Atheists and Other Cultural Outsiders: Moral Boundaries and the Non-Religious in the United States

Edgell, Penny; Hartmann, Douglas; Stewart, Evan; Gerteis, Joseph

doi:10.1093/sf/sow063

Cited by 170 publications

(149 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Indeed, atheists' experiences might very well produce struggles in these areas, especially where atheists are a minority. Regarding interpersonal struggles, studies using U.S. participants have found that atheists are consistently rated as immoral (e.g., Gervais 2014), uncaring (Simpson and Rios 2017), and even un-American (Edgell et al 2006;Edgell et al 2016). These attitudes may lead to anti-atheist behavior, as many atheists report experiences of anti-atheist discrimination (e.g., Brewster et al 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much research supports the idea that atheists face significant stigma and prejudice. One study found that 42% of Americans believe atheists do not share their vision of America, and 44% would disapprove of their child marrying an atheist (Edgell et al 2016). A wide variety of immoral acts (e.g., murder, cannibalism) are also rated as more representative of atheists than other groups (Gervais 2014).…”

Section: Religious and Spiritual Strugglesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spiritual Struggles among Atheists: Links to Psychological Distress and Well-Being

et al. 2018

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Religious and spiritual struggles (R/S struggles)-tension or conflicts regarding religious or spiritual matters-have been robustly linked to greater psychological distress and lower well-being. Most research in this area has relied on samples consisting predominantly of participants who believe in god(s). Limited research has examined R/S struggles among atheists, generally conflating them with agnostics and other nontheists. This study investigated the prevalence of R/S struggles among atheists and compared atheists to theists in two samples (3978 undergraduates, 1048 Internet workers).Results of a multilevel model showed that atheists experience less demonic, doubt, divine, moral, and overall R/S struggles than theists, but similar levels of interpersonal and ultimate meaning struggles. Correlation and regression analyses among atheists demonstrated links between moral, ultimate meaning, and overall R/S struggles and greater distress (depression and anxiety symptoms) as well as lower well-being (life satisfaction and meaning in life). Even after controlling neuroticism, ultimate meaning struggles continued to predict lower well-being and higher distress across samples; moral struggles also predicted distress independently. This study demonstrates the relevance of R/S struggles to atheists and reinforces the applicability of previous results to atheist samples, but also highlights substantial differences between atheists and theists in certain R/S struggles.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Religious and Spiritual Strugglesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spiritual Struggles among Atheists: Links to Psychological Distress and Well-Being

et al. 2018

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“…Opinion research has shown that, even as they have become more accepting of ethnic, racial, gender, and cultural diversity generally, Americans across the political and racial spectrum remain notably hostile in their attitudes toward non-believers in roles of political leadership or as appropriate marriage partners for their children Edgell et al 2016;Edgell, Gerteis, and Hartmann 2006).…”

Section: Civil Religion and Bias Against Non-believersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While they tolerate religious diversity, the explicit rejection of religion is intolerable to a majority of Americans (Edgell et al 2016;Edgell, Gerteis, and Hartmann 2006). Edgell,…”

Section: ; Pfaff 2008)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Does religious bias shape access to public services? A large-scale audit experiment among street-level bureaucrats

Pfaff¹,

Crabtree²,

Kern³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Despite growing descriptive evidence of discrimination against minority religious groups and atheists in the United States, little experimental work exists studying whether individuals face differential barriers to receiving public services depending on their religious affiliation. Here we report results from a large-scale audit study of street-level bureaucrats in the American public school system. We emailed the principals of more than 45,000 public schools and asked for a meeting, randomly assigning the religious affiliation/non-affiliation of the family. To get at potential mechanisms, we also randomly assigned belief intensity.We find evidence of substantial discrimination against Muslims and atheists. These individuals are substantially less likely to receive a response, with discrimination growing when they signal that their beliefs are more intense. Protestants and Catholics face no discrimination unless they signal that their religious beliefs are intense. Our ?findings suggest that minority religious groups and atheists face important barriers to equal representation in the public arena.

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“…Religion is one area where Americans routinely distinguish between which groups are included and which groups are not (Edgell et al 2016;Edgell and Tranby 2010). As Edgell andcolleagues (2006, 2016) note, religion -as opposed to atheism in their studies -is a vital part of the foundation on which the collective identity of Americans rests serving as a "proxy for moral worth."…”

Section: We the (Christian) People: Christianity And American Identitmentioning

confidence: 99%

We the (Christian) People: Christianity and American Identity from 1996 to 2014

Whitehead

Scheitle

2017

Social Currents

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Religious identity, and specifically Christian identity, has long been a dominant symbolic boundary marker for inclusion into American society. But how has the salience of this boundary marker changed in recent years and in comparison to other boundary markers? Using multiple waves of the General Social Survey, we investigate temporal variation in the use of religion and other markers in constructing symbolic boundaries around American identity. First, we find that the Christian symbolic boundary both increased from 1996 to 2004 and declined from 2004 to 2014. Second, this pattern was not unique; in addition to the Christian symbolic boundary, Americans used a variety of both civic and ascriptive boundary markers to define American identity. However, our analysis also demonstrates that in 2004, the Christian symbolic boundary was significantly linked to national identity in a unique way while the other boundary markers were not. These results suggest that period effects and cultural events can influence the salience of religion in creating national symbolic boundaries. We discuss each of these findings, their relationship to the study of symbolic boundaries and American identity, and their societal implications.

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Atheists and Other Cultural Outsiders: Moral Boundaries and the Non-Religious in the United States

Cited by 170 publications

References 69 publications

Spiritual Struggles among Atheists: Links to Psychological Distress and Well-Being

Spiritual Struggles among Atheists: Links to Psychological Distress and Well-Being

Does religious bias shape access to public services? A large-scale audit experiment among street-level bureaucrats

We the (Christian) People: Christianity and American Identity from 1996 to 2014

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