Previous research has alluded to the predominance of atheism in participant pools in the Nonhuman Animal rights movement (Galvin and Herzog, 1992; Guither, 1998) as well as the correlation between atheism and support for anti-speciesism (Gabriel et al., 2012; The Humane Society, 2014), but no study to date has independently examined this demographic. This article presents a profile of 210 atheists and agnostics derived from a larger survey of 287 American vegans conducted in early 2017. Results demonstrate that atheists constitute one of the largest movement demographics, and these vegans are more likely to adopt veganism out of concern for other animals. While atheist and agnostic vegans did not register a higher level of social movement participation than religious vegans, they were more intersectionally oriented and more likely to politically identify with the far left. Given the Nonhuman Animal rights movement’s overall failure to target atheist demographics, these findings suggest a strategic oversight in overlooking the movement’s most receptive demographic.

中文翻译：

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美国动物权利运动中的无神论：无形的多数

先前的研究暗示无神论在非人类动物权利运动的参与者群体中占主导地位（Galvin 和 Herzog，1992 年；Guither，1998 年）以及无神论与支持反物种主义之间的相关性（Gabriel 等人，2012 年； The Humane Society, 2014)，但迄今为止还没有任何研究独立检查过这一人口统计数据。本文介绍了 210 名无神论者和不可知论者的概况，这些调查源自 2017 年初对 287 名美国纯素食者进行的更大规模调查。结果表明，无神论者构成了最大的运动人口统计数据之一，而这些纯素食者更有可能出于对其他动物。虽然无神论者和不可知论者的纯素食者没有比宗教纯素食者更高的社会运动参与度，他们更具交叉性，更有可能在政治上认同极左派。鉴于非人类动物权利运动总体上未能针对无神论者人口统计，这些调查结果表明在忽视该运动最容易接受的人口统计方面存在战略疏忽。