America Hates Atheists

Just came across a fascinating article by Penny Edgell and colleagues in Minnesota's Department of Sociology. Their recent survey of 2,000 plus households suggests Americans are more uncomfortable with allowing their children to marry an athiest than any other non-Christian group. Quite a fascinating finding in light of the dormant controversy about America's "culture wars." It raises fascinating questions, for example, about why we may be more comfortable with difference than undifferentiation. If this were the case, it opens fascinating new directions for the study of secularization-- one would want to know, for example, whether similar patterns are emerging in other secularized democracies (notably Western Europe). Somewhere Durkheim just rolled his eyes.

From Edgell et al.:

Table 1. Public and Private Acceptance, Ranked Groups

This Group Does Not At All Agree with My Vision of American Society
—Atheist 39.6
—Muslim 26.3
—Homosexual 22.6
—Conservative Christian 13.5
—Recent Immigrant 12.5
—Hispanic 7.6
—Jew 7.4
—Asian American 7.0
—African American 4.6
—White American 2.2

I Would Disapprove if My Child Wanted to Marry a Member of This Group
—Atheist 47.6
—Muslim 33.5
—African American 27.2
—Asian American 18.5
—Hispanic 18.5
—Jew 11.8
—Conservative Christian 6.9
—White 2.3

Source: American Mosaic Project Survey, 2003.