* Study: Atheists Most Discriminated Minority

No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.
~ George H. W. Bush on the campaign trail in 1988.

It is obnoxious to hear Christians whine with outrage over what they perceive to be a 'war on their Christmas season' while nonbelievers are looked down upon all year round and historically.

Study: Atheists Most Discriminated Minority
April 15, 2006

University of Minnesota study of 2006: (Would you want your daughter to marry an Atheist?)

University of Minnesota researchers conducted a telephone survey of over 2,000 households in early 2006. They found that:

"...Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in 'sharing their vision of American society.' Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry."

Lead researcher, Penny Edgell, noted that Atheists:

"...offer a glaring exception to the rule of increasing social tolerance over the last 30 years....It seems most Americans believe that diversity is fine, as long as every one shares a common 'core' of values that make them trustworthy—and in America, that 'core' has historically been religious....Americans believe they share more than rules and procedures with their fellow citizens—they share an understanding of right and wrong. Our findings seem to rest on a view of atheists as self-interested individuals who are not concerned with the common good'."

It would appear that Atheists have a major public relations job ahead of them.

ABC News
Who's Counting: Distrusting Atheists

THE ULTIMATE OUTSIDERS? NEW REPORT CASTS ATHEISTS AS "OTHERS" BEYOND MORALITY AND COMMUNITY IN AMERICA

"Respondents had various interpretations of what atheists are like and what the label means," investigators found in discussions following the initial interviews. Perceptions fell into two categories.

"Some people view atheists as problematic because they associate them with illegality, such as drug use and prostitution -- that is, with immoral people who threaten respectable community from the lower end of the social hierarchy." Presumably, this might be rooted in the claim that only religion can provide an authentic moral compass, and that without a deity (and the presumed punishment in an afterlife), people have little to lose by engaging in certain immoral, sinful behaviors.

gapingvoid.com
"Others saw atheists as rampant materialists and cultural elitists that threaten common values from above -- the ostentatiously wealthy who make a lifestyle out of consumption or the cultural elites who think they know better than everyone else." In both cases, atheists are perceived as "self interested individuals who are not concerned with a common good."

Tolerance towards Atheists:

Although adults in North America exhibit reasonable tolerance towards persons belonging to different Christian denominations and other organized religions, this acceptance does not necessarily extend to Atheists.

This is a serious concern to many Atheists and other non-Christians -- a problem which has every likelihood of becoming more intense in the future, because of the rapid change in the religious makeup of the U.S. Polling data from the 2001 ARIS study has revealed that the percentage of American adults who do not follow any organized religion has almost doubled from 1990 to 2001 -- from 8% to 14% of the adult population. Many of the latter are Atheists, Agnostics, Non-believers, Secularists, Humanists, etc. Many American adults -- 81% of whom identify with a specific religion -- seem unwilling to extend elementary freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly to this growing minority of fellow Americans.

The good news ...(or bad, depending upon your point of view, heh) ...
"The Secular Coalition for America is the new (first one ever!) Washington-based lobbying organization for atheists, humanists, freethinkers, and other nontheistic Americans. Our mission is to increase the visibility and respectability of nontheistic viewpoints in the United States and to protect and strengthen the secular character of our government as the best guarantee of freedom for all."