Atheism and Secularity PDF
Preview Atheism and Secularity
Atheism and Secularity This page intentionally left blank Atheism and Secularity Volume 1 Issues, Concepts, and Definitions Edited by P Z HIL UCKERMAN PraegerPerspectives P RAEGER AnImprintofABC-CLIO,LLC Copyright2010by PhilZuckerman Allrights reserved.Nopart ofthis publication may bereproduced, storedina retrieval system,or transmitted, inany formor by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except forthe inclusion ofbrief quotationsina review,without prior permission inwriting fromthe publisher. Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Atheism andsecularity /Phil Zuckerman, editor. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-313-35181-5(hard copy :alk. paper) —ISBN978-0-313- 35182-2(ebook)—ISBN 978-0-313-35183-9 (hardcopy vol. 1 :alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-35184-6(ebookvol. 1) —ISBN 978-0-313-35185-3 (hardcopy vol. 2: alk.paper) —ISBN 978-0-313-35186-0 (ebookvol. 2)1.Irreligion and sociology.2. Atheism.3.Secularism. I.Zuckerman, Phil. BL2747.A85 2010 2110.6—dc22 2009036682 ISBN:978-0-313-35181-5 EISBN:978-0-313-35182-2 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5 This bookis alsoavailableon theWorld Wide WebasaneBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. Praeger AnImprint ofABC-CLIO, LLC ABC-CLIO, LLC 130Cremona Drive,P.O.Box 1911 SantaBarbara,California 93116-1911 This bookis printed onacid-free paper Manufactured inthe United StatesofAmerica Contents Introduction:TheSocialScientificStudyofAtheismandSecularity PhilZuckerman vii Chapter1: WhatIsAtheism? JackDavidEller 1 Chapter2: Atheism,Secularity,theFamily,andChildren ChristelManning 19 Chapter3: APortraitofSecularGroupAffiliates FrankL.Pasquale 43 Chapter4: SexualityandtheSecular ThomasJ.LinnemanandMargaretA.Clendenen 89 Chapter5: MoralityandImmoralityamongtheIrreligious BenjaminBeit-Hallahmi 113 Chapter6: TheEvolutionofPopularReligiosityandSecularism: HowFirstWorldStatisticsRevealWhyReligionExists, WhyItHasBeenPopular,andWhytheMostSuccessful DemocraciesAretheMostSecular GregoryS.Paul 149 Chapter7: Atheism,Secularity,andGender IngerFurseth 209 Chapter8: FreethinkersandHellRaisers:TheBriefHistoryof AmericanAtheismandSecularism DanielCady 229 vi Contents Chapter9: DefiningReligionandModifyingReligious‘‘Bodies’’: SecularizingtheSacredandSacralizingtheSecular JayDemerathIII 251 Index 271 AbouttheEditorandContributors 279 Introduction: The Social Scientific Study of Atheism and Secularity Phil Zuckerman In 1972, almost forty years ago, Colin Campbell, then a lecturer at the University of York, published a book titled Toward a Sociology of Irreli- gion.1 The inside jacket cover dubbed it ‘‘the first serious study of the social phenomenon of the rejection of religion.’’ In this groundbreaking treatise,Campbellobservedthatsociologistshave‘‘entirelyignoredirreli- gion.’’2Hesoughttovigorouslyaddressthismajorlacunabycallingfora newfocusofstudywithinsociology,thatis,thestudyofpeoplewholive their lives indifferent to, without, or in opposition to religion. Campbell beganhisworkbyponderingwhyitisthatsociologistshaveignoredsec- ularityovertheyears,andhethenwentontobroachavarietyofsignifi- cant topics ripe for inquiry and attention: the role antireligious and/or humanistmovementsplayinspreadingsecularizationwithinsociety;the variousformsanddefinitionsofirreligion;irreligionandmorality;irreli- gionandpolitics;thesocialfunctionsofirreligion,andsoon.Campbell’s workremainssignificantforitsinsights,itsthoughtfulness,anditsincon- trovertible prescience.Butwhatisperhapsmoststriking aboutthework is this: it fell on deaf ears. Campbell’s call for a widespread sociological analysisofirreligionwentlargelyunheeded. The publication of this two-volume set seeks to redress that regretta- ble outcome, to hear and to heed Campbell’s call, and to finally take seriously the social scientific task of exploring, investigating, document- ing, and analyzing various aspects of atheism and secularity. The authors of the chapters contained in this collection have attempted to viii Introduction do just that and thereby offer studies of irreligiosity with the same level of interest and rigor that social scientists have devoted to study- ing the topic of religiosity for well over a century. While bemoaning the dearth of scholarship on atheism, irreligion, and secularity that has typified the social sciences,3 it must also be acknowledgedthatasignificantamountofacademicwritingandscholar- ship has in fact been devoted to the topic of secularization—the historical process whereby religion weakens, fades, or loses its hegemonic domi- nance or public significance. A plethora of scholars have been aggres- sively debating secularization for years.4 Despite the impressive amount that has been published on secularization, nearly all of it—at least that I amawareof—isgenerallytheoretical,typological,orbroadlyhistoricalin nature, and doesn’t actually deal with secular life or atheism as they are actually lived, expressed, or experienced by irreligious men and women in the here and now. Nor does the cottage industry of scholarship on or about secularization entail a direct focus on the social, anthropological, and/or psychological particulars of how secularity actually manifests itselfor‘‘playsitselfout’’inthecontemporaryworld. As with work on secularization, when it comes to the advocacy of atheism—or the debunking of religion—there’s also a lot out there, to be sure. Thousands of books, essays, and articles have been published since the days of David Hume (1711–1776) and Baron D’Holbach (1723–1789), which argue against theism, critique the Bible, deride religion, harangue clergy, and/or promote naturalism, materialism, agnosticism, humanism, freethought, and so on. Most recently, a spate of best sellers have been published in this formidable vein, including The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (2004) by Sam Harris,5 God Is Not Great: HowReligionPoisonsEverything(2007)byChristopherHitchens,6andThe GodDelusion(2006)byRichardDawkins7—thelastofwhichhassoldover 1.5millioncopiesasofthiswriting.Thesebooks,however,arenotstudies of atheists and/or secular people, per se. They are distinctly polemical works with the expressed goal of convincing people that theism is false and/orthatreligionisabadorharmfulthing.Suchendeavors,however thoughtprovoking,arenotsocialscience.Noraretheymeanttobe.Lest thereaderbeconfused,thispointbearsstressing:theadvocacyofatheism and/or the urging of secularity are not to be mistaken for the social- scientific study of atheism and secularity—just as one wouldn’t confuse works that advocate faith and religion with those that seek to study, explain,oranalyzefaithandreligion.Andasstatedabove,whenitcomes to the advocacy of atheism and secularity, one finds a rich, diverse, and undeniablycopiouscorpusofwork.Butwhenitcomestothestudyand analysis of atheism and secularity, one doesn’t find much. As William Sims Bainbridge recently lamented, ‘‘we know surprisingly little about Atheismfromasocial-scientificperspective.’’8 Introduction ix That said, for one to suggest that absolutely no social science has been undertaken devoted to the study of atheism or secularity since Campbell’s call would be untrue. In fact, several years just prior to the publication of Campbell’s book, N. J. Demerath wrote what may very well be the first sociological investigations of irreligion ever published in academic journals; one, coauthored with Victor Thiessen and pub- lished in 1966, was an article on the Freie Gemeinde, a small free- thought movement in Wisconsin and the other, published in 1969, was an article on the Society for Ethical Culture and the American Rational- ist Federation.9Alsoin1969,ArmandMausspublishedanarticleonreli- giousdefectionamongMormons.10Andoneyearpriortothepublication of Campbell’s book, Rocco Caporale and Antonio Gumelli edited a vol- ume titled The Culture of Unbelief, which was an assemblage of papers deliveredatasymposiumheldinRomeontheverytopicofthelackofre- ligiousbeliefinthecontemporaryworld.Mostofthepapersinthispubli- cation,however,tendedtobehighlytentativeand/orspeculative,foras one contributor noted, there is an ‘‘appalling lack of empirical data on unbelief’’and‘‘wedonotknowenoughaboutthephenomenonofunbe- lief to formulate even a minimum inventory of validated propositions thatmayconstitutethebasisoffurtheranalysis.’’11Whileaslewofstud- iesemergedinthe1970sand1980swithafocusonapostasy,12asidefrom theseandafewadditionaldisparatebooksandarticles,13inthewordsof Talal Asad, ‘‘social scientists ... have paid scarcely any attention to the ideaofthesecular.’’14 That sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists have largely neglected the study of secularity is truly remarkable, especially given the fact that secular, irreligious, nonreligious, and antireligious men and women have always existed.15EvenRodneyStarkandRogerFinke canadmitthatatheismis‘‘probablyasoldasreligion.’’16Today,weknow that atheists and secular folk represent a large slice of humanity; one recent(andconservative)estimateofnonbelieversinGodplacesthenum- bersomewherebetween500millionand750millionpeopleworldwide.17 Andifthecategoryweretobewidenedtoincludethosewhoself-identify as simply ‘‘nonreligious’’ or ‘‘unreligious,’’ these numbers would no doubtincreasedramatically.Thefactis,theportionofhumanswhoreject, have no interest in, or are indifferent to belief in God and/or religion is notlimitedtosomeminisculebatchofangrydeviantsordisgruntled‘‘vil- lage atheists.’’ On the contrary, for if our estimates are correct, non- believers in God as a worldwide group come in fourth place after Christianity,Islam,andHinduismintermsoftheglobalrankingofcom- monly held belief systems. Put another way, there are 58 times as many nonbelievers in God as there are Mormons, 35 times as many non- believers in God as there are Sikhs, and twice as many nonbelievers in GodasthereareBuddhists.
The list of books you might like
