Secular StudiesPub Date : 2021-04-26DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10012
Zachary A. Munro, Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme
{"title":"Nonreligion and Secularity in Canada","authors":"Zachary A. Munro, Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10012","url":null,"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","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91162553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Secular StudiesPub Date : 2021-04-26DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10015
Lori G. Beaman, Cory Steele
{"title":"Living Well Together","authors":"Lori G. Beaman, Cory Steele","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10015","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper considers the study of nonreligion as a vital component of the discussion about “how to live well together” in the “new diversity.” Our specific interest concerning the notion of the “new diversity” is that of nonreligion. This paper therefore focuses on the intersection of law and nonreligion, in the areas of health, education, migration, and the environment. We argue that a continued shift away from a majoritarian Christian society in Canada and toward the “new diversity” has rather significant implications for law and society. The law has been increasingly required to balance the beliefs, values, and practices of both nonreligious and religious people to ensure Canadians can “live well together” in an ever changing (non)religious landscape.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80131953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Secular StudiesPub Date : 2021-04-26DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10017
Ryan T. Cragun, Kevin McCaffree
{"title":"Nothing Is Not Something","authors":"Ryan T. Cragun, Kevin McCaffree","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10017","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 With the advance of secularization in numerous countries and the growth of those who report no religious affiliation, more attention is being given to individuals who are not religious. Various scholars have proposed names for the individuals who report no religious affiliation and researchers have created categories for such individuals. The de facto term is now “nonreligion” or “nonreligious.” However, even when the term “nonreligious” (Lee 2012) was put forward, there were serious reservations about labeling a group of people by what they are not. In this article, we detail why this is such a serious problem, and how this is only going to become more of a problem as this segment of national populations grows. We propose that we discontinue referring to such individuals as “nonreligious” and instead focus on the positive substance of their identities.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"39 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87787023","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Secular StudiesPub Date : 2021-04-26DOI: 10.1163/25892525-BJA10016
Géraldine Mossière
{"title":"Cosmopolitanism, Sociability and Assemblages of Symbolic Resources among Youths Attracted by Islam","authors":"Géraldine Mossière","doi":"10.1163/25892525-BJA10016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-BJA10016","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 On the basis of ethnographic fieldwork carried out among youths living in Montreal (Canada) who are interested in Islam and adopt some elements of a Muslim lifestyle, I show how affinities with Islam arise from sociability practices with friends of Muslim background and relate to the cultural diversification of secular societies. By combining network analysis with narrative analysis, I examine how youths interpret and make sense of these interactions and propose a critical view of their cosmopolitan discourses. While the latter is grounded in a universalist rhetoric, I argue it also unfolds within the intimacy of sociability experiences and shared emotions. Youth’s cosmopolitanism draws on cultural repertoires that stem from public education programs and local strategies to promote peaceable cohabitation in secular contexts. Consequently, youth competencies for cosmopolitanism lead to ongoing conversations that make differences and divergences within sociability spaces new sites to negotiate intercultural encounters in highly diversified localities.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85915299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Secular StudiesPub Date : 2021-04-26DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10019
Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme
{"title":"The Secular Diaspora in Canada","authors":"Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10019","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Almost all the existing research in the subfield of nonreligion and secularity studies has focused to date on majority populations (Whites from Christian family backgrounds) in North America and Europe. Using data from the 2011 National Household Survey and the 2013–2017 General Social Surveys, this research note is a first step towards better understanding the ethno-racial and immigrant diversity within the nonreligious population of one nation, Canada. A further emphasis is placed on socio-demographic trends among these different nonreligious groups, as well as their various experiences when it comes to the presence or absence of spiritual beliefs and practices in their lives away from organized religion.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"72 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87223085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Secular StudiesPub Date : 2021-04-26DOI: 10.1163/25892525-BJA10018
Christopher D. Raymond
{"title":"The Partisan Consequences of Secularisation","authors":"Christopher D. Raymond","doi":"10.1163/25892525-BJA10018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-BJA10018","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 While we would expect secularisation to have important consequences for voting behaviour, data limitations in previous studies leave the specific implications of secularisation for Canadian electoral politics unclear. Using a data set covering the period between 1975 and 2005, this study examines which aspects of secularisation have affected the partisan balance of the electorate by estimating the effects of religious belonging, behaving, and believing on party preferences. The results show that while the effects of religion (and other social identities) have not changed over time, changes in the composition of the electorate resulting from the growing share of non-religious Canadians holding liberal views on questions of personal morality has benefited the NDP and undercut support for the Conservatives.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"60 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86912576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Purism","authors":"Primus","doi":"10.2307/806491","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/806491","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article presents an ontological proof that God is impossible. I define an ‘impossibility’ as a condition which is inconceivable due to its a priori characteristics (e.g. a ‘square circle’). Accordingly, said conditions will not ever become conceivable, as they could in instances of a posteriori inconceivability (e.g. the notion that someone could touch a star without being burned). As the basis of this argument, I refer to an a priori observation (Primus, 2019) regarding our inability to imagine inconsistency (difference) within any point of space. This observation renders the notion of absolute power to be inconceivable, a priori. I briefly discuss the moral implications of religious faith in the context of Purism: a moral rationalist paradigm. I conclude that whilst belief in God can be aesthetically expressed it should not be possessed as a material purpose, due to the illogicality of the latter category of belief and/or expression. With this article I provide conceptual delineation between harmless religious belief and expression—which, I argue, should be protected from persecution, as per any other artistic expression—and religious belief and expression which is materially harmful to society. Whilst I aim to protect religious freedom of expression on one hand, I duly aim to reduce instances of material faith in God(s) on the other. Finally, I aim to bring hope in the possibility for human salvation via technology—such that they should exist indefinitely as ‘demi-gods,’ defined by conditional, relative power over their environment.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"473 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90264218","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Secular StudiesPub Date : 2020-04-03DOI: 10.1163/25892525-bja10002
James B. Schuurmans-Stekhoven
{"title":"Credit Where Credit Is Due","authors":"James B. Schuurmans-Stekhoven","doi":"10.1163/25892525-bja10002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-bja10002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 A belief-as-benefit effect (BABE)—the positive association between well-being and religiosity/spirituality—is recurrently reported. Past BABE research has however been critiqued for predominantly utilizing unrepresentative samples, questionable psychometric measures and bivariate designs. Employing a multivariate design, I explore the incremental validity of the BABE in two community samples. Hierarchical models—initially including socio-demographic factors and religiosity/spirituality and subsequently adding trait agreeableness and conscientiousness—are used. Simple correlations confirm the BABE (with an unexceptional effect size). However the unique association observed using multivariate estimation is substantially weaker and occasionally indicates an adverse association. That cross-sectional analyses cannot establish cause is fully acknowledged. Yet, establishing cause is not the current aim; multivariate models are simply used to substantiate the cross-sectional BABE.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"73 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90420435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Secular StudiesPub Date : 2019-10-10DOI: 10.1163/25892525-00102001
L. Igwe
{"title":"Media and Witchcraft Accusation in Northern Ghana","authors":"L. Igwe","doi":"10.1163/25892525-00102001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-00102001","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 There has been a growing visibility of witchcraft beliefs in the African media. The dominant paradigm in the academic literature on witchcraft is that the media reinforce witchcraft beliefs by disseminating information and ideas that are related to witchcraft accusations and witch hunting. However, a careful examination shows that this is not always the case because the media serve other counter purposes. Using ethnographic data from the Dagomba area in Northern Ghana and the concept of forum shopping, this paper explores how accused persons in the Dagomba communities utilize the limited media coverage to enhance their responses to witchcraft accusations. Apart from disseminating information regarding the activities of assumed witches, the media publicize perspectives that reject witchcraft notions.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"124 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88021124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Secular StudiesPub Date : 2019-10-10DOI: 10.1163/25892525-00102005
Anastasia E. Somerville-Wong
{"title":"Secular Liturgies","authors":"Anastasia E. Somerville-Wong","doi":"10.1163/25892525-00102005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/25892525-00102005","url":null,"abstract":"This paper, by the founder of the UK based Secular Liturgies Network and Forum, explores the concept and purpose of secular liturgy, and the potential for liturgical events in modern secular societies. It examines the practice of writing secular liturgy, discusses potential contributions from atheists, agnostics, humanists and religious progressives, and considers the new pastoral roles that may evolve alongside a secular liturgies movement. The author argues that secular liturgies and liturgical events have the potential to enrich secular culture, nurture community, facilitate healthy social interaction, advance ethical thought, promote creative writing and other arts, and galvanise people in their efforts towards sustainability and the creation of cultures and environments of health.","PeriodicalId":29677,"journal":{"name":"Secular Studies","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84075512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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