Scientologists are more disliked than atheists!!!

Thanks to Matt Nisbet for pointing this out.

A recent Gallup poll shows how Americans view certain religions.



It's interesting to note that approval ratings for most of the high-ranked religions are down from 2006, whereas atheists and scientologists have not moved much. Islam declined quite a bit, though. Here's what Gallup had to say about it:

Gallup first asked Americans to rate these religious groups in this fashion in an August 2006 panel survey, and since then, there have been declines in positive ratings for many of the more favorably viewed religious groups. For example, the net positive score for Catholics was +44 in the 2006 survey, compared to the current +32. But there were also declines in the net positive scores of Jews (from +54 to +42), Baptists (from +45 to +35), and Methodists (from +50 to +45).

It is unclear why the net positive ratings for most groups have declined, unless Americans are just less positive about religion overall today than they were two years ago. Groups such as atheists and Scientologists that rated negatively in 2006 are still rated negatively today, with similar scores over time in most cases. One exception concerns Muslims, who saw their net rating tumble from -4 in 2006 to -17 in the current survey.