December 6, 2011
A recent study from the University of British Columbia shows that atheists are the most distrusted group in North America and suggests that in certain situations, atheists are less trusted than rapists, the Christian Post reports. "Where there are religions minorities -- that is, in most of the world -- atheists are among the least trusted people," said Will Gervais, lead author of the study. Participants of one study said atheists more closely matched the description of an "untrustworthy person" than Muslims, Jews, Christians, feminists or homosexual men. The only people that were counted nearly as untrustworthy as atheists were rapists, who the study described as an "ambiguously distrusted group." Respondents also said atheists were the group who least identified with their vision for America, and only 45 percent would vote for an atheist presidential candidate. Interestingly, the Secular Coalition for America claims there are 28 atheists in Congress, but only Calif. Rep. Pete Stark has gone public with his nonbelief.
