The Limits of Antiatheist Prejudice

Abstract

People tend to perceive atheists as being immoral. We tested whether this perception also applies to moral transgressions against animals. Study 1 ( N = 288) and Study 2 ( N = 306, pre-registered) utilized a conjunction fallacy paradigm to show that people attributed harming animals most frequently to criminals, then to God-believers, and least often to nonbelievers. Study 3 ( N = 248, pre-registered) used a job-choice paradigm and found that people choose a God-believer over an atheist for a job involving animal harm because the God-believer was supposed to hold a more hierarchical view of the relationship between humans and animals than the atheist. Consequently, we discuss the limits of antiatheist prejudice in the domain of human–animal interactions.