Are atheists still the most hated minority in America?

[Kosh]

It's from a PEW study a couple of years ago.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/201...-atheists/

It lumps all the religiously unaffiliated together but that means that organized religion is going down the shitter which is all that matters.

Yeah, that's sort of my guess where he got that number. But that 22% is definitely not all Atheists.  Religiously unaffiliated could mean almost anything. According to that survey Atheists are 3%. I suspect that's a low number, as many people just don't like the label Atheist, for some reason.

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I concur.  There are a lot of people who would mark themselves as "Christian" on a survey who haven't sniffed a church in years.

My grandfather who was born in the 1930's was not baptized as a child.  He and my grandmother were never religious and never went to church.  He had pro football tickets for over 40 years so that gives you an idea what he worshipped and did on Sundays.  His funeral was done in the local Methodist church at the request of members of the family.  During his funeral, the pastor mentioned to the entire church that he had recently baptized my grandfather.  I remember my mother was livid about this announcement.  My grandfather had spent his entire life in a small town and his non baptism was not common knowledge.  They were worried that people in town would think less of him.  The pastor used it anyways as an advertisement. 

I think as people get older, they become more religious because of something I like to call "Just in Case".   My mother is pulling that crap right now.  For most of my life the only reason my parents went to church was to get my brothers and I properly indoctrinated.  If we didn't need to go to church, my parents sure weren't offering to go.  We never said grace at dinner, and prayer consisted of "oh god, don't let the farm machinery break until I'm done in the field".  Grace at holidays consisted of "The gravy's hot and so is the meat, good god lets eat".

Now that they are pushing 70, I have to deal with seeing stupid "We are blessed" and other religious memes on Facebook.  Getting old and religious "just in Case".

Is there any evidence that getting older makes your more religious? I somehow doubt it's the case. Christianity seems to be losing it's grasp across the board in the United States.

I'm just speaking from personal experience with people in my family (simple Midwesterners).  I don't claim this is happening to all older people, but it would be an interesting case study.  I work in a hospital.  I do IT work now, but I was in direct patient care for a few years and seen many older dying patients visited by the clergy.  I've had families tell me that mom or dad hasn't been to church for years, but this is probably a good time for communion.  

It does in fact seem counter intuitive to me.  The older I get and the more I see what religion and faith has done to the world, the more against it I've become.  I've told my parents that I'm an atheist.  I really don't think they knew what to say.