non-Christians in U.S.A.

The vast majority of Americans (close to 90%) consider themselves Christians, even though many of these may never attend church, or attend only a few times per year. Although the government does not discriminate based upon religious beliefs, that does not prevent private citizens from doing so.

Oddly enough, many of these people are willing to accept members of other faiths, but hold fast to a notion that a non-religious person cannot be ethical. Thus, one poll a year or two ago found that whereas over 80% of Americans would be willing to vote for a political candidate who is Jewish, Muslim, Gay, etc., only a little over 50% would be willing to consider voting for an atheist or agnostic.

The idea that atheists or agnostics can not be ethical seems very odd to me, considering that most of the atheists and agnostics I know have become so for ethical reasons - i.e., they have examined religion and found that it is not good enough. In short, though not as serious as the bias against pedophiles, a dislike for the consciously non-religious is one of the few acceptable prejudices left in the United States. (The other acceptable prejudices are against pedophiles and the Scots-Irish - the last prejudice is fortunately rather negligible, consisting mostly of being the butt of jokes. I belong to all three classes, and take comfort in the fact that so did Mark Twain.)