Simple. Atheists are demonized (yes, I mean literally) by theists. Who else but the devil could be so wicked as to deny god? The fact that we don't believe in devils either doesn't seem to matter...
It's nice to see that the Jews get a high rating, as opposed to only couple of generations ago. (And don't forget: there's probably more than a few atheists hiding in that group ;-).
I wonder what the equivalent Canadian figures would look like? I expect that the Baptist/Evangelical/fundy ranking would be lower, partly because there are fewer of them here (I assume a fair chunk of the "positive" in each group comes from its own members), and partly because, well, the Canadian temperament seems to lean away from that kind of religion towards liberal religion and non-belief.
In addition to being an atheist and secularist blogger, I have also been on a blogging crusade against the Cult of Scientology. Given these mutually relevant areas of focus and my promotion of the article on Digg, Reddit, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and the Enturbulation.Org Scientology activist webpage, the post got a LOT of traffic (thus far it's been viewed well over 2,000 times) and received 247 Diggs.
9 comments :
we have a long way to go to catch up with the Methodists.
All you need to do is tell more people that Bush is a Methodist...that'll cost us half our lead.
I'm still shocked that atheists are the seen that negatively. I just can't wrap my mind around that one.
Simple. Atheists are demonized (yes, I mean literally) by theists. Who else but the devil could be so wicked as to deny god? The fact that we don't believe in devils either doesn't seem to matter...
That 45% of Americans who have negative opinions about atheists is just about identical to the percentage who are young-Earth creationists.
In other words, non-wackos are at worst neutral.
Congratulations on beating the Scientologists.
It's nice to see that the Jews get a high rating, as opposed to only couple of generations ago. (And don't forget: there's probably more than a few atheists hiding in that group ;-).
I wonder what the equivalent Canadian figures would look like? I expect that the Baptist/Evangelical/fundy ranking would be lower, partly because there are fewer of them here (I assume a fair chunk of the "positive" in each group comes from its own members), and partly because, well, the Canadian temperament seems to lean away from that kind of religion towards liberal religion and non-belief.
Do people really get paid to go around asking folks if they hate the Muslims or love the Jews this year? It sounds like a Monty Python sketch.
Eat your heart out, Tom Cruise.
Never mind the Methodists, we're still 'way behind the Muslims fer cryen out loud.
I linked this story at
http://theframeproblem.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/atheism-no-longer-the-most-despised-group-in-america-thanks-scientology/
In addition to being an atheist and secularist blogger, I have also been on a blogging crusade against the Cult of Scientology. Given these mutually relevant areas of focus and my promotion of the article on Digg, Reddit, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and the Enturbulation.Org Scientology activist webpage, the post got a LOT of traffic (thus far it's been viewed well over 2,000 times) and received 247 Diggs.
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