Jun 24, 2023 07:32 PM
(This post was last modified: Jun 24, 2023 07:34 PM by C C.)
https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/ju...ns-dislike
EXCERPTS: Which group is the most ostracized in America? If you grew evangelical like I did, you were told that conservative Christians were the most marginalized group in American society. It was almost a badge of honor. I can’t tell you how many times I heard preachers quote James 1:12, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test.” If you are being persecuted, it means you are living boldly for Jesus.
However, I think at least some of that persecution was (and is) imagined. At least that’s the conclusion I’ve arrived at after seeing a bunch of disparate pieces of data from a variety of sources over the last decade or so.
When it comes down to it, I think the most empirically defensible conclusion is that atheists face more persecution and animus in American society than another other “religious” group.
Let’s start with some data from the American National Election Study...
[...] About half of Americans would be unhappy if a close family member married an atheist. That’s crazy high! In comparison about one in ten folks would be upset if their family member married a born-again Christian. Pretty hard to square those numbers with the narrative about evangelical persecution. To be fair, 57% of people said that it wouldn’t matter if the person that was joining their family was born-again, but that’s a lot more ambivalence than outright anger.
Who would be the most upset? Christians, primarily. 77% of white evangelicals don’t want an atheist in their family, it’s 67% of Black Protestants and 55% of Catholics. Mainline Protestants are the hold outs - only 46% don’t want their family member to marry an atheist.
Here’s what I think is really interesting, though. Among non-religious people, there’s not a clear answer about who is worse: an atheist or an evangelical. For instance, 28% of atheist/agnostics don’t want their family member to marry an evangelical. But 13% don’t want them to marry an atheist, either. Among nothing in particulars, they would actually be more likely to be upset if an atheist joined the family compared to an evangelical.
[...] Islam and the Latter-day Saints are seen fairly equally by the public - about 42% unfavorable and 20% favorable.
Atheists score just slightly better than that. 38% of Americans have an unfavorable view of them, while 24% are favorable. But nearly forty percent are ambivalent. Agnostics are a bit more liked. Their unfavorables are just 29%. But their favorables are 24%, which is no different than atheists.
[...] 34% of Democrats have a positive opinion of atheists, compared to just 23% who have a negative view. Republicans are the exact opposite of that - 34% negative/23% positive. But there’s another way to look at this: two-thirds of Republicans don’t express a negative view of atheists. That’s not what I would describe as overwhelming disdain. There may be some social desirability bias or even acquiescence bias happening here, but I still think this finding tempers the conversation just a bit... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Which group is the most ostracized in America? If you grew evangelical like I did, you were told that conservative Christians were the most marginalized group in American society. It was almost a badge of honor. I can’t tell you how many times I heard preachers quote James 1:12, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test.” If you are being persecuted, it means you are living boldly for Jesus.
However, I think at least some of that persecution was (and is) imagined. At least that’s the conclusion I’ve arrived at after seeing a bunch of disparate pieces of data from a variety of sources over the last decade or so.
When it comes down to it, I think the most empirically defensible conclusion is that atheists face more persecution and animus in American society than another other “religious” group.
Let’s start with some data from the American National Election Study...
[...] About half of Americans would be unhappy if a close family member married an atheist. That’s crazy high! In comparison about one in ten folks would be upset if their family member married a born-again Christian. Pretty hard to square those numbers with the narrative about evangelical persecution. To be fair, 57% of people said that it wouldn’t matter if the person that was joining their family was born-again, but that’s a lot more ambivalence than outright anger.
Who would be the most upset? Christians, primarily. 77% of white evangelicals don’t want an atheist in their family, it’s 67% of Black Protestants and 55% of Catholics. Mainline Protestants are the hold outs - only 46% don’t want their family member to marry an atheist.
Here’s what I think is really interesting, though. Among non-religious people, there’s not a clear answer about who is worse: an atheist or an evangelical. For instance, 28% of atheist/agnostics don’t want their family member to marry an evangelical. But 13% don’t want them to marry an atheist, either. Among nothing in particulars, they would actually be more likely to be upset if an atheist joined the family compared to an evangelical.
[...] Islam and the Latter-day Saints are seen fairly equally by the public - about 42% unfavorable and 20% favorable.
Atheists score just slightly better than that. 38% of Americans have an unfavorable view of them, while 24% are favorable. But nearly forty percent are ambivalent. Agnostics are a bit more liked. Their unfavorables are just 29%. But their favorables are 24%, which is no different than atheists.
[...] 34% of Democrats have a positive opinion of atheists, compared to just 23% who have a negative view. Republicans are the exact opposite of that - 34% negative/23% positive. But there’s another way to look at this: two-thirds of Republicans don’t express a negative view of atheists. That’s not what I would describe as overwhelming disdain. There may be some social desirability bias or even acquiescence bias happening here, but I still think this finding tempers the conversation just a bit... (MORE - missing details)
