Largest Survey on Nonreligious Americans Reveals Widespread Discrimination and Stigma, Including in Texas
Houston, TX—May 5, 2020—Today, the civil rights organization American Atheists released Reality Check: Being Nonreligious in America, a comprehensive report drawn from the groundbreaking U.S. Secular Survey. Organized by a team of researchers and counting nearly 34,000 nonreligious participants, including 2,670 Texans, 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, and it was most intense in very religious communities.”
With nearly 5 in 10 Texas participants (46%) calling their community “very religious,” Texas ranks as the 13th most religious state. Similarly, Texas was ranked as having the 17th highest rate of stigma against nonreligious people in the country.
“I went to see several therapists who tried to tell me to use religion to cope even after I told them I was an atheist,” said Tracey Benefield, American Atheists’ Assistant State Director for Lubbock. “In Western Texas, the shortage of available mental health professionals makes it especially hard to access care, since we have to screen therapists for religious dogmatism.”
The Reality Check report found that 17.7% of participants experienced discrimination in mental health services for being nonreligious. Those who had these negative experiences reported a 94.4% higher rate of depression than other participants.
“What helps is being part of a welcoming community with other atheists,” said Benefield, who is also the executive director of the Atheist Community of Lubbock. “Part of that is being active members of society—volunteering and helping the homeless, delivering invocations, and marching in the July 4th parade.”
The Reality Check report found that involvement with organized secular community groups is an important protective factor that correlated with reduced likelihood of loneliness and depression. Members of national secular organizations, including American Atheists, were 34.8% less likely than non-members to be at risk for depression, while members of local secular groups, like Benefield’s, were 29.3% less likely.
“I didn’t know I needed a community until I found one,” said Dr. Wil Jeudy, American Atheists’ Assistant State Director for Houston and a board member of the freethought group Houston Oasis, who meet Sunday mornings for coffee, conversation, live music, and educational talks.
“My household was not religious, but I attended a private religious school where I received an hour’s worth of Bible study five days per week and became increasingly religious. In college, I began to question my faith but only left it in my 30s. In 2015, I came across Houston Oasis, and my life changed,” added Jeudy. “Nothing has been more wonderful than involving myself in a community full of supportive, like-minded people.”
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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.