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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmericans Will Tolerate a Variety of In-Laws. One Exception: Atheists.
Slate:A new study from the Pew Research Center shows that political polarization in the United States has reached levels only seen during the Civil War, but when it comes to our own families, we're not quite as divided. One of the questions Pew asks to gauge how seriously people are taking their identity politics these days is how upset would you be if an immediate family membersay, a child or a siblingmarried someone outside of your identity parameters. The good news: Americans are okay with their family members marrying someone who isn't in their "tribe."
There are all different kinds of tribes, of course. When it came, for instance, to the question of how you'd feel if your family member married someone with a different party affiliation, the vast majority of Americans responded that they'd feel either "happy" or that it "doesn't matter." Even for strict partisans, this was mostly true. Strong conservatives approved of a family member marrying a Democrat 70 percent of the time and strong liberals approved of marrying a Republican 78 percent of the time. Similar numbers turned up for identity markers like "gun ownership" or "went to college," with most people being indifferent to these factors when it comes to bringing new people to family holiday dinners.
Other good news is that opposition to interracial marriage, at least overt opposition, is also fairly low, with only 11 percent of Americans balking at the idea of a new family member of a different race. (How likely you are to bothered by racial mixing rose with levels of conservatism, with only one percent of strong liberals opposing interracial marriage and 23 percent of strong conservatives doing so.) And Americans are even more welcoming to foreigners, with only 7 percent of respondents opposing marriage to someone born and raised outside of the U.S.
There's one group, however, that continues to cause fear and loathing across the land: atheists. From Pew:
There are all different kinds of tribes, of course. When it came, for instance, to the question of how you'd feel if your family member married someone with a different party affiliation, the vast majority of Americans responded that they'd feel either "happy" or that it "doesn't matter." Even for strict partisans, this was mostly true. Strong conservatives approved of a family member marrying a Democrat 70 percent of the time and strong liberals approved of marrying a Republican 78 percent of the time. Similar numbers turned up for identity markers like "gun ownership" or "went to college," with most people being indifferent to these factors when it comes to bringing new people to family holiday dinners.
Other good news is that opposition to interracial marriage, at least overt opposition, is also fairly low, with only 11 percent of Americans balking at the idea of a new family member of a different race. (How likely you are to bothered by racial mixing rose with levels of conservatism, with only one percent of strong liberals opposing interracial marriage and 23 percent of strong conservatives doing so.) And Americans are even more welcoming to foreigners, with only 7 percent of respondents opposing marriage to someone born and raised outside of the U.S.
There's one group, however, that continues to cause fear and loathing across the land: atheists. From Pew:
Good thing I married another one...
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Americans Will Tolerate a Variety of In-Laws. One Exception: Atheists. (Original Post)
brooklynite
Jun 2014
OP
So when will the atheists start jamming their religion down fundies throats
Exposethefrauds
Jun 2014
#2
Santa has nothing to do with Jesus, Old Dude breaks into your house and GIVES you stuff how cool is
Exposethefrauds
Jun 2014
#10
I'm sure parents would rather their kid bring home an atheist over a satanist
NightWatcher
Jun 2014
#11
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)1. Some of us noticed this years ago
...political polarization in the United States has reached levels only seen during the Civil War,...
So now that Pew says it, we can?
Exposethefrauds
(531 posts)2. So when will the atheists start jamming their religion down fundies throats
Or are oral references only applicable to the gays?
BeeBee
(1,074 posts)4. I'm doubly screwed. Gay and Atheist. n/t
Exposethefrauds
(531 posts)7. Unless you can jam it down your own throat then you would be blessed!
wheniwasincongress
(1,307 posts)8. Atheism isn't a religion
Exposethefrauds
(531 posts)9. Well duh but the Fundies think it is,........... idiots.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)3. Ha! Take that, Zen Buddhists!
And all you naughty Taoists! And most people with Autism. And people who like having some evidence before believing something about the nature of the universe. You godless rascals.
Bonx
(2,053 posts)5. But I'm a really nice athiest
And I hang out at Christmas and pretend a little bit.
Exposethefrauds
(531 posts)10. Santa has nothing to do with Jesus, Old Dude breaks into your house and GIVES you stuff how cool is
that!
Unless you don't like the whole holiday family thing or the family is really religious or something then it could be well, a nightmare.
Throd
(7,208 posts)6. Oddly, the more conservative members of my family are the atheists.
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)11. I'm sure parents would rather their kid bring home an atheist over a satanist
pscot
(21,024 posts)12. Nice to know
we still have our Mojo working.