The Social Cost of Atheism: How Perceived Religiosity Influences Moral Appraisal

Abstract

Social psychologists have found that stereotypes correlate with moraljudgments about agents and actions. The most commonly studied stereotypes are race/ethnicity and gender. But atheists compose another stereotype, one with its own ignominious history in the Western world, and yet, one about which very little is known. This project endeavored to further our understanding of atheism as a social stereotype. Specifically, we tested whether people with non-religious commitments were stereotypically viewed as less moral than people with religious commitments. We found that participants' (both Christian and atheist) moral appraisals of atheists were more negative than those of Christians who performed the same moral and immoral actions. They also reported immoral behavior as more (internally and externally) consistent for atheists, and moral behavior more consistent for Christians. The results contribute to research at the intersection of moral theory, moral psychology, and psychology of religion.Moraljudgments -prejudice -stereotypes -religiosity -atheism © KONINKLIJKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2014 |

Improving the Electability of Atheists in the United States: A Preliminary Examination

“…Christians have been shown to hold wildly inaccurate perceptions of the moral values of atheists (Simpson and Rios 2016a), and atheists are often perceived as less moral than religious believers (Hout and Fischer 2002), especially among those who are highly religious (Galen et al 2011). Consequently, immoral behavior is perceived as being consistent with atheism (Wright and Nichols 2014), which may be especially important in the political realm where various moral concerns have been shown to predict voting behavior (Franks and Scherr 2015).…”

Atheism as a Concealable Stigmatized Identity: Outness, Anticipated Stigma, and Well-Being

“…Researchers have found that atheists are among the least favorably viewed groups in the United States (Edgell, Gerteis, & Hartmann, 2006; Jones, 2012), often experiencing discrimination (Hammer, Cragun, Hwang, & Smith, 2012). In addition, atheists are perceived as untrustworthy (Franks & Scherr, 2014; Gervais, Shariff, & Norenzayan, 2011), immoral (Cook, Cottrell, & Webster, 2015; Wright & Nichols, 2014), and angry (Meier, Fetterman, Robinson, & Lappas, 2015). Further, atheists are generally underrepresented in the scientific literature and in psychology scholarship in particular (Brewster, Robinson, Sandil, Esposito, & Geiger, 2014).…”

Deepening Convictions: Religious Identity and Off-Campus Study

“…We note a curious effect that views tended to become less favorable toward atheists/agnostics by about 5% on average. We find this a notable and intriguing pattern in that an intensive study abroad/away experience with a strong focus on faith, spirituality, and religion tended to produce more antagonistic feelings toward those whom students may perceive to be irreligious and hostile toward religion, based on popular stereotypes (Wright & Nichols, 2014). One of the respondents shared why this might have been the case for them:…”