In the University of Minnesota, College of Liberal Arts publication, Miss Edgell is quoted as basing her statements on a Pew Charitable Trusts study. I may not have exhaustively researched the Pew Charitable Trusts site, however, i have so far come across only a single survey, conducted in the summer of 2003, which polled 2002 adults, and, inferentially, appears to have been conducted along reasonable demographic lines (references are made to the percentage of adherents of certain creeds in the responses reported).
The following is the only passage involving "trust" of persons based on creed (or lack thereof) which i have found there:
The Pew Charitable Trusts 2003 Survey wrote:For the most part, people say religion does not frequently affect their voting decisions. Nearly six-in-ten (58%) say their religious beliefs seldom if ever affect their voting decisions, while 38% say their vote choices are at least occasionally affected by their beliefs. White evangelicals and African-American Protestants are most likely to report that their religion shapes their votes at least occasionally, while white mainline Protestants and Catholics mostly say that religion has little or no impact on their votes.
At the same time, significant numbers of Americans say they would be reluctant to vote for a presidential candidate even if generally well-qualified if the candidate was a member of a specific faith. Nearly four-in-ten (38%) say they would not vote for a well-qualified Muslim for president, and 15% express concern about voting for a well-qualified evangelical Christian. Far fewer say they would not vote for a Jewish (10%) or Catholic (8%) candidate. But fully half say they would not vote for a well-qualified atheist.
That is not quite consonant, however, with the sorts of statements which Miss Edgell was making--for example, in commenting on how many people would want their child to marry an atheist.
The article at the Pew Charitable Trusts site can be read here. There is a link to download the entire study results. I don't intend to do so, because i don't consider it of sufficient interest or importance. I would be interested to know, though, if Miss Edgell had conducted her own survey, or if, as the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts article suggests, she relied upon the Pew Trusts survey.
