Changes

The abstract of a 2014 peer-reviewed study entitled ''Everything Is Permitted? People Intuitively Judge Immorality as Representative of Atheists'' which was published in the journal'' Plos One'' reported:

The abstract of a 2014 peer-reviewed study entitled ''Everything Is Permitted? People Intuitively Judge Immorality as Representative of Atheists'' which was published in the journal'' Plos One'' reported:

{{cquote|American participants intuitively judged a wide variety of immoral acts (e.g., serial murder, consensual incest, necrobestiality, cannibalism) as representative of [[Atheism|atheists]], but not of eleven other religious, ethnic, and cultural groups. Even atheist participants judged immoral acts as more representative of atheists than of other groups. These findings demonstrate a prevalent intuition that belief in God serves a necessary function in inhibiting immoral conduct, and may help explain persistent negative perceptions of atheists.<ref>[http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0092302 Everything Is Permitted? People Intuitively Judge Immorality as Representative of Atheists]</ref>}}

{{cquote|American participants intuitively judged a wide variety of immoral acts (e.g., serial murder, consensual incest, [[necrobestiality]], cannibalism) as representative of [[Atheism|atheists]], but not of eleven other religious, ethnic, and cultural groups. Even atheist participants judged immoral acts as more representative of atheists than of other groups. These findings demonstrate a prevalent intuition that belief in God serves a necessary function in inhibiting immoral conduct, and may help explain persistent negative perceptions of atheists.<ref>[http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0092302 Everything Is Permitted? People Intuitively Judge Immorality as Representative of Atheists]</ref>}}

[[File:Richard Dawkins - March 2005.jpg|alt=Richard Dawkins|thumbnail|200px|right|The new atheist [[Richard Dawkins]] has encouraged his supporters to go beyond humorous ridicule.<ref>[https://shadowtolight.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/dawkins-mock-them-ridicule-them-in-public/ Dawkins: Mock them. Ridicule them! In public]</ref>  He wrote, "I lately started to think that we need to go further: go beyond humorous ridicule, sharpen our barbs to a point where they really hurt."<ref>[https://shadowtolight.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/dawkins-mock-them-ridicule-them-in-public/ Dawkins: Mock them. Ridicule them! In public]</ref> See also: [[Atheism and mockery]] ]]

[[File:Richard Dawkins - March 2005.jpg|alt=Richard Dawkins|thumbnail|200px|right|The new atheist [[Richard Dawkins]] has encouraged his supporters to go beyond humorous ridicule.<ref>[https://shadowtolight.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/dawkins-mock-them-ridicule-them-in-public/ Dawkins: Mock them. Ridicule them! In public]</ref>  He wrote, "I lately started to think that we need to go further: go beyond humorous ridicule, sharpen our barbs to a point where they really hurt."<ref>[https://shadowtolight.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/dawkins-mock-them-ridicule-them-in-public/ Dawkins: Mock them. Ridicule them! In public]</ref> See also: [[Atheism and mockery]] ]]

Citing [[Distrust of atheists#Science journal article in Nature on distrusts of atheism in countries|a study]], which was published in the science journal ''Nature'', on the public's perception of atheists the Smithsonian declares:

Citing [[Distrust of atheists#Science journal article in Nature on distrusts of atheism in countries|a study]], which was published in the science journal ''Nature'', on the public's perception of atheists the Smithsonian declares: