Study: Atheists who are women, Republicans, or Southerners more likely to hide beliefs

In groups that statistically have the fewest number of atheists, the atheists among them are less vocal.

https://religionnews.com/2022/03/10/study-atheists-who-are-women-republican-or-southerners-are-more-likely-to-hide-their-beliefs/

 

March 10, 2022

By Alejandra Molina

 

(RNS) — Atheists in the U.S. are more likely to hide their beliefs if they are women, Republicans, if they live in the South or if they’ve previously been religious, according to new research by Rice and West Virginia universities.

“If someone is already in a marginalized group — like women — or are members of a group that is heavily religious — such as Republicans or Southern Americans — it stands to reason they are less likely to take on the additional stigma of being an ‘out’ atheist,” said Jacqui Frost, a postdoctoral research fellow in sociology and the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice University.

With this new study, “Patterns of Perceived Hostility and Identity Concealment among Self-Identified Atheists,” Frost said researchers wanted to explore whether people who affirm atheist labels are more comfortable than other nonreligious people about sharing their atheism with others.

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The research showed that atheists are the most likely nonreligious group to perceive stigma, yet among people who identify as atheist, agnostic or simply nonreligious, atheists are the most open about their beliefs, which Frost found surprising.

 “The people that are being most discriminated against are also the people that are least likely to hide their identities,” Frost, one of the report’s authors, told Religion News Service.

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