Washington, Dec 1 (ANI): Distrust is the central motivating factor behind why religious people dislike atheists, a new study has found.
The study conducted by Will Gervais and his team of psychologists from the University of British Columbia is among the first explorations of the social psychological processes underlying anti-atheist sentiments.
"Where there are religious majorities - that is, in most of the world - atheists are among the least trusted people," Gervais said.
"With more than half a billion atheists worldwide, this prejudice has the potential to affect a substantial number of people," he said.
The researchers conducted a series of six studies with 350 American adults and nearly 420 university students in Canada, posing a number of hypothetical questions and scenarios to the groups.
In one study, participants found a description of an untrustworthy person to be more representative of atheists than of Christians, Muslims, gay men, feminists or Jewish people. Only rapists were distrusted to a comparable degree.
The researchers concluded that religious believer's distrust, rather than dislike or disgust, was the central motivator of prejudice against atheists, adding that these studies offer important clues on how to combat this prejudice.
Ara Norenzayan, the co-author of the study said that one motivation for the research was a Gallup poll that found that only 45 percent of American respondents would vote for a qualified atheist president. The figure was the lowest among several hypothetical minority candidates.
Poll respondents rated atheists as the group that least agrees with their vision of America, and that they would most disapprove of their children marrying.
According to the researchers, the religious behaviours of others may provide believers with important social cues.
"Outward displays of belief in God may be viewed as a proxy for trustworthiness, particularly by religious believers who think that people behave better if they feel that God is watching them," Norenzayan said.
"While atheists may see their disbelief as a private matter on a metaphysical issue, believers may consider atheists' absence of belief as a public threat to cooperation and honesty," Norenzayan added.
The study has been published in online in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. (ANI)
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