Atheist Identities - Spaces and Social Contexts

✍ Scribed by Lori G. Beaman, Steven Tomlins (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer International Publishing
• Year: 2015
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 220
• Series: Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies 2
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The essays in this book not only examine the variety of atheist expression and experience in the Western context, they also explore how local, national and international settings may contribute to the shaping of atheist identities. By addressing identity at these different levels, the book explores how individuals construct their own atheist—or non-religious—identity, how they construct community and how identity factors into atheist interaction at the social or institutional levels. The book offers an interdisciplinary comparative approach to the analysis of issues relating to atheism, such as demography, community engagement, gender politics, stigmatism and legal action. It covers such themes as: secularization; the social context of atheism in various Western countries; the shifting of atheist identities based on different cultural and national contexts; the role of atheism in multicultural settings; how the framework of “reasonable accommodation” applies to atheism; interactions and relationships between atheism and religion and how atheism is represented for political and legal purposes. Featuring contributions by international scholars at the cutting edge of atheism studies, this volume offers unique insights into the relationship between atheism and identity. It will serve as a useful resource for academics, journalists, policy makers and general readers interested in secular and religious studies, identity construction and identity politics as well as atheism in general.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-vii
Introduction....Pages 1-18
The Church on the Margins: The Religious Context of the New Atheism....Pages 19-37
Freedom of and Freedom from Religion: Atheist Involvement in Legal Cases....Pages 39-52
Atheism Versus Humanism: Ideological Tensions and Identity Dynamics....Pages 53-68
The Cultural, the Nominal, and the Secular: The Social Reality of Religious Identity Among Sri Lankan Tamil Youth in Canada....Pages 69-85
Secularist Rituals in the US: Solidarity and Legitimization....Pages 87-100
Believing to Belong: Non-religious Belief as a Path to Inclusion....Pages 101-115
A Common Godlessness: A Snapshot of a Canadian University Atheist Club, Why Its Members Joined, and What That Community Means to Them....Pages 117-136
From Atheist to Spiritual But Not Religious: A Punctuated Continuum of Identities among the Second Generation of Post-1970 Immigrants in Canada....Pages 137-151
Living Non-religious Identity in London....Pages 153-170
Without God yet Not Without Nuance: A Qualitative Study of Atheism and Non-religion Among Scottish University Students....Pages 171-193
Who Are the “New Atheists”?....Pages 195-211
Back Matter....Pages 213-219

✦ Subjects

Religious Studies; Demography; Philosophy of Religion; Regional and Cultural Studies