Atheists identified as America’s most distrusted minority

Without disputing your reasoning on this, I can tell you from plenty of personal experience that will soon feel that distrust if you make any public statement of your atheism in this country.People with conviction about their belief in their god are far more offended by those who believe in NO god than those who simply believe in a different one. This is because they see it is a direct assault on, or denial of, what they view as their moral compass, as opposed to simply an alternate belief system which is far more acceptable to them.This brings us to the next step in their reasoning that pretty much follows the line of, 'without a comparable belief structure and fear of some god you have no ability to distinguish right from wrong and therefore you must be a deeply evil and untrustworthy person'.The contrast between the US and Europe is a contrast between a religious society and secular one. Only small pockets of a truly secular society seemingly persist in the US at a time when the rest of the developed world is (wisely) headed in that direction.This message has been edited by EZscience, 03-31-2006 01:28 PM

TC, what makes you so sure they are all catholics?I happen to have travelled widely in Latin America and I can tell you that atheism is as prevalent there as in the US, or more so. Fundie protestants scare me more than Catholics at this point, and it seems incongruous to me based on what I thought 10 yr ago.EZ