How Atheists Can Affect Verdicts In Court

“I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

With this familiar phrase, uttered in some form every day in courts of law around the world, trial witnesses invoke a divine power to bolster their credibility.

In countries such as Britain and Australia, those who prefer not to make a religious commitment can opt instead for a secular affirmation. Rather than citing God as their witness, they instead “solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm” that they will tell the truth. The non-religious option is no less legally binding, but may not be as effective as the religious oath in conveying trustworthiness to onlookers.

Moral suspicion of atheists is widespread and deeply entrenched. In Britain, 22% of survey respondents explicitly agree that morality is impossible without belief in God, while the figure is much higher in the US and higher still in many other countries.

Now new research that one of us was involved in, spanning 13 diverse countries, confirms that distrust of atheists is pervasive and intuitive even for non-believers. Participants in most of these countries, including the UK, the US and Australia, were more likely to associate wrongdoing with atheists than with religious believers. This moral prejudice against atheists was evident even in those who professed complete disbelief in God.

Continue to ibtimes.com article: http://www.ibtimes.com/how-atheists-can-affect-verdicts-court-2577195