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For example, in the study shown in the graphic, they showed students a video about police effectiveness and then, in a follow up survey, asked how distrustful they were of atheists and whether they disliked gays, Muslims or Jews. After they watched the video, their distrust of atheists dropped away.<\/p>\n

Their prejudice towards other didn\u2019t change, however. In other studies, they also showed that distrust of gays was also not improved by this kind of manipulation, suggesting that it was specifically distrust of atheists that was being affected. <\/p>\n

So this suggests that while religious people think that belief in god makes a person trustworthy, they\u2019re also open to the idea that secular authorities can also be a source of order and safety.<\/p>\n

This puts me in mind of some other research<\/a> by Aaron Kay and colleagues at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. They showed that, by pumping up belief that the government is in control, the desire to believe in a controlling god is weakened.<\/p>\n

All more good evidence that one important factor that draws people to belief in God is fear and anxiety, and that stable social systems that are common in wealthy countries are contributing to the increasing numbers of non-believers.<\/p>\n

$\"ResearchBlogging.org\"$ <\/a><\/span>
Gervais, W., & Norenzayan, A. (2012). Reminders of Secular Authority Reduce Believers\u2019 Distrust of Atheists Psychological Science, 23<\/span> (5), 483-491 DOI: 10.1177\/0956797611429711<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

$\"Creative$ <\/a><\/span> This article by Tom Rees<\/b> was first published on Epiphenom<\/a>. It is licensed under Creative Commons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"