Summary
Title: Atheists: A Groundbreaking Study of America's Nonbelievers
Author: Bruce E. Hunsberger and Bob Altemeyer
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1591024137
Pro:
• Nothing else like it available
Con:
• Some acknowledged flaws; more study is needed
Description:
• Sociological survey study of atheists in Canada and America
• Examines attitudes, background, and beliefs of atheists
• Compares results with same questions asked of fundamentalists in Canada
Book Review
Fortunately, there is one book where at least some preliminary data can be obtained: Bruce E. Hunsberger's and Bob Altemeyer's Atheists: A Groundbreaking Study of America's Nonbelievers. This may in fact be the only sociological analysis done of the attitudes of atheists alone. I say "preliminary data" because while the methods for obtaining this data may be sound, it is limited for three reasons: it only records information of "active" atheists who participate in atheist clubs, it focuses only on "strong" atheists who deny the existence of any gods, and it only has the responses of "fundamentalists" in Canada as a point of comparison (more on this below).
So, what are atheists like? The authors find that atheists place a high value on the truth, tend to favor letting their children reach their own conclusions on religious matters, are more dogmatic than expected, are less zealous than expected from the dogmatism numbers, score rather low when it comes to authoritarian beliefs or attitudes, and are much less prejudiced (in terms of religion, race, and other topics) than religious believers. Indeed, atheists show less racial prejudice than even agnostics and very liberal religious believers.
As I note above there are flaws in this study, but the authors are quite forthright in acknowledging where flaws and problems may affect their numbers. There's no attempt here to gloss over or ignore possible problems, which is refreshing to say the least. They also give space for responses and criticisms from the people they surveyed, something that isn't too common in these sorts of studies. The one point where they don't seem to recognize a problem is in their comparison of atheists in both Canada and America with fundamentalists in Canada alone.
They observe, for example, that atheists in America tend to be more dogmatic than those in Canada, though both groups are far less dogmatic than the fundamentalists. They acknowledge that atheists' experiences of greater discrimination in America may be a valid reason for this, but they seem to miss one other factor: American culture generally.
Is it not possible that there is something about American culture which could encourage certain attitudes which they were surprised to find and which were different between American and Canadian atheists? I suspect so and numbers from American fundamentalists would have provided possible points of correlation. If, for example, both atheists and fundamentalists in America are more dogmatic than their counterparts in Canada by a similar amount, then we would have a good reason to suspect that something cultural is at work in the background.
It would be easy for a sociological study to be very dry reading, but this is anything but. A relatively short book, it is written with wit and humor that is unusual in most of the social sciences. Despite the flaws, this is the only book of its sort and an enjoyable read to boot, so it is recommended for anyone interested in atheism, the attitudes of religious groups in America, and related topics.
