- Home
- Politics
- Entertainment
- Sports
- Health
- Religion
- Society
- Tech
- Money
- People
- Science
- Galleries
Politics
Survey: Americans Prefer Muslim as President than Atheist
By Ilya Somin
The New York Times Room for Debate Forum has an interesting symposium on the role of religion in presidential elections. In his contribution, polling expert Andrew Kohut cites a 2007 Pew survey showing that atheism is viewed more negatively by voters than virtually any other possible trait of a presidential candidate. A whopping 63% of respondents said they would be “less likely” to vote for a presidential candidate who “doesn’t believe in God” (3% said they would be more likely). This easily exceeds the percentages who say they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who never held elected office (56), a Muslim (46), a homosexual (46), a person who had “used drugs in the past” (45), or a Mormon (30). Opposition to female, black and Hispanic candidates is several times lower (ranging from 4 to 14 percent, though some racists and sexists probably hid their true attitudes from the pollster). A more recent 2011 version of the same survey gets very similar results when it comes to atheists (61%), though there is less hostility towards gays (33%).
By contrast, 39% in the 2007 survey said they would be more likely to vote for a Christian candidate, compared to only 4% who said they would be less likely. However, many voters apparently don’t want a candidate who seems too closely associated with religion. The same poll found that 25% would be less likely to vote for a candidate who has been a minister, while only 15% said they would be more likely to support him. The questions about Christians and ministers were not repeated in the 2011 study.
The data cited by Kohut reinforce other evidence showing that atheists are by far the most widely hated religious or ethnic minority in modern America. The evidence suggests that hostility to atheist candidates is primarily the result of bigotry rather than information shortcuts(e.g. — opposing an atheist candidate because one assumes that he’s probably a liberal), though the latter is certainly a factor for some voters. In this 2006 article, I explored some of the reasons for that hostility and also explained why it isn’t justified.
You May Also Want to Read
Sign up for the OV Daily Newsletter
Comments
I find this rather ironic,
I find this rather ironic, since any candidate who is considered to do more than pay lip-service to his religion is considered a dangerous zealot. Muslims less feared than atheists? No, I think this is another story where someone just wrote their beliefs rather than doing real research. Would I support an atheist? If they espoused the same ideals for government I did, yes. If they started attacking religion......no. We get enough of that from Obama.
Seriously, the survey linked
Seriously, the survey linked to is *in the article.* And as for attacking religion, I'm baffled as to how people can say that about Obama. Apparently "not kowtowing _sufficiently_ to the religious right" counts as an attack.
Protip: If I'm giving someone a really nice backrub, and I _stop_ doing what I'm doing, they don't get to charge me with assault.
This is fun, claiming that
This is fun, claiming that others aren't doing their research when you haven't. Actual polls (Gallup)http://atheism.about.com/od/atheistbigotryprejudice/a/AtheistSurveys.htm and research such as the study done at University of BC and Oregon agree with the viewpoints expressed here. And on a side note, the president is far from having a war on religion, unless you think that him not letting religious groups have special rights and powers that other groups don't have is considered 'attacking religion'
And if checking the website
And if checking the website is too much. The Gallup poll has 38% of people saying they would refuse to vote for a Muslim, while 48% say the same thing of an Atheist.
Open Letter From An American
Open Letter From An American Airlines Pilot [CANADIAN AND BRITISH COMMENTS APPEAR AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE AND ARE MEANINGFUL. ] The newspaper stated that a Muslim doctor is saying we are profiling him because he was checked three times while getting on an airplane. The following is a letter from a pilot. This well-spoken man says what is in his heart, beautifully. ............................................................. YOU WORRY ME! By Captain John Maniscalco, American Airlines Pilot
I've been trying to say this since 911, but you worry me. I wish you didn't. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country. But you don't blend in anymore. I notice you, and it worries me. I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now. I don't fully understand their grievances and hate, but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks. On September 11, 2001, Arab-Muslims hijacked four jetliners in my country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and crashed them into buildings, killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children's mothers. The Palestinians celebrated, the Iraqis were overjoyed as was most of the Arab world. So, I notice you now. I don't want to be worried. I don't want to be consumed by the same rage, hate and prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists, but I need your help. As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between you, and the Arab/Muslim terrorist. How do I differentiate between the true Arab/Muslim Americans and the Arab/Muslim terrorists in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, and living in our communities under the protection of our constitution, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter more of the same good neighbors and children? The events of September 11 changed the answer. It is not my responsibility to determine which of you embraces our great country, with all of its religions, with all of its different citizens, with all of its faults. It is time for every Arab/Muslim in this country to determine it for me. I want to know, I demand to know and I have a right to know, whether or not you love America …Do you pledge allegiance to its flag? Do you proudly display it in front of your house, or on your car? Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation; that He will protect it and let it prosper? Or do you pray that Allah with destroy it in one of your Jihads? Are you thankful for the freedom that this nation affords? A freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their lives for this country? Are you willing to preserve this freedom by also paying the ultimate sacrifice? Do you love America?? If this is your commitment, then I need you to start letting me know about it. Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions YOU are taking as a community and as a religion to protect the United States of America. Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the innocent, because I worry about who you regard as innocent. No more benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked attacks, because I worry about what is unprovoked to you. I am not interested in any more sympathy; I am interested only in action. What will you do for America - our great country - at this time of crisis, at this time of war? I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the American flag in the streets. I want to hear you chanting 'Allah Bless America. . I want to see young Arab/Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of money, time and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this nation as a whole. The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. Many of these people live and socialize right now in Muslim communities. You know them. You know where they are. Hand them over to us, now! But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action. Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community close even tighter. You have disappeared from the streets. You have posted armed security guards at your facilities. You have threatened lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from reprisals. The very few Arab/Muslim representatives that have appeared in the media were defensive and equivocating. They seemed more concerned with making sure that the United States proves who was responsible, before taking action. They seemed more concerned with protecting their fellow Muslims from violence directed towards them in the United States and abroad than they did with supporting our country and denouncing 'leaders' like Khadafy, Hussein, Farrakhan, and Arafat. IF the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people, then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up. What good is it if the teachings in the Koran are good, pure, and true, when your 'leaders' ARE teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and intolerance? It matters little how good Islam should be if huge numbers of the world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion. A form that has been demonstrated to us over and over again. A form whose structure is built upon a foundation of violence, death, and suicide. A form whose members are recruited from the prisons around the world. A form whose members (some as young as five years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out, year after year, marching in the streets around the world, burning effigies of our presidents, burning the American flag, shooting weapons into the air. A form whose members convert from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms against the great United States of America, the country of their birth. A form whose rules are so twisted, that their traveling members refuse to show their faces at airport security checkpoints, in the name of Islam. We will never allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for that matter, to take away that which is so precious to us -- our rights under the greatest constitution in the world. I want to know where every Arab Muslim in this country stands and I think it is my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it. A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters who died protecting the very constitution that is protecting you and your family. I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American…but there can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance, and it is up to you to show me where you stand. Until then, "You worry me!"
As an atheist, I can't say I
As an atheist, I can't say I am surprised. Indeed, it is not controversial in society to lie and state that atheists don't exist in combat. It is ok to call atheist combat veterans cowards. Even Dems turn away from being endorsed by atheists. People who base public policy purely on reason and not religious dogma, seem to be thougt of with greaet disdain. Very unfortunate for our nation.
Jerome McCollom
Sorry but I'll take an
Sorry but I'll take an atheist.
I don't think this reasearch
I don't think this reasearch study is material to the time and conditions of our society. Perhaps in 50 years from now, our cultural norms will soften to a point where there is a possibility that an atheist and a muslim would run against each other.
That's not the point of the
That's not the point of the study, the study was to see how likely someone would be to vote for a running official if they knew certain things about said person.
Great, more twisted poll
Great, more twisted poll results. Muslim is the last person I would vote for. I wonder how many people in the poll know much about Sharia law.
I wonder how many people who
I wonder how many people who whine about Sharia law have ever read Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
I wonder how many people
I wonder how many people think Levitical law still applies today? Apples and oranges.
There's no twisting here.
There's no twisting here. The poll is seeking what people would vote for based on certain information (often superficial). Which is often how people vote (e.g. notice how many uninformed or regurgitated statements people say & believe in during all of the political discussions going on.