growing body of social-sci- fare as well as the religious when it comes Over two thousand years ago, whoever ence research reveals that atheists of vari- to certain indicators of mental health or wrote Psalm 14 of the Bible claimed that ous stripes-indeed, nonreligious people in subjective well-being, new scholarship is atheists were foolish and corrupt, incapable general-are far from being as unsavory as actually challenging such claims, showing of doing any good. These put-downs have many Americans assume. Multiple studies that the relationship among atheism, the- had tenacious sticking power over the cen- turies, and negative stereotyping of atheists Further Reading sociological Conditions." Evolutionary Psy- chology 7 (2009). Includes the most com- is alive and well. And yet, like all stereo- B. Beit-Hallahmi. "Atheists: A Psychological Pro- prehensive statistical comparison of socio- types, they simply aren't true. Moreover, file." In The Cambridge Companion to economic conditions among First World Atheism, edited by M. Martin. (New York: they may tell us more about those who har- nations (the Successful Societies Scale) of Cambridge University Press, 2007). varying religiosity. bor them than those maligned by them. So R. Delamontagne. "High Religiosity and Societal T. Rees. "Is Personal Insecurity a Cause of Cross- when the likes of G[enn Beck, Sarah Palin, Dysfunction in the United States During the National Differences in the Intensity of First Decade of the Twenty-First Century." Bil[ O'Reilly, and Newt Gingrich engage in Religious ?" Journal of Religion and Evolutionary Psychology 8 (2010). The most Society 11 (2009). Most comprehensive sta- the politics of division and destruction by comprehensive statistical comparison of tistical comparison of socioeconomic condi- maligning atheists, they do so in flagrant socioeconomic conditions with varying reli- tions in nations of varying religiosity. giosity within the United States. disregard of reality. M. Regnerus. Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion P. Edgell et al. "Atheists as 'Other': Moral in the Lives of American Teenagers. New Like some other minorities, atheists are Boundaries and Cultural Membership in York: Oxford University Press, 2007. enjoying rapid growth. Despite all the big- American Society." American Sociological E. Rosenbaum. "Patient Teenagers? A Com- Review 71 (2006). Details chronic bigotry otry, nontheists have tripled their relative parison of the Sexual Behavior of Virginity against atheists. Pledgers and Matched Nonpledgers." numbers since the 1960s. This growth is C. Ellison et. al. "The Enduring Puzzle of South- Pediatrics 123 (2009). driven [argely by conversion, making it a[1 ern Homicide." Homicide Studies 7 (2003). D. Sherkat. "Religion and Verbal Ability." Social L.W. Galen. "Profiles of the Godless." FREE the more spectacular since nonbelievers Science Research 39 (2010). INQUIRY29, NO.4 (2009). Atheists actually P. Zuckerman. "Atheism, Secularity, and Well- do not reproduce rapidly. Compare it to do about as well as the religious. Being: How the Findings of Social Science Mormons, who despite having on average D. Hall et. al. "Why Don't We Practice What We Counter Negative Stereotypes and Assump- Preach? A Meta-Analytic Review of Reli- quite large families have only doubled in tions." Sociology Compass 3/6 (2009). gious Racism." Personality and Social Psy- Details positive aspects of nontheism. proportional numbers over the last half- chology Review 14 (2010). century. Studies by Pew indicate that the R. Lynn et. al. "Average In- telligence Predicts Atheism nation is only half as religious as the most Rates Across 137 Nations." theistic countries. A lack of religious senti- Intelligence 37 (2008). ment is especia[ly widespread among the G. Paul. "Atheists Fed Up? Believe It!" June 20, 2011. young, whose interest in religion and its Available at wvvw.washing- endless disputes and intolerance is fast tonpost.com/b logs/g uest- waning. Surveys designed to overcome vo ices/post/ath eists-fed -up- believe it/2011/06/16/AG Americans' understandable reluctance to ThoUXHblog.html. admit atheism find that as many as sixty --. "How Are Other First- million~a fifth of us~are not believers to World Nations Suppressing the Adverse Consequences a greater or lesser extent. of Violence and Youth Sex So when it comes to your irreligious in the Modern Media En- fellow citizens, accord them the same vironment?" 2009. Avail- able at www.gregspaul. respect as first-class citizens that you dis- webs .com/ped iatrics. pdf. play toward other minorities. It's the --. "The Chronic Depen- American thing to do. [;l] dence of Popular Religiosity upon Dysfunctional Psycho-