Love thy Neighbour… or not: Christians, but not Atheists, Show High In-Group Favoritism RESEARCH ARTICLE DAVID SPEED MELANIE BREWSTER *Author affiliations can be found in the back matter of this article CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: ABSTRACT David Speed University of New Brunswick, Atheists are among the most disliked groups in America, which has been explained Saint John, CA in a variety of ways, one of which is that atheists are hostile towards religion and [email protected] that anti-atheist prejudice is therefore reactive. We tested this hypothesis by using the 2018 American General Social Survey by investigating attitudes towards atheists, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims. We initially used a general sample KEYWORDS: of Americans, but then identified and isolated individuals who were atheists, theists, anti-atheist prejudice; in- nonreligious atheists, religious theists, and/or theistic Christians. Logically, if atheists group favouritism; religious were inordinately hostile towards religion, we would expect to see a greater degree ‘other’; Islamophobia; General of in-group favouritism in the atheist group and a greater degree of out-group dislike. Social Survey; simultaneous regression Results indicated several notable findings: 1). Atheists were significantlymore disliked than any other religious group. 2). Atheists rated Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and Hindus as favourably as they rated their own atheist in-group, but rated Muslims less TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Speed, D and Brewster, M. positively (although this effect was small). 3). Christian theists showed pronounced in- 2021. Love thy Neighbour… group favouritism and a strong dislike towards atheists. No evidence could be found to or not: Christians, but not support the contention that atheists are hostile towards religious groups in general, and Atheists, Show High In-Group towards Christians specifically, although this may have been a Type II error. If atheist Favoritism. Secularism and groups do dislike religious groups, then this hypothetical dislike would be significantly Nonreligion, 10: 7, pp. 1–15. smaller in magnitude than the dislike directed toward atheists by Christians. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/ snr.136 Speed and Brewster Secularism and Nonreligion DOI: 10.5334/snr.136 2 Mounting evidence shows a widespread mistrust, expression (Uzarevic, Saroglou & Clobert 2017). These disgust, perceived immorality, and general antipathy negative perceptions may be fueled by antitheist writing towards atheists in the United States (US; Brown, McKee from well-known—yet controversial—New Atheist & Gervais 2018; Edgell et al. 2016; Franks & Scherr 2014; thought leaders (Amarasingam & Brewster 2016) and Ritter & Preston 2011), and abroad (Gervais et al. 2017). echoed by bestselling books such as The God Delusion Beliefs that atheism is harmful and unpatriotic come (Dawkins 2006) and God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons from the top-down as these beliefs are readily espoused Everything (Hitchens 2008) wherein faith and religious by political leaders. For example, in 2014, as an Alabama practices are positioned as antithetical to humanism and senator (and later, Attorney General of the US), Jeff progressive values. In citing Sam Harris—’[w]hen was Sessions proclaimed ‘I do believe that we are a nation the last atheist riot? Is there a newspaper anywhere on that, without God, there is no truth, and it’s all about this earth that would hesitate to print cartoons about power, ideology, advancement, agenda, not doing the atheism for fear that its editors would be kidnapped or public service’ (Michaelson 2017). Although the presence killed in reprisal?’—Amarasingam (2010) demonstrates of in-group favoritism among Christians and out-group that some atheist people may hold significant in- bias against atheists in the US is well-established in group favoritism. He further posits that the beliefs (i.e., scholarly literature (Galen et al. 2011; Saroglou, Yzerbyt religion is toxic) outlined in these writings are the result & Kaschten 2011), very little research has focused on of a fundamental attribution error wherein ‘although the attitudes of atheists toward religious groups. religious belief is a situational cause of behavior, the New To be sure, atheists—like other groups united loosely Atheists more often than not treat it as a dispositional or by a belief system—are not monolithic in their attitudes personality defect (575).’ Beyond this, religion may pose or biases (Guenther 2014). There are many atheists who a symbolic, existential, or real threat to the individual engage in interfaith work for greater humanist causes rights of nonbelievers. (Guenther & Mulligan 2013). Indeed, research on atheism In the US, fundamentalist Christian beliefs can be suggests that this group has lower levels of dogmatism oppositional to women’s rights, LGBTQ equality, and (Uzarevic, Saroglou & Clobert 2017) and presumably, support for racial/ethnic minority issues (Warf 2015). insularity (Zuckerman, Galen & Pasquale 2016)—both traits Considering that atheists tend to score highly on that may mitigate in-group favoritism. However, findings measures of feminism and support equal rights for from international and domestic research illustrate a marginalized groups (for a review see Zuckerman et al. mixed portrait of atheists’ biases: some research suggests 2016), they may feel at odds with Christianity in the atheists feel positively towards Christians (Cowgill, Rios US, and in turn, ‘angry’ with Christians (Christina 2012). & Simpson 2017), other studies suggest nonbelievers One recent study by Uzarevic and colleagues (2019) find believers to be highly dogmatic (Saroglou, Yzerbyt utilized the ideological-conflict hypothesis to argue & Kaschten 2011), whereas other literature suggests a that there is a prejudicial bias toward anti-liberal and/or denigration of non-atheist out-groups, particularly those mainstream religious groups from nonbelievers in three who may threaten civil liberties or spread illiberal values European countries. While the religious landscape of (Amarasingam. 2010; Brandt & Van Tongeren 2017; Europe varies from the US, it is important to note that in Kossowska, Czernatowicz-Kukuczka & Sekerdej 2017; this study, atheists did display a prejudicial bias against Uzarevic, Saroglou & Muñoz-García 2019). religious groups, including Christians and Muslims. Such Due to a dearth of prior research in the US, it remains a finding suggests that nonbelieving populations may unclear whether the critical eye toward religious systems view religious groups as an existential threat to secular held by some atheists results in in-group favoritism society and multiculturalism. Similar research in more toward nonbelievers or out-group bias against religious religious countries—Poland (Kossowska et al. 2017) and communities. One exception is regarding anti-Muslim the US (Brandt & Van Tongeren 2017)—found that those sentiment amongst atheists (and Christians), which previous who are low in religiosity and/or high in antireligious literature has indicated may be sustained by the belief that sentiment tend to hold significant out-group bias toward a secular society is incompatible with Islam, as well as a Christians and other moral conservatives. racist othering of Middle Eastern cultures. Taken together, Research on meta-stereotypes suggests that the present study contrasts out-group biases and in-group nonbelievers may also be negatively impacted by how favoritisms of both atheist and religious groups in the US. they think religious people perceive them. For example, in one Belgian study nonbelievers assumed that believers THE PERCEIVED (AND REAL) OUT-GROUP BIAS saw them as low in honesty and altruism and high in OF ATHEISTS TOWARDS RELIGIOUS GROUPS impulsivity and hedonism (Saroglou et al. 2011). In the Research indicates that atheists are stereotyped as same study, nonbelievers also perceived religious people narcissistic and elitist (Imhoff & Recker 2012), angry as highly dogmatic. Relatedly, one small qualitative study (Gerteis, Hartmann & Edgell 2019), supportive of (Doyle 2019) with midwestern undergraduates found dogmatic scientism, and hostile or intolerant of religious that atheist participants tended to believe that they were Speed and Brewster Secularism and Nonreligion DOI: 10.5334/snr.136 3 more open-minded than their religious counterparts. reason why out-group bias towards atheists exists, its Also, the atheist participants espoused some in-group prevalence in research suggests that it is not an artifact favoritism in their beliefs that they ‘do not believe in of methodology or sample, but a dominant mindset in God because they are open-minded and are in some American society. way strong enough to face the realities of life without the ‘crutch’ of believing in God’ (8). It is not a far stretch, SEEMINGLY CONTRADICTORY GOALS OF ATHEIST therefore, to imagine that this stigma consciousness of AND RELIGIOUS GROUPS atheists and expected rigidity of the religious out-group Problematically, from a research standpoint at least, could promote between-group tensions and animosity. is that investigations of atheists tend to involve atheist organizations. While research involving atheist RELIGIOUS GROUP’S OUT-GROUP BIAS AGAINST organizations is certainly intriguing, its sampling frame ATHEISTS necessitates a person identify as an atheist and actively Doubt that individuals may be ethical or principled seek out membership based on this identity. Consequently, without a belief in god(s)