Diversity and acceptance of different beliefs is common these days, but there is still one group of people out there who are publicly judged and criticized: atheists.

A recent study from the University of Minnesota revealed atheists to be the least trustworthy people by a majority of those polled, with Midwesterners harboring more contempt for atheists than coastal dwellers. According to the study, atheists rate lower than Muslims, recent immigrants and homosexuals in many households.

“We have hidden for far too long,” said Jim Heldberg, 65, the coordinator of San Francisco Atheists and national affiliation director for American Atheists. “Atheists have been much too quiet. We are changing that.”

Heldberg founded the San Francisco Atheists eight years ago. As head of the organization, he works toward making atheism more public and better understood. He attributes society’s overwhelming mistrust of atheists stems from false impressions people hold.

“It’s easy to hate someone you don’t know,” Heldberg said.

Though he grew up in a Methodist family, Heldberg was never able to fully connect with what was being taught in church. He decided he was an atheist when he was in high school. He earned a bachelor of sciences in education from Kansas State Teachers’ College (now Emporia State College) with the intention of being a high school science teacher, though he never ended up working as one. He entered the Navy in 1963 and served on active duty until 1968.

Heldberg doesn’t have contempt for religion, he simply doesn’t believe in it.

“Churches are very important. As a social structure, they’re very useful,” Heldberg said. “Wherever people gather to be together is good.”

He added that many churchgoers feel that belief in God is necessary in order to be moral, so atheists must be immoral people.

“There are good atheists and there are bad atheists,” he said. “People are people. There are heroes and bums in every group.”

Heldberg said roughly 12 percent of the population are atheist, but lack of organization has caused many atheists to feel alone. His goal as an atheist activist is not to change the way people believe, but rather to help atheists find each other so they don’t feel so alone.

“I have no interest in converting Christians,” he said. “I want to connect people.”

Heldberg hopes to bring more diversity into the San Francisco Atheists, and he particularly wants to spark the interest of young people.

“The future of atheism is not gray-haired people like me,” he said.

Dornian Jones, a 23-year-old psychology major, is Christian, though she doesn’t always agree with everything her church says.

“I’m not going to take the Bible literally and let it control my life,” she said.

Jones said she doesn’t know much about atheism, but she understands why many Americans don’t trust them.

“It’s kind of like not having a conscience,” Jones said. “You’re going to be more willing to do something that’s wrong if you feel like no one’s watching.”

“I think it’s because most people have a very skewed idea of what atheists are,” said 41-year-old David Fitzgerald, a San Francisco insurance broker. “When I tell people I’m an atheist, they’re surprised. They think when you don’t have a religion, you can’t have morals.”
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Fitzgerald was brought up Baptist, but had an “atheist epiphany” when he realized how unsure he felt when taking the Christian side of an argument.

“I was following what I was taught,” he said.

Fitzgerald does believe the world is becoming more welcoming of atheists, citing that 500 years ago they were burned at the stake, thrown in jail just 300 years ago, and less than a century ago could have been fired from their jobs. But he acknowledges there is still a long way to go before atheists are accepted.

“I don’t know how long it will be before atheism is not thought of as such a negative thing,” he said.

He added that the most important way to spread understanding is for atheists to be open about their beliefs.

“Let people see you, see you’re a decent person,” he said. “I’m so much happier as an atheist than I was as a religious person.”

Mai Dinh, a 22-year-old English Literature major, doesn’t subscribe to any religion, but she does describe herself as spiritual. Dinh said she thinks atheists are so widely mistrusted because atheism is equated with lack of morals.

“America is a very religious country,” she said. “A lot of people associate religion or having God with being good. If you’re opposed to that, they think you can’t be good.”

For Heldberg, the most important goal is connecting atheists. He said that many times an elderly person has approached him at an event with tears in his or her eyes, and said, “I thought I was the only one.”

“Atheists need to get better organized,” he said. “There are friends out there.”