entirely safe and fun

Yet another study reveals that Americans distrust atheists more than traditionally discriminated-against groups such as gays and Muslims (discussion of a previous study with somewhat different focus on plastic.com). Said study shows that “…acceptance or rejection of atheists is related not only to personal religiosity, but also to one’s exposure to diversity, education and political orientation—with more educated, East and West Coast Americans more accepting of atheists than their Midwestern counterparts.” The full study will be published in the April number of the American Sociological Review. Among its revelations:

• Midwesterners would prefer, if they were gay, not that they are, to become involved with Christian rather than atheist homosexuals, if there were any around, and would like to know if the investigators know anyone who’s looking, not that they’d want to be introduced or anything.
• Respondents with less than six years of formal education would prefer shiny Muslims to unpolished atheists, and some of them already have collected several bright, reflective Muslims and Jews to adorn their nests.
• 62% of Muslim respondents who preferred a Christian to an atheist politician of otherwise equivalent background consider Christianity a “wicked and primitive superstition.”
• Although atheists were generally rated as “untrustworthy,” those with larger trucks were rated less unfavorably than those with smaller trucks. On an item asking about suitability for careers in teaching, atheists owning vehicles with more than two feet of clearance scored almost as high as believers who drive Escorts.
• On most favorability scales, atheists were rated slightly above atheist lawyers.