There are few countries on Earth with more people who believe in God than right here in the United States of America. According to Gallup, as of June of 2011, upwards of 90% of believed that God exists. For me, even as a casual believer myself, this is an astonishing figure because it tells us that 9 out of every 10 Americans is willing to stake themselves to a position for which there is absolutely no direct empirical evidence and about which there is outwardly no direct benefit. It would be one thing if God Himself had gone door-to-door recently, reminding Americans of His Existence, or if there had been some recent Oh God! style John-Denver-led publicity campaign that reminded us to "Think God," but neither of those things have happened. We've done it, individually and collectively, with very little urging. More people here believe in God than have a FaceBook. More people believe in God than watch TV.
And there is nowhere in the industrialized world where Atheists are less liked.
So, for me, the question is: Why on Earth do so many Americans believe in God and why don't we like people who don't?
And it is Americans, mind you. It's not Canadians (75% believe), and it sure as hell isn't the Swedes (23% believe). Even the traditionally belief heavy regions of Central and South American are showing a decline in theism and all the while American theism is climbing steadily. Seriously, what the hell?
What makes us different?
Why do I believe in God? Why do you (if you do)? I, personally have no difficulty with atheists -- it would be hard to live in my family if I did -- but why do so many others?
I know, for me, there's certainly an element of Pascal's wager involved in my having faith, but that's not all of it. There's more, and a recent article published in Scientific American has granted me some insight into myself and, possibly, into the rampant Godification of the US and American Politics.
The article, unlovingly titled "In Atheists We Distrust," explores studies by Will Gervais, a somewhat odd looking Psychology professor at the University of British Columbia, which were aimed at why atheists are disliked. It identifies one single issue as being the centerpoint of Atheist Antipathy: Trust.
The article explains:
Gervais and his colleagues presented participants with a story about a person who accidentally hits a parked car and then fails to leave behind valid insurance information for the other driver. Participants were asked to choose the probability that the person in question was a Christian, a Muslim, a rapist, or an atheist. They thought it equally probable the culprit was an atheist or a rapist, and unlikely the person was a Muslim or Christian. In a different study, Gervais looked at how atheism influences people’s hiring decisions. People were asked to choose between an atheist or a religious candidate for a job requiring either a high or low degree of trust. For the high-trust job of daycare worker, people were more likely to prefer the religious candidate. For the job of waitress, which requires less trust, the atheists fared much better.
Even non-religious participants succumbed to the anti-atheist prejudice.
A belief in God -- any version thereof, it seems -- is a key element of trust for most people. The daycare worker, our society believes, will be less likely to molest a child if s/he believes in God. Since the worst a waitress can do is spit in your food, an atheist will do in a pinch.
Now, of course, when we look at this logically, we can see it's a pile of crap. One needs only point to the Catholic church sex abuse scandal to demonstrate that a belief in God is not necessarily a character reference, but even so Americans look at faith as a sign of trustworthiness in spite of all evidence to the contrary.
According to Gervais, here's why:
When we know that somebody believes in the possibility of divine punishment, we seem to assume they are less likely to do something unethical. Based on this logic, Gervais and Norenzayan hypothesized that reminding people about the existence of secular authority figures, such as policemen and judges, might alleviate people’s prejudice towards atheists. In one study, they had people watch either a travel video or a video of a police chief giving an end-of-the-year report. They then asked participants how much they agreed with certain statements about atheists (e.g., “I would be uncomfortable with an atheist teaching my child.”) In addition, they measured participants’ prejudice towards other groups, including Muslims and Jewish people. Their results showed that viewing the video of the police chief resulted in less distrust towards atheists. However, it had no effect on people’s prejudice towards other groups. From a psychological standpoint, God and secular authority figures may be somewhat interchangeable. The existence of either helps us feel more trusting of others.
Another person's belief in God, to the rest of us, is a safety signal letting us know that this person feels watched. And if someone feels watched, they will behave better.
It's not that we don't trust atheists in positions of power, it's that we don't trust anybody in any position unless we know that somebody else has got their eye on them.
So it comes down to this: People who feel safe and secure do not feel a need to look to the divine for their safety and security. People who are afraid and insecure look for something to help them feel safe and secure. God is popular in America not due to poor parenting and education, but because our nation feels terribly unsafe and insecure all the time.
I,myself, am prone to magical thinking like this and am always on the lookout for talismans and portents. A few blocks down Sunset Boulevard from my house there's a sign that is universally known as the Happy Foot/Sad Foot sign. It is a big blue rotating thing and has an anthropomorphic foot emblazoned on each side. On one side, the foot is throwing it's arms up in joy and smiling a big happy smile (Happy Foot), while on the other side the foot is resting on crutches while wrapped in bandages (Sad Foot). Each time I drive down Sunset, I look for the sign and if I see Happy Foot first, I feel secure. If I see Sad Foot first, I get nervous.
I also believe in God, I think, for much the same reason: Faith gives me a sense of safety.
So then the question, for me, becomes, if I am not anomalous, if others who believe believe for much the same sets of reasons that I do, why is it that so many Americans are frightened and insecure when so few Swedes are?
Let's see...
A limited safety net. No job security. Tenuous hold on health care access. Rampant gun ownership and high levels of civic violence. Massive poverty. Poor Education. Low real wages. No ability to save for retirement.
And a generations long campaign on the part of one wing of our political spectrum to convince people that government cannot and should not solve these problems.
And that same wing of our political spectrum has monopolized God in the political dialectic. It probably wasn't intentional, but boy does it work out well for them.