In the last decade, the percentage of Americans who identify as atheists has almost doubled from 2% to 4%. Still, prejudice against this ever-growing group persists. Across four studies, we explored two distinct yet related correlates of antiatheist prejudice amongst American Christians: (a) the perception that atheists lack a moral compass and (b) the belief that faith in God is necessary to living a moral life. Grounded in moral foundations theory and big gods theory, we investigated this dual pathway to antiatheist prejudice in four samples. In Studies 1a and 1b, we found that Christians’ (total N = 389) distrust of atheists increased to the extent that they perceived atheists to lack individualizing (especially concerns about harm) — but not binding — moral foundations. Further, Christians who endorsed the idea that belief in God is necessary to behave morally tended to be more distrusting of atheists. In a subsequent study ( N = 253), we replicated these findings using the new Moral Foundation Questionnaire-2. In a final, preregistered study ( N = 663), we again replicated these findings in a larger, politically diverse sample. We discuss how internal and external guides to moral conduct are each associated with distrust of atheists.
Wormley et al. (2026) studied this question.