Atheism in the American Animal Rights Movement: An Invisible Majority

Abstract

Previous research has alluded to the predominance of atheism in participant pools of the Nonhuman Animal rights movement (Galvin and Herzog 1992; Guither 1998), as well as the correlation between atheism and support for anti-speciesism (Gabriel et al. 2012; The Humane League 2014), but no study to date has independently examined this demographic. This article presents a profile of 210 atheists and agnostics, derived from a larger survey of 287 American vegans conducted in early 2017. Results demonstrate that atheists constitute one of the movement's largest demographics, and that atheist and agnostic vegans are more likely to adopt veganism out of concern for other animals. While these vegans did not register a higher level of social movement participation than religious vegans, they were more intersectionally oriented and more likely to politically identify with the far left. Given the Nonhuman Animal rights movement's overall failure to target atheists, these findings suggest a strategic oversight in overlooking the movement's potentially most receptive demographic.

The Limits of Antiatheist Prejudice

“…According to the Judeo-Christian ideology, humans are superior beings who were created in God’s image and who are licensed by God to dominate over other begins. Meanwhile, atheists are overrepresented among those who support animal rights (e.g., Deemer & Lobao, 2011; Peek et al, 1997) or adopt veganism out of concern for animals (Wrenn, 2019). Being more interested in science than religious people are (McPhetres et al, 2021), atheists acknowledge the evolutionary continuity between humans and animals more than God-believers (Templer et al, 2006).…”

Ideological resistance to veg*n advocacy: An identity-based motivational account

“…This suggests, in line with vegetarian ecofeminist theory ( Gaard, 2002 ), that patriarchal dualist religions may tie conservative, masculine, and human supremacist identities together in opposing veg*n advocacy. On the other hand, though, religious viewpoints are likely to be diverse; religious people may also view veg*nism as a sign of devotion and spiritual purity ( Wrenn, 2019 ), in line with the Garden-of-Eden ideal ( Bekoff and Meaney, 1998 ). Notably, in India, vegetarianism is part of religious traditions (i.e., Jainism, Hinduism) and vegetarians are more likely to endorse conservative values than omnivores ( Ruby et al, 2013 ).…”

Why we should stop using animal-derived products on patients without their consent

“…The latter observation is unsurprising as there exists a strong correlation between atheism and veganism-in one survey of American vegans more than 50% self-identified as atheists. 17 A study of patients at a US Dermatology centre showed that 74% of patients wanted to know if an animal-derived product would be used on their skin. Furthermore, for 40% of patients, the presence of an animalderived product in their sutures would affect their treatment preferences.…”