DOES ANYBODY ELSE FIND THIS DEPRESSING AND DISCOURAGING? .

DOES ANYBODY ELSE FIND THIS DEPRESSING AND DISCOURAGING?. But about halfway down the linked page is a boxed poll question with this result reported:

bq. It IS necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values.
Yes: 51%

[…]

The sheer ignorance displayed by that 51% isn’t the only problem. If that poll result reflects reality, then 51 percent of Americans are openly, blatantly bigoted against non-believers. They’re saying we’re inherently not good, decent human beings, every last one of us.

If you said that all blacks, Jews, gays, name-minority-of-your-choice were inherently not good, decent human beings, you’d be rightly nailing yourself as the ignorant, ugly bigot you are. But say it about people who live their lives cleanly because of their own internal ethics … and apparently that’s just dandy. [Wolfesblog]

I certainly find it depressing and disgusting, but not at all surprising–I’ve encountered bigots like that myself. Also, I strongly suspect that a not-insignificant part of that 51% actually are also bigoted towards some or all of those minorites.