Global evidence of extreme intuitive moral prejudice against atheists.

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Authors

GERVAIS Will M. XYGALATAS Dimitris MCKAY Ryan T. VAN ELK Michiel BUCHTEL Emma E. AVEYARD Mark SCHIAVONE Sarah DAR-NIMROD Ilan SVEDHOLM-HÄKKINEN Annika M. RIEKKI Tapani KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ Eva RAMSAY Jonathan E. BULBULIA Joseph

Year of publication 2017
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Nature Human Behaviour
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

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.
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