Atheists and gays - the last of the hated minorities?

[_EAllusion]

Mikwut -

I'm not sure what those ads are saying. I think some of the bus ad campaigns are more targeted at atheists for them to be more open. I think that is the best strategy to soften people's attitudes towards atheists. It's much harder to dislike a class of people when you find out after the fact that your friends, family, and coworkers are members of that group. I think that was by far the most helpful thing for gays. Lots of people believe atheists are amoral, and it's more difficult to believe that in the face of knowing atheists personally who aren't.

[_wenglund]

http://atheism.about.com/b/2006/03/24/atheists-hated-more-than-gays-muslims-all-other-groups.htm

http://newsjunkiepost.com/2009/09/19/re ... -minority/

Apparently atheists are the most hated group in America.

FYI, the cited study doesn't speak to the issue of hate. Rather, it speaks to the "limits of acceptance" and causes of "distrust" The author of the linked article at about.com, which is also quoted in your other link, mistakenly reads hatred into the study..

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[_asbestosman]

Everyone knows that all atheists are sociopaths and all sociopaths are atheists. After all, without a God to keep your conscience in line, you'd have to be a fool not to be a sociopath. Also, without a conscience to keep yourself in line, there's no way you'd believe in God.
Q.E.D.

Did I get it right? ;)

[_moksha]

When you live with the mindset that you are being persecuted, you learn to persecute. If only all Mormons could adopt the mindset that we are loved and respected, then we in turn could shine this on everyone.

It is a falsehood that everyone needs someone to look down upon. The person who breaks this mold is one who takes upon herself Christ-like attributes and is a better person for doing so.

[_Buffalo]

Buffalo,

There is a difference between unaffiliated and 'atheist' in the survey. But, regardless there are more churched individuals by percentage presently then 200 years ago and even more than after the great awakening. Little bumps in a larger historical landscape don't make your point for you. The atheists greatest theistic nemesis pentacostal spirit churches are growing faster in Africa and south america than unbelief is in Europe.

Again, atheism could be true, but if it is and if it is based on the simple truisms and simple arguments of fairies, unicorns, scientism, one less god than the next guy and evolution falsifies a God than I think the last several decades empirically show that atheism will never, even if true, overtake belief because those arguments are so easily understood and followed it would have took by now.

my best, mikwut

Mikwut, that's true, but the nonreligious are closer to atheists than they are to true believers.

Do you have a source for your figures?

You don't think its significant that in Europe religion is dying out? That in many Scandinavian countries the atheists are the majority?

The simple truisms get used because they're effective and theists have no response to them. But atheism is really based on the evidence - and there is no evidence of any gods.