Atheists As “Other”: Moral Boundaries and Cultural Membership in American Society

Penny Edgell, Joseph Gerteis, and Douglas Hartmann. "Atheists As 'Other': Moral Boundaries and Cultural Membership in American Society." American Sociological Review April 2006 71: 211-234, doi:10.1177/000312240607100203.

Abstract: Despite the declining salience of divisions among religious groups, the
boundary between believers and nonbelievers in America
remains strong. This article examines the limits of
Americans' acceptance of atheists. Using new national survey data, it
shows atheists are less likely to be accepted,
publicly and privately, than any others from a long list of ethnic,
religious,
and other minority groups. This distrust of
atheists is driven by religious predictors, social location, and broader
value
orientations. It is rooted in moral and symbolic,
rather than ethnic or material, grounds. We demonstrate that increasing
acceptance of religious diversity does not extend
to the nonreligious, and present a theoretical framework for
understanding
the role of religious belief in providing a moral
basis for cultural membership and solidarity in an otherwise highly
diverse
society. 

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