I think perhaps a part of the "fear" or mistrust of atheists expressed in that survey, could lie in the thoughts some religious folks could have, that atheists would be perceived as being more likely to act "selfishly" or "immorally" because they would not have to consider there to be any consequences of their actions in the afterlife.

People of religion have/might have//think they have, some form of self-inflicted "restraint" perhaps, either out of fear or respect rooted in their belief, that some sort of aftermath will be awaiting them after their deaths. Be it retributionary (hell) or reward-oriented. (heaven) Kind of like: Atheists wouldn't have that to worry about that, so they migh...

I think perhaps a part of the "fear" or mistrust of atheists expressed in that survey, could lie in the thoughts some religious folks could have, that atheists would be perceived as being more likely to act "selfishly" or "immorally" because they would not have to consider there to be any consequences of their actions in the afterlife.

People of religion have/might have//think they have, some form of self-inflicted "restraint" perhaps, either out of fear or respect rooted in their belief, that some sort of aftermath will be awaiting them after their deaths. Be it retributionary (hell) or reward-oriented. (heaven) Kind of like: Atheists wouldn't have that to worry about that, so they might as well just throw caution to the wind and...paaaarty!

I've heard a saying or something that goes a bit like: "Rather believe in any God, than believe in nothing at all"

Many religions also have some sort of expression to describe the "unbelieving" that often has negative connotations, like being doooomed, lost, unpious or unholy for example, or other words of that nature.

Maybe that's a reason. Just a guess here, but it sounds pretty plausible to me, that those things could be a factor...

Methinks that the animosity directed toward atheists has more to do with a believer's own feelings of doubt when it comes to their faith. (If everyone believes as I do it must be right...right?) The statistics supposedly reveal that somewhere around 90% of Americans believe in God...I call BS on that. They may say that they do, or perhaps are trying to convince themselves, but I do not believe that they truely believe. I was raised in a Baptist home and struggled my entire childhood and teens to come to grips with my faith. I wanted to believe but deep down inside I didn't really think that there was some mystical Being who could create universes, read my mind, and was responsible for p...

Methinks that the animosity directed toward atheists has more to do with a believer's own feelings of doubt when it comes to their faith. (If everyone believes as I do it must be right...right?) The statistics supposedly reveal that somewhere around 90% of Americans believe in God...I call BS on that. They may say that they do, or perhaps are trying to convince themselves, but I do not believe that they truely believe. I was raised in a Baptist home and struggled my entire childhood and teens to come to grips with my faith. I wanted to believe but deep down inside I didn't really think that there was some mystical Being who could create universes, read my mind, and was responsible for putting us all here in this life. Eventually, though difficult, I listened to own reason and faced the fact that I did not really believe in god. (this also goes for satan, faeries, healing crystals, astrology, the Easter Bunny and Santa.) The decision was difficult and it actually took a while before I could actually admit to anyone that I didn't believe in god...perhaps I was clinging to the idea and feared burning bridges.

Well, I have contently been an atheist for the last 20 years and I must admit that I am happier now. I don't feel the need to belong to the god club, and I think that the world woluld be a better place if more people would listen to their heads when it comes to religion.

There are two potential reasons that we are here:
1). Randomness
2). Design
The choice between the two is and will always be a matter of faith. Atheists choose randomness as their God, therefore ultimate morality to an atheist is whatever they decide it is based on their randomly created thought process .

The cool thing about being an atheist is that you can never be a hypocrite, since everything that has ever or ever will exist in their universe is of random origin. What is "wrong" when everything is just a cosmic dice roll?

While those that believe in a higher power and transcendent and unchanging morals are always hypocrites at some level (since a transcendent standard isn't consistent...

There are two potential reasons that we are here:
1). Randomness
2). Design
The choice between the two is and will always be a matter of faith. Atheists choose randomness as their God, therefore ultimate morality to an atheist is whatever they decide it is based on their randomly created thought process .

The cool thing about being an atheist is that you can never be a hypocrite, since everything that has ever or ever will exist in their universe is of random origin. What is "wrong" when everything is just a cosmic dice roll?

While those that believe in a higher power and transcendent and unchanging morals are always hypocrites at some level (since a transcendent standard isn't consistently reachable for a material entity), the majority of other material entities are naturally going to give more trust for those that at least claim to uphold something beyond "the dice made me do it".

It is nice if there is at least an outside chance that the entity you pick as a ruler might have some basis for guilt if they kill you.