Social and Political Exclusion: How America's Religious Interact with Open Atheists.

Religiosity in America is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, the highly religious more nearly approach the ideal democratic citizen than any other group. They are more neighborly, altruistic, and selfless. Despite this, the non-religious perceive the highly religious to be intolerant and selfish. Using an innovative experimental design, this paper explores how religiosity influences individual behavior (both political and non-political) and finds that the highly religious are significantly less likely to engage in everyday activities with non-believers. This bias is distinct from partisan motivated bias that might come as the religious and the non-religious separate into opposing political parties. The findings suggest that those who are openly atheistic are excluded from the social networks that seem to help the religious develop the attributes of the democratic ideal. The potential exclusion from these social networks could explain why some Americans choose to remain in the closet about their atheism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]