Research suggests that the prejudices theists hold against atheists stems from the perception that atheists lack a source of moral guidance normally provided by religious belief. Due to this perceived lack of morality, theists often judge atheists as being distrustful social deviants or rogues (see Gervais & Norenzayan, 2012). As theists perceive atheists as morally lacking, and therefore untrustworthy, perceiving atheists as morally similar to theists should bolster trust in atheists. Prejudice against atheists should be reduced insofar as theists perceive atheists as holding common moral values (see Edgell, Gerteis, & Hartmann, 2006). However, seeing as increased moral similarity between atheists and theists should be threatening to theists' religious social identity, theists may express prejudice against atheists when they perceive atheists as morally similar. Indeed, in Study 1 (N = 62), I found that prejudice against atheists occurs when religious people perceive atheists as sharing their religious group's morality and that this relationship was a function of fear for the future of their social group (i.e., collective angst). Of note, this relationship was only significant for participants who had a strong Christian identity. In Study 2 (N = 145), I experimentally tested the e↵ects of moral similarity (versus moral di↵erence) on collective angst and in turn prejudice against atheists for participants with varying degrees of Christian identity. The model in Study 2 did not support the correlational findings of Study 1. The implications of these models will be discussed.
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