Atheists in America are the most widely mistrusted group

hey you have not seen the roaches under the cabnets at my house they scare the hell out of my pitbull. plus they have switchblades

I was about to make the same point.

Old news.

The only reason I think the author called it recent is potentially because it's among the most recent studies of it's kind done. I don't know that for sure, I'm just hazarding a guess.

I was afraid that this had possibly been posted before, but the search I did before uploading the article yielded no results. :(

you think society has changed so much in 3 years?

YEP!

Very nice post. Was going to post something but can't beat this!

I think some people may have a problem with athiest's when they make posts like the one you have. Calling those you disagree with fucking retards is a poor way of trying to show that your view is above anothers.

^ When you get right down to it, there is just no other way to put it.

"Because the vast majority of Americans claim to believe in an invisible man in the sky; they are fucking retards! They are too stupid to question their mythological beliefs in any way and it scares them shitless when other people do."

You just answered your own question, but you're so high on your own self-righteousness you don't even realize it. You are the reason that Atheists are having a hard time being treated equally, and why there will continue to be violent encounters between people like you and people like me.

Please grow up.

While Neutron might have been a little overzealous this line is still 100% true "They are too stupid to question their mythological beliefs in any way and it scares them shitless when other people do." Honestly if Christians spent anytime actually questioning what is taught in the bible they wouldnt be Christians... they'd be atheists. This ties in with the fact that LESS THAN HALF of the US population "believes" in evolution. Its totally absurd.

The truth hurts.Pft.

I also agree that perhaps Nuetron was over the top, but AGREE 100%

By the way - he wasn't over the top for me. I believe he was over the top for the good, virgin eared, phoney-ass, delusion, fucktard, can't handle the truth and are more moral than anybody else x-tians. Jus' sayin'.

I don't know how these posts always explode into one monumental fight between atheists and theists on this website. Honestly, you would think people would just vote it down (this same story has been posted before) and move along.

The fact is, it's just as impossible to prove God's existence as it is his/her non-existence. I won't even get into all of the philosophical arguments that can go either way, it's just an argument that we as human beings are apparently not going to grow tired of.

While it's true there are plenty of nut-jobs that believe in God and won't submit to simple logic, but there is also an abundance of atheists that are just as stubborn and just as headstrong about their beliefs. There's nothing wrong with passion, but when you start questioning people's beliefs (on either side of the fence) in such a manner as neutron did, the intelligent human being should not be surprised if he or she walks away bleeding. Just be mature about it, atheists and theists alike.

Ares I know the truth hurts but the fact of the matter is I don't have to prove "god" doesn't exist I'm not make the outlandish claims of a mental patient. How do you know Zeus doesn't exist how have you disproven the gods you don't believe in? If you can't disprove them then how you can you talk from a position of authority. You don't have an argument on the issues you're just trying too discount my facts because you don't like the way I presented them. Well, be-low me.

Atheists aren't mistrusted by religious morons because they talk mean to them. Real religious people can't be baited by unkind words they bless their enemies. Only religious poseurs react with anything other than blessings when they feel threatened.

No, atheists are reviled because of their refusal to listen to superstitous bullshit or pretend like the "Easter bunny" is real. You can't reason with fools that believe in mythology because that is a fool's errand.

Are there any other atheists, here, that are embarrassed to have n-activation defending their case?

I believe in God. There is nothing you can say to me that will shake that faith. Ever. I do not resent you for not believing in God, but I do pity your fruitless anger and aggression.

You are content to compare the existence of God to that of the Easter Bunny or Santa Clause (sorry if there are any minors on this website), but there are plenty of facts that you are equally content to ignore:

What happened before the big bang? Are you OK with the suggestion that it is impossible for "nothing" to exist, and therefore creationism is a logical fallacy? Well who says "nothing" can't exist? What occupies the space between protons and neutrons in the vacuum of space? I'll allow you to introduce theoretical concepts like quarks and maybe even string theory (no matter how impossible they are to prove), but what about beyond that? EVERYTHING is made out of something. Everything.

Consider this: we are pretty certain that the big bang occurred, but what happened before that? You can conceptualize ideas like dimensions colliding, but these ideas are just as impossible to prove as the existence of God.

For me it boils down to one fact: everything is composed of something, and is a result of, external stimuli. My beliefs are such that I can submit to the fact that there are things out there that are way over my head, way beyond the comprehension of all human beings. You cannot submit to this fact. For that, I believe that you are the ignorant one. I don't resent you for it, it's just amusing to me that you are so headstrong in your dismissal of God, and are yet so hesitant to probe into the mysteries of science and your own existence. Atheists are the ones that are content with ignorance, not theists.

"Atheists are the ones that are content with ignorance, not theists."

I... errr... isn't it sort of both? I mean hardcore atheists are just as ignorant as hardcore religious individuals. If you really want to get right down to it, no one can actually prove anything. So in a way we're all sort of ignorant. The reality is that no one knows where everything came from and it is likely that we never will. So arguing about it makes me chuckle a bit. You can believe what you want but just because you believe something does not mean it's true. I consider myself an atheist but I'm also a scientist so I need to consider all possibilities. I don't deny the existence of a higher power, it's entirely possible just like anything else. But it's very unlikely (like 99.9999999999999% unlikely) that any of the higher powers people worship today are possible. Ultimately, any religious belief that conflicts with the widely accepted scientific laws of today are possible, but in all likelihood, the science is probably right and your belief is probably wrong.

I can agree to a certain extent that it is a little bit of both. It's entirely possible that my bias is such that I foresee finding out about an explainable end to the history of being (that is to say, the story must start somewhere, with something being created), and atheists do not.

To your point about widely known science being in contradiction with religion or people of faith, here's some food for thought: science can't even explain why we sleep. I used a lot of astrophysics in my earlier explanation for faith, but this one is a bit more down to Earth (forgive my tasteless pun). I can't claim to know where (if at all) in the Bible sleep is mentioned as a spiritual experience, but I do have my own beliefs that are formed by the fundamental principles of Christianity. Science sort of stalls out in a few everyday issues like that, and nobody seems to notice.

Science is perhaps more plausibly the means by which to answer "how" but can never provide an adequate answer to "why" (the big "why"). That is where my personal religious beliefs kick in, and what science cannot take away from me.

As for;

"They are too stupid to question their mythological beliefs in any way and it scares them shitless when other people do."

That statement is about false, biased, and hateful. I don't know why anyone would care to respond to such hate, why they wouldn't skip over and dismiss it much like "Faux News".

Oh wait maybe there care and have more respect for you than you have for them.

I'm sorry, almost every theist I've ever known questions there beliefs. If it's only a translation of certain texts, or their whole spirituality (noting religion is man made i.e. corrupt).

Why you'd want to pick someone apart for feeling or thinking differently is beyond me, they all aren't hurting or against you. Not only that your "half-truths" are just as dangerous and inconsiderate as the flack you may sometimes catch, from irrational zealots.

Further you might want to note, the most widely mistrusted group is in fact the "MENTALLY ILL". That fact is proven in part by the fact, you are trying to discredit and make theists appear delusional.

So the topic is hate here, it's obvious... It's sad when so many people on both sides are willing to make a genuine effort to understand and appreciate one another and you got fringe elements trying to destroy those efforts....

"Why are so many Americans so vehemently opposed to atheism".

'Because the vast majority of Americans claim to believe in an invisible man in the sky; they are fucking retards!'

Comments like that I think answer the posed question.

I agree that the numbers favor those without religious affiliation infinitely more than they have in previous decades. I suppose the question at hand is, despite all of that progress, why is this negative outlook still so prominent? I imagine that with more time, this negative view of non-believers will continue to diminish as more and more people are exposed to it, only to see that atheists are not the malevolent individuals they have come to think of them as.

"why is this negative outlook still so prominent?"

I guess the answer to that is time.
If in the 50ths those numbers might have been 0% and compared to the numbers in that recent survey which might be 10%-15% (idk) the answer is time.

If the numbers are similar to this^, at that rate a century will haved passed and you and I will be dead before it hits 50%.

You can't expect people who don't believe in evolution to evolve......not in a timely fashion.

well yeah its greater now, because were smarter and more logical. haa. its true.

why is this outlook so prominent? you ask seriously?
"A 1995 survey attributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica indicates that the non-religious are about 14.7% of the world's population, and atheists around 3.8%. Another survey attributed to Britannica shows the population of atheists at around 2.4% of the world's population. ...A 2004 survey by the Pew Research Center showed that in the United States, 12% of people under 30 and 6% of people over 30 could be characterized as non-religious"

So, while the percent of "non-religious" (to which I belong) is about 12% and atheists even less, this TINY minority of the population constantly insists that every expression of religion be increasingly restricted. From celebrating Christmas in schools, to prayer, to any and every religious reference in gtovernment buildings, this miniscule minority is trying to impose its will over the majority.

Even as an irreligious person myself, I have found myself infuriated by the insistent and arrogant demands of 'our' group.

It is WE who are "odd man out", and yet we have rude, arrogant, pedantic people like Bill Maher who openly mock the beliefs of the vast majority, calling them stupid for their faiths, belittling their beliefs and even satirizing their gods.

Especially Christ and any expression of Christian religion.

This, despite the clear fact that this nation's greatness has its roots in the Judeo-Christian values of the founders. Every single right we celebrate and defend we have because of the beliefs of those intrepid people.

And all you have to do is closely examine the insanity that is born from atheism and humanism and existentialism etc. and you cannot help but come to the conclusion that a society without religious values would be hell on earth.

As imperfect as a religious society may be, the only thing worse in my opinion would be an atheist one.

The article doesn't specify, nor am I able to access the full findings/details of the research, at least not from the link provided in this article (at least not without paying for it). One would hope that they used results from several samples taken across the nation in order to ensure accuracy, but to be honest, I am not privy to that specific bit of information.

In order for a licensed psychologist to publish any paper using references based on polls of research, those polls have strict guidelines regarding accepted sampling. If that data were called into question, the doctor could stand to lose his accreditation.

Because we are so used to biased polls on Fox or MSNBC, we naturally assume ALL polls and sample data are collected the same way. Sadly, not true.