Study finds the awareness of death plays a role in anti-atheist prejudice - Polidicks

[url]http://www.psypost.org/2015/04/study-finds-the-awareness-of-death-plays-a-role-in-anti-atheist-prejudice-33873[/url] [QUOTE]More and more people in the United States are casting aside religion and identifying as atheists — yet[URL="http://www.gallup.com/poll/155285/Atheists-Muslims-Bias-Presidential-Candidates.aspx?utm_source=Atheists&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=tiles"] polling[/URL] has found that nearly half of Americans still wouldn’t vote for a presidential candidate who didn’t believe in God. [URL="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/in-atheists-we-distrust/"]Most Americans think atheists are about as trustworthy as rapists.[/URL] And prejudice towards atheists is by no means unique to the United States. It is an attitude shared across the majority of the world’s countries — both past and present. “Atheists have long been an especially stigmatized group,” social psychologist Corey L. Cook and his colleagues explained in new research on anti-atheist prejudice. “In fact, the Greek term atheos (godless, without a god) originated as a pejorative designation of those who failed to worship culturally accepted gods; and, religious and political leaders throughout recorded history have vigorously inveighed against those who do not believe in God (or Gods).” Researchers have found evidence that atheists are disliked and distrusted because of the widespread belief that people behave better when they think an almighty divine power is watching their every move. But Cook and his colleagues have proposed another hypothesis: Atheists are disliked because they pose a fundamental threat to the worldview of religious people, a worldview that helps them mitigate “the potential terror arising from the uniquely human awareness of death.” Their study, “[URL="http://spp.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/04/27/1948550615584200.abstract"]What If They’re Right About the Afterlife? Evidence of the Role of Existential Threat on Anti-Atheist Prejudice[/URL],” was published online April 27 in the scientific journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. An experiment conducted with 236 college students revealed that people from a variety of religious backgrounds tended to become more negative, more distant, and more distrustful of atheists after reflecting on their own mortality. A second experiment with another 200 students found that thinking about atheism made religious people more likely to think about death. The findings support the idea that one of the reasons people dislike and distrust nonbelievers is because atheism poses a threat to theistic worldviews that help people cope with human vulnerability and mortality. “There are currently 13 million self-identified nonbelievers in the United States,” Cook and his colleagues said. “Despite these large numbers, atheists remain stigmatized, and many are understandably reluctant to openly profess their disbelief in God,” “Given that groups that threaten worldview beliefs are often responded to with increased discrimination and aggression, future research could be productively directed toward identifying benign ways to parry the existential threat that atheists pose to believers, thus mitigating the hostility and intolerance that they are often subjected to.” “Atheists, in turn, might be well served to consider how militant denunciation of theistic conceptions of reality and those who adhere to them, as opposed to critical skepticism and civil disagreement, contributes to their current unpopularity in many cultures,” the researchers concluded. [/QUOTE]

Kinda expected this to a certain extent

Wow it's almost like religion is built to assuage existential fear and atheists remind people that the chances are overwhelmingly in their odds.

This is rather interesting, and the implications are both relieving and rather scary.

-snip, should have typed that out better.

I think it's more a self fulfilling prophecy thing. If you are going to have religious faith, you have to go all in. You can't kind of believe, either you do or you don't. So if you are a believer, where does that leave the nonbelievers in your eyes? As far outside as an outsider can be. Imagine you were part of a club at school, maybe a computer club. And there was some student saying "Afterschool clubs are a drain of resources, we should get rid of them". If he ran for student body president, would the people in your club vote for him? No.

They are a constant reminder of doubt in everlasting life for religious people, death is scary enough as it is. But to simply cease to be after death rattles people, especially those who often question their faith.

[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;47625891]I think it's more a self fulfilling prophecy thing. If you are going to have religious faith, you have to go all in. You can't kind of believe, either you do or you don't. So if you are a believer, where does that leave the nonbelievers in your eyes? As far outside as an outsider can be. Imagine you were part of a club at school, maybe a computer club. And there was some student saying "Afterschool clubs are a drain of resources, we should get rid of them". If he ran for student body president, would the people in your club vote for him? No.[/QUOTE] Agnosticism is basically "sort of belief". It's where you believe in a higher power but it's not set by any religion, basically. I am personally agnostic.

Their fedora tipping is ruining my post-life fantasy! Nooo! [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Shitposting" - BANNED USER))[/highlight]

[QUOTE=BenJammin';47625933]Their fedora tipping is ruining my post-life fantasy! Nooo![/QUOTE] Wat

[QUOTE=MissZoey;47625924]Agnosticism is basically "sort of belief". It's where you believe in a higher power but it's not set by any religion, basically. I am personally agnostic.[/QUOTE] No, agnostic means not explicitly believing in a higher power due to a lack of reason to, but accepting the possibility that such could exist under some unknown circumstance. What you're describing is "pointlessly religious".

[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;47625891]I think it's more a self fulfilling prophecy thing. If you are going to have religious faith, you have to go all in. You can't kind of believe, either you do or you don't. So if you are a believer, where does that leave the nonbelievers in your eyes? As far outside as an outsider can be. Imagine you were part of a club at school, maybe a computer club. And there was some student saying "Afterschool clubs are a drain of resources, we should get rid of them". If he ran for student body president, would the people in your club vote for him? No.[/QUOTE] Going off the school analogy, that student saying the club is a drain of resources sounds like the militant kind that blames religion for everything and seems to do nothing but attack it constantly, wishing it were gone already. Perhaps it's anecdotal, but most of the atheists I know are perfectly fine with it and appreciate it, but just don't believe it's for them. So they'd seem more like a student who isn't a part of the club, but doesn't necessarily think the club is a drain, just that it's not for them. Then again I suppose often it's the crazy anti-theist fedora people who get the most attention, and thus give the impression to most religious people that atheism is strictly opposed to the existence of religion.

[QUOTE=MissZoey;47625924]Agnosticism is basically "sort of belief". It's where you believe in a higher power but it's not set by any religion, basically. I am personally agnostic.[/QUOTE] That's deism, not agnosticism.

[QUOTE=EcksDee;47625985]That's deism, not agnosticism.[/QUOTE] The way I've always heard it, it was the other way around. "Agnostic" being believing in a higher power, but not any specific religion, and "Deist" being the lack of belief in a higher power, but accepting the possibility of the existence of one.

[QUOTE=Starlight 456;47626004]The way I've always heard it, it was the other way around. "Agnostic" being believing in a higher power, but not any specific religion, and "Deist" being the lack of belief in a higher power, but accepting the possibility of the existence of one.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=MissZoey;47625924]Agnosticism is basically "sort of belief". It's where you believe in a higher power but it's not set by any religion, basically. I am personally agnostic.[/QUOTE] Agnosticism has nothing to do with belief, but with what you know or do not know (or could possibly know/not know). Everyone is agnostic... anyone who claims otherwise is delusional.

[QUOTE=MissZoey;47625924]Agnosticism is basically "sort of belief". It's where you believe in a higher power but it's not set by any religion, basically. I am personally agnostic.[/QUOTE] Your definitions are directly contradicted by common usage. I realize it's just labels, and arguing over just labels is usually pointless, but if you go around saying "I'm an agnostic", everyone is going to interpret that as "does not believe in any gods or religion, but accepts the possibility that one can exist", not "unspecified deist with no religious affiliation".

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism[/url] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism[/url] Ita not difficult to look these things up, you know. [editline]29th April 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=unrezt;47626036]Agnosticism has nothing to do with belief, but with what you know or do not know (or could possibly know/not know). Everyone is agnostic... anyone who claims otherwise is delusional.[/QUOTE] Although your definition is correct, saying everyone is agnostic is just silly.

[QUOTE=Starlight 456;47626004]The way I've always heard it, it was the other way around. "Agnostic" being believing in a higher power, but not any specific religion, and "Deist" being the lack of belief in a higher power, but accepting the possibility of the existence of one.[/QUOTE] Bro, you've got literally everything backwards in every way. Let me break it down for you. Atheism - lack of belief in God. theism - belief in God. agnostic - does not claim knowledge gnostic - claims knowledge You can be an agnostic atheist, one who does not believe in God, but does not say that they know God does not exist, or an agnostic theist, one who believes in God, but does not claim knowledge of God. Deism is what most of the founding fathers of the US were. They believed in a higher power but didn't attribute it to any religion.

That was a quick derail

Apatheism represent, everything else is for nerds.

[QUOTE=Rapscallion92;47626227]Apatheism represent, everything else is for nerds.[/QUOTE] See now you're taking the high ground for no damn reason. Can't we all just get along and not give a shit what other people believe

[QUOTE=Jewish Paladin;47626304]See now you're taking the high ground for no damn reason. Can't we all just get along and not give a shit what other people believe[/QUOTE] Was definitely a joke but k.

[QUOTE=Rapscallion92;47625708]Wow it's almost like religion is built to assuage existential fear and atheists remind people that the chances are overwhelmingly in their odds.[/QUOTE] White lies to comfort, dark deceit to control. If folks believe that there's already something afterwards, they don't go out screaming in terror at the dark truth of the universe, but if they fear that pain and suffering await folks who don't stay in line, they are more likely to keep in line since it would be impossible to rage against the universe without the universe slapping them back. Hopefully ours is the last generation to ever fear death, with all the advances that have occurred and the upcoming technologies that aim to fix the biggest overall bug in the history of the cosmos. I myself am wracked with such existential fears from time to time (mostly at night when I'm alone with my thoughts), but rather than place my hopes in white lies and dark deceptions as an opiate placebo, I instead turn to the only true "god" in this universe, or at least the only one that can get shit done; Science.

[QUOTE=ironman17;47626406]White lies to comfort, dark deceit to control. If folks believe that there's already something afterwards, they don't go out screaming in terror at the dark truth of the universe, but if they fear that pain and suffering await folks who don't stay in line, they are more likely to keep in line since it would be impossible to rage against the universe without the universe slapping them back. Hopefully ours is the last generation to ever fear death, with all the advances that have occurred and the upcoming technologies that aim to fix the biggest overall bug in the history of the cosmos. I myself am wracked with such existential fears from time to time, but rather than place my hope in white lies and dark deceptions, I instead turn to the only true god in this universe; Science.[/QUOTE] A bit fedora tippy for me but aye whispering into empty rooms won't get us anywhere.

[QUOTE] But Cook and his colleagues have proposed another hypothesis: Atheists are disliked because they pose a fundamental threat to the worldview of religious people, a worldview that helps them mitigate “the potential terror arising from the uniquely human awareness of death.” [/QUOTE] I have been able to cope with death much much better after leaving Christianity, but that's just me afaik. However after recently attending the funeral service of my dead cousin, I can definitely stand by that hypothesis.

[QUOTE=ironman17;47626406]White lies to comfort, dark deceit to control. If folks believe that there's already something afterwards, they don't go out screaming in terror at the dark truth of the universe, but if they fear that pain and suffering await folks who don't stay in line, they are more likely to keep in line since it would be impossible to rage against the universe without the universe slapping them back. Hopefully ours is the last generation to ever fear death, with all the advances that have occurred and the upcoming technologies that aim to fix the biggest overall bug in the history of the cosmos. I myself am wracked with such existential fears from time to time (mostly at night when I'm alone with my thoughts), but rather than place my hopes in white lies and dark deceptions as an opiate placebo, I instead turn to the only true "god" in this universe, or at least the only one that can get shit done; Science.[/QUOTE] For those of us who aren't that strong, are there any recommendation? I'm fucking terrified of this shit and I can't live normally any more. Sounds weird to say it here but I just can't do anything else

[IMG]http://www.ben-kay.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/jq513f8689.png[/IMG]

[QUOTE=Dejarie;47626737]For those of us who aren't that strong, are there any recommendation? I'm fucking terrified of this shit and I can't live normally any more. Sounds weird to say it here but I just can't do anything else[/QUOTE] Well, what I feel helps is looking up news on the sciences and looking at the articles and papers revolving around human life extension. Hell, when I learned about those immortal jellyfish it was inspiring to know that there are indeed things that are capable of attaining immortality, and the recent experiment wherein that one doctor is aiming to perform a human head transplant looks promising. It's things like that, where we see the evidence that we are getting closer to living longer and becoming more than human, which give me hope that this may be the last century where death is unavoidable. We are finding new advances and discoveries every other week, like that one rare forest fruit said to have cancer-killing properties, or stem cell research making progress throughout the years, so it feels that we are getting closer to the tree of life that in folklore was denied to us after we began to think for ourselves.

[QUOTE=ironman17;47626791]Well, what I feel helps is looking up news on the sciences and looking at the articles and papers revolving around human life extension. Hell, when I learned about those immortal jellyfish it was inspiring to know that there are indeed things that are capable of attaining immortality, and the recent experiment wherein that one doctor is aiming to perform a human head transplant looks promising. It's things like that, where we see the evidence that we are getting closer to living longer and becoming more than human, which give me hope that this may be the last century where death is unavoidable. We are finding new advances and discoveries every other week, like that one rare forest fruit said to have cancer-killing properties, or stem cell research making progress throughout the years, so it feels that we are getting closer to the tree of life that in folklore was denied to us after we began to think for ourselves.[/QUOTE] Maybe you're right, who knows what the coming decades mean. Thanks for replying, this is the first time I've been able to mention this to anyone, and it's been ripping me apart inside, but i feel a little better now.

[QUOTE=Dejarie;47626737]For those of us who aren't that strong, are there any recommendation? I'm fucking terrified of this shit and I can't live normally any more. Sounds weird to say it here but I just can't do anything else[/QUOTE] I dunno, nonexistence sounds rather comforting to me. I'm afraid of leaving things behind or the actual pain of death, but not death itself.