The Freedom From Religion Foundation is heartened by new data from the Pew Research Center showing that atheists are among the best neighbors an American could wish for.
A just-released Pew report reveals that, among the groups measured, atheists are the most vaccinated “religious” group in the country, proving the truth behind FFRF’s “In Science We Trust” billboards.
Fully 90 percent of atheists are vaccinated, compared to just 57 percent of White evangelicals and 73 percent of the country’s adults overall.
“Atheists believe in this life, not an afterlife,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker, “and we don’t need a god to threaten us with hell to do the right thing. We’re good for goodness sake.”
FFRF emphasizes the underlying issues behind the disparate vaccination rates.
“This is one of the great moral issues of today — and religion is simply failing,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Religious folks are often suspicious of a tiny little shot to prevent the spread of a lethal contagion that has killed 1 in every 500 Americans and has completely overwhelmed and overworked our heroes on the health care frontlines. It takes religion to make the immoral seem moral.”
The numbers show some interesting trends. Agnostics lag slightly behind atheists, while “nothing in particular” Nones are about average. Catholics score above average, and Hispanic Catholics even better than agnostics.
“It seems like a rare instance of American Catholics listening to their pope — and the pope having the correct message,” says Gaylor. “Now, if he would only apply himself to the scourge of rape and abuse within his church.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, the nation's largest association of freethinkers, has been urging people to get vaccinated and has been working to end religious exemptions to vaccinations even before the pandemic.
It is past time for Americans to listen to science and reason; clearly, religion is a roadblock.