Are atheists less patriotic than believers? And, if so, is this a bad thing?
As to the first question, it seems so. At least a recent study finding suggests as much. The first paragraph of the news release sums it up:
A study by Ryotaro Uemura, sociology doctoral student at Indiana University Bloomington, found that people who had no religious affiliation have significantly less favorable views of the U.S. However, to be an ethnic minority does not necessarily have significant effects on national attitudes.
Wow. Have the FOX talking-heads been right all along? Are we godless liberals going to drive the country off the closest cliff? Do we really hate America?
First, a little more specificity:
Uemura also found that to be non-citizens does not have a significant effect on national pride; this suggests that non-citizens are as proud of the U.S. as are citizens.
Okay, if you think about it, a lot of questions come cascading, beyond the customary, “Is this finding legit.”
Is national pride the same thing as patriotism?
Is it possible to have less favorable views of your country but love and/or care for it as much?
Should FOX pundits direct their ire away from immigrants and Muslims toward non-believers?
Would it be advantageous/accurate to to view these findings in the light of feelings of group belonging and acceptance?
And then there is this:
As for ethnic subgroups, blacks tend to have less favorable views compared to their white counterparts.
Not surprising, but . . . more questions.
We human beings tend to explain differences in behavior by pointing toward dispositional attributes. It’s easy; it’s quick. One person does good things because he/she is a hero, another person does bad things because he/she is evil. Or unpatriotic. What goes missing are the many other, essential variables. Digging deeper to expose the actual psychological mechanisms would better explain our differences. Until that time, I try to steer clear of blanket dispositional-think.
August 24th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Yikes. Of course people who are used to using their critical thinking skills have less favorable views of their country. They are not trained in unquestioning devotion to authority, and they realize that something doesn’t have to be perfect to be worth respecting so they are more willing to acknowledge imperfections. … Did I say “they”? I mean “we”.
August 24th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
How can a willingness to criticize your own country, with a desire to improve it while exercising freedom of speech, be anything but an example of patriotism?
August 25th, 2010 at 7:36 am
NFQ & ylooshi – I’m with ya.
It seems to me that some people prefer to view/define patriotism as a sort of unconditional positive regard. Viewing the homeland favorably no matter what. To be patriotic you must speak of it as a shining white nation with the numero uno people and history and select set of values.
To a skeptic, that’s nuts. Let’s be real. Applaud the good but seek to correct the bad. History moves on, nations develop. Guide that development.
Perhaps in the future nationalist pride might be come to be seen as a quaint sentimentality. For people will increasingly live in one world as a people with overlapping interests for their world community.
Just a thought.
The group dynamics element, however, I find tremendously interesting.