Largest Survey on Nonreligious Americans Reveals Widespread Discrimination and Stigma Especially Against Black Participants
Cranford, NJ—May 5, 2020—Today, the nonreligious civil rights organization American Atheists released Reality Check: Being Nonreligious in America, a comprehensive report drawn from the groundbreaking U.S. Secular Survey. Counting nearly 34,000 nonreligious participants and organized by a team of researchers at Strength in Numbers Consulting Group, the U.S. Secular Survey is the largest ever data collection project on secular Americans and their experiences.
“At 75 million people, religiously unaffiliated Americans are as large a demographic as either Evangelical Christians or Catholics, and explicitly nonreligious people comprise a growing share of the population, yet before the U.S. Secular Survey there had been a lack of focused research on our community,” said Alison Gill, Vice President for Legal and Policy at American Atheists, who helped lead the project. “What we found shocked us. Discrimination and stigma against nonreligious Americans is widespread and extremely harmful.”
Due to their nonreligious identity, more than half of participants (54.5%) had negative experiences with family members, nearly one third (29.4%) in education, and more than one in five (21.7%) in the workplace. Of those who experienced discrimination within their families, there was a 73.3% higher rate of likely depression.
“Nonreligious Americans are part of a thriving, diverse community,” said Mandisa Thomas, an American Atheists board member and the founder and president of Black Nonbelievers, which contributed to outreach for the U.S. Secular Survey. “For Black atheists, agnostics, humanists, and freethinkers - while our numbers are growing, we still have distinct experiences which make it challenging for more of us to be represented sufficiently. Our voices MUST be heard.”
Black participants were three times as likely as other participants to be physically assaulted because of their nonreligious beliefs and half as likely to have supportive parents. Participants with unsupportive parents had a 71.2% higher rate of likely depression than those with very supportive parents.
“The struggles of nonreligious Americans, especially the Black nonreligious community, are far too often overlooked. The U.S. Secular Survey has revealed the discrimination we regularly face,” said Nick Fish, president of American Atheists. “With that well-established, we need to find solutions and work toward ending the stigma that leads to that discrimination.”
The report found that involvement with organized secularism is an important protective factor that correlated with reduced likelihood of loneliness depression. Members of national secular organizations were 34.8% less likely than non-members to be at risk for depression, while members of local secular groups were 29.3% less likely.
“Now that we have concrete proof that secular organizations like Black Nonbelievers and American Atheists are essential in offering community and support, we must do all that we can to be inclusive and involve even more nonbelievers,” added Thomas.
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If you have questions about Reality Check: Being Nonreligious in America or the U.S. Secular Survey, our team is happy to connect you to our experts, researchers, and nonreligious people across the country who have compelling, unique stories to tell.
If you’re a member of the media and would like to get in touch with us, please reach out to Tom Van Denburgh, American Atheists’ Communications Director, by emailing tvandenburgh@atheists.org or by calling (862) 221-6547.
About Us
The U.S. Secular Survey and Reality Check: Being Nonreligious in America are projects of American Atheists, a national civil rights group that represents the interests of atheists and nonreligious people in the United States. The survey and report were produced in collaboration with Strength in Numbers Consulting Group, a progressive research, evaluation, and strategy firm.