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→Decline in the rate of increase of American 1990s secularism
In 2007, a Pew Forum survey found that the [[Atheist Population|atheist population]] in the United States was 1.6% of the American population.<ref>[http://religions.pewforum.org/reports 2007 Pew Forum report]</ref>
In 2007, a Pew Forum survey found that the [[Atheist Population|atheist population]] in the United States was 1.6% of the American population.<ref>[http://religions.pewforum.org/reports 2007 Pew Forum report]</ref>
== American atheists and loneliness ==
[[File:PzMyers2.jpg|thumbnail|251px|right|The American atheist [[PZ Myers]] declared, "...I don’t object to [[bestiality]] in a very limited set of specific conditions..."<ref name="achilles">[http://templestream.blogspot.com/2012/08/atheist-achilles-heels-objective.html Atheist Achilles Heels: Objective Morality and Sacred Life]</ref><ref>[http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/05/22/the-objective-morality-gotcha/ The “objective morality” gotcha]</ref> See: [[Atheism and bestiality]]
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<small>(photo obtained from [http://www.flickr.com/photos/reuvenim/4426093513/ Flickr], see [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en license agreement])</small> ]]
''See also:'' [[Atheism and loneliness]] and [[Atheism and arrogance]] and [[Atheism and anger]] and [[Atheism and bitterness]] and [[American atheism]]
Americans typically have a very negative view of atheists and they are often seen as lacking moral character and very arrogant (see also: [[Views on atheists]] and [[Atheism and morality]] and [[Moral failures of the atheist community]] and [[Atheism and arrogance]]).
In his article entitled ''The Lonely Life of an American Atheist'', Alfred Garcia wrote:
{{cquote|...life remains hard for non-theists in the United States. There is, of course, the cultural stigma—of being nontheistic in a nation where more than 90 percent of people believe in a higher power. There is only one openly atheist member of Congress, Rep. Peter Stark from California (who had a video appearance at the Reason Rally). Atheists are viewed more negatively than any other U.S. religious group, with less than half of Americans (45 percent) holding a favorable opinion of them. It can be a lonely existence. With no single umbrella organization to bring non-theists together, individuals can feel isolated, compounded by the fact that the various non-theist organizations are often fragmented in their approaches....
What has not changed much, though, is the image of the non-theist that [[Madalyn Murray O'Hair|O’Hair]] left in her wake. It’s the image of the atheist out to pick a fight, the unbeliever who is constantly seeking the next debate. As Fidalgo from CFI put it, O’Hair was an “extremely polarizing” figure who “gained visibility for [[American Atheists]] but may have been integral in forming the image of atheism in the U.S. as arrogant.”<ref>[http://religionandpolitics.org/2012/05/24/the-lonely-life-of-american-atheists/ ''The Lonely Life of an American Atheist''] by Alfred Garcia, Religion and Politics</ref>}}
== Decline in the rate of increase of American 1990s secularism ==
== Decline in the rate of increase of American 1990s secularism ==