Publication details
Global evidence of extreme intuitive moral prejudice against atheists.
Authors | |
---|---|
Year of publication | 2017 |
Type | Article in Periodical |
Magazine / Source | Nature Human Behaviour |
MU Faculty or unit | |
Citation | |
Web | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0151 |
Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0151 |
Field | Philosophy and religion |
Keywords | Evolution; Human behaviour; Psychology; Atheism; Prejudice; Representativeness heuristic |
Description | Mounting evidence supports longstanding claims that religions can extend cooperative networks. However, religious prosociality may have a strongly parochial component. Moreover, aspects of religion may promote or exacerbate conflict with those outside a given religious group, promoting regional violence, intergroup conflict and tacit prejudice against non-believers. Anti-atheist prejudice a growing concern in increasingly secular societies affects employment, elections, family life and broader social inclusion. Preliminary work in the United States suggests that anti-atheist prejudice stems, in part, from deeply rooted intu- itions about religion’s putatively necessary role in morality. However, the cross-cultural prevalence and magnitude — as well as intracultural demographic stability — of such intuitions, as manifested in intuitive associations of immorality with atheists, remain unclear. |
Related projects: |