Atheists (and just those who are interested in religion and/or a lack of religion) everywhere are indebted to Hunsberger and Altemeyer for this concise, yet powerful look at the cold hard statistics that emerged from their intensive study. Think atheists are amoral and untrustworthy? If so, that puts you exactly in line with what an enormous majority of Americans think. But is there any way to know for sure? Well, they combine 20+ years of extensive surveying that quizzed thousands of Canadian college students and their parents about their religious beliefs with an in-depth study of about 300 active members of atheist groups across the United States to bring some empirical evidence on the matter to light.
This project is remarkable for being the first significant study of its kind, and it's also written with a warm, humorous prose style and includes a number of helpful graphs and charts, making it easy to read and understand. It also accommodates beliefs in a very generous way, allowing people to self-describe as being atheist, agnostic, spiritual, fundamentalist, and lots of other areas in between. They also ask questions about attitudes towards spirituality, supernaturalism, and other realms of belief outside of strict or traditional boundaries. The conclusions drawn are that much stronger and more believable as a result. Non-believers also are given a chance to talk about what events or ideas lead them to their questioning of religious belief, and an overwhelming number report that it was either a perception of the misbehavior and/or hypocrisy of believers, or a lack of morality and/or logic in the religious texts that tilted them towards atheism or agnosticism. And in that light, perhaps the results of the study shouldn't be so surprising.
Still, if you are among those who think that a lack of religious belief translates to a lack of morality, then the results of Hunsberger and Altemeyer's research might actually shock you. What they found, time and time again, is that when it comes to basic human decency and egalitarian and humane behavior, atheists come out on top every time when compared to Christians, Jews, Muslims, and people of every other religion (whether they are part of an organized, institutionalized religion or just hold a basic belief in an unspecified supernatural entity). For instance, atheists tend to be much less dogmatic or ethnocentric, they tend to hold fewer racial prejudices, and they are less authoritarian. And when asked specifically about influencing others' religious beliefs, they are much more likely to encourage people to educate themselves and draw their own conclusions about religion and morality than simply trying to convert others to their own camp.
In short, if you are a non-believer, prepare to be flattered. If not, you'll still find these studies interesting and eye-opening. In either case, you'll watch a lot of myths being dispelled. And that's always a good thing.
In short, if you are a non-believer, prepare to be flattered. If not, you'll still find these studies interesting and eye-opening. In either case, you'll watch a lot of myths being dispelled. And that's always a good thing.
