Kansas City Star quotes LaBouff in report on American atheists
The Kansas City Star interviewed Jordan LaBouff, an assistant professor of psychology and honors at the University of Maine, for the article, “26 percent of Americans are atheist? Researchers say the godless are undercounted.” Atheists remain largely out of view and broadly disliked, according to the article. “Fundamental atheists,” according to one social psychologist, refers to people who aggressively make the argument that belief in God is for suckers, the article states. “Those people are more rare than other atheists … but they represent the only time someone knows they’re hearing from an atheist,” said LaBouff, who has studied religion and prejudice. He said even growing contact with more ordinary atheists — people who often buy the ethical truths of religious Scripture even if they can’t accept supernatural elements as fact — might not dramatically reduce prejudice. “People implicitly trust members of other religions more than they trust an atheist,” LaBouff said. “We sort of assume that people who don’t believe in a big scary God that might punish you for bad behavior are going to be less moral.” The Bangor Daily News also published the Kansas City Star report.