Nonreligion and Secularity in Canada

Abstract

This special issue of Secular Studies critically engages with key theoretical debates in nonreligion and secularity studies and contributes to a growing body of empirical research on the Canadian secular landscape. Having gained increasing attention from scholars over the past two decades, there is now a growing body of research in the subfield of nonreligion and secular studies. Notable focuses have been on nonreligious communities, such as the Sunday Assembly (e.g. Cross 2017; Smith 2017; Mortimer, Tim, and Melanie Prideaux 2018), nonreligious identities (e.g. Hacket 2014; Lanman et al. 2019; Lee 2014, 2015; Manning 2015; Sumerau and Cragun 2016; Voas and Day 2010; Zuckerman and Shook 2017), irreligious disaffiliation (e.g. Nica 2020; Thiessen and Wilkins-Laflamme 2017; Zuckerman 2012), political polarization (Baker and Smith 2015; Wilkins-Laflamme 2016), and on how the nonreligious meaningfully differ from their religious counterparts in values and life behaviors (Manning 2015; Thiessen andWilkins-Laflamme 2020; Zuckerman 2008, 2014). Further existing researchhas engagedwith theoretical debates regarding the categories of ‘nonreligion’ and ‘secularity’ (Lee 2012, 2014, 2015; Quack 2014; Quack and Schuch 2017; Quack et al. 2020) and potential replacement categories, such as ‘worldview’ and ‘meaning makings systems’ (Taves 2020; Taves et al. 2018) or ‘cosmic belief systems’ (Baker and Smith 2015), as well as the multiplicity of secularities (Lee 2015; 2019; Taylor 2007;Wohlrab-Sahr and Burchardt 2012). The contributions made by scholars in this special issue extend this knowledge into new areas, highlighting empirical locations where nonreligion and secularity are becoming increasingly significant. Additionally, the