So say the xian participants in studies described in a recently published article in a professional journal.
distrust of atheists generalized even to participants from more liberal, secular populations. A description of a criminally untrustworthy individual was seen as comparably representative of atheists and rapists but not representative of Christians, Muslims, Jewish people, feminists, or homosexuals
"It’s pretty shocking that we get the same magnitude of distrust towards atheists simply because they don’t believe [in God],” said the researcher, who is himself an atheist. “With rapists, they’re distrusted because they rape people. Atheists are viewed as sort of a moral wild card.”
Another among the six studies found people are more likely to hire someone for a job that requires high levels of trust, such as a daycare worker, if they believe they are religious. They would hire atheists for a low trust job, such as a waitress, the study found.
The levels of distrust were more pronounced among respondents who said they were religious, said Mr. Gervais. One of the studies measured how much people thought believing God is watching makes you a better person...
“The fact that we’re still finding fairly large and shocking results, such as morally equating rapists and atheists, is pretty remarkable,” he said.
A forthcoming set of his studies suggests prejudice against atheists can be reduced if people are reminded of other non-religious behaviour-monitoring authorities, such as the police, judges and the courts, Mr. Gervais said.