Atheists continue to be unelectable in America. A majority of Americans would be less likely to support electing a presidential candidate who is an atheist — 61%, according to a survey from Pew. Other traits are also perceived as negative, like being gay, being divorced, having used drugs, and so forth, but none of them result in nearly as much disapproval as atheism. According to Americas, being an atheist is about the worst thing that a person can be.
A Pew Research Center survey conducted May 25-30, 2011 asked, among other things, how people felt about certain traits in political candidates: would a trait make a person more likely to support, less likely to support, or make no difference in supporting a candidate? Here are a few of the traits they asked about:
Less Likely to Support:
- Female: 7%
- Black: 3%
- Hispanic: 11%
- Divorced: 11%
- Used Marijuana in the Past: 24%
- Mormon: 25%
- Homosexual: 33%
- Had an Extramarital Affair: 46%
- Not Believe in God: 61%
The number of Americans who are less likely to support someone who is an atheist is unchanged from four years ago. Compare this to homosexuality where the numbers have improved: only 33% of Americas in 2011 are less likely to support someone who is gay whereas in 2007 46% of Americans said they would be less likely to support someone who is gay.
If we look at those who said that it would make "no difference" in their support if the above traits were true of a political candidate, we find that atheism ranks dead last. In other words, far fewer people find the trait of atheism to be irrelevant than all the other traits:
No Difference:
- Female: 77%
- Black: 89%
- Hispanic: 80%
- Divorced: 85%
- Used Marijuana in the Past: 69%
- Mormon: 68%
- Homosexual: 62%
- Had an Extramarital Affair: 49%
- Not Believe in God: 33%
If these numbers existed for Jews instead of atheists, there would be widespread discussion about anti-Semitism in America. It would be unavoidable and it would be legitimate to say that bigotry continues to run deep in America. Because it's about atheists, though, there's no discussion about it in the media or in political circles. Bigotry and discrimination that would be abhorrent if directed against other groups is treated as acceptable and normal when directed against atheists.
American Anti-Atheist Bigotry
Atheists are unelectable because too many Americas are bigots — bigoted against atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, skeptics, rationalists, and anyone who even questions the existence of gods or validity of religion. Americans are bigoted against atheists because of the fear mongering of American religious leaders — priests, imams, rabbis, pastors, and others who keep telling everyone that only theism and religion allow for morality, that theism and religion are required for patriotism, and that theistic religion is fundamental living a happy life.
Atheists will continue to be unelectable so long as American religious leaders — primarily Christian, by the way — continue to engage in fear mongering and so long as Americans continue to believe whatever their religious leaders tell them. It's unlikely that Christian leaders will stop their fear mongering against atheists or other minorities, so the solution lies with breaking their stranglehold on popular American beliefs.
Ironically, this is precisely what Christian leaders seem to fear most about atheists and why they are so driven to encourage mistrust and fear against atheists. The only way to get Americans to stop believing their religious leaders' lies about atheism and atheists is to demonstrate that they are lies — to demonstrate that atheists are no different from others, that atheism does not lead to immorality, and that religion is not necessary to live a happy life.
Eliminating Anti-Atheist Bigotry
What's your opinion on how to best deal with this situation — how to deal with the widespread anti-atheist bigotry among Americans generally and Christians in particular? Do you agree that atheists will become more electable when more Americans learn first-hand that they don't need to fear or mistrust atheists as their religious leaders have told them? Or do you think that the unelectability of atheists in America needs to be addressed in a different way?
