Issue · 2015
Vol. 2, Special Iss. 3 Pages 1-159
14 articles · pp. 1-159 · All issues →
Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and ScienceThe NonReligious-NonSpiritual Scale (NRNSS): Measuring Everyone from Atheists to Zionists
Ryan T. Cragun, Joseph H. Hammer, Michael Nielsen
Although hundreds of measures of personal religiousness and spirituality exist, none are capable of reliably and validly assessing individuals who identify as nonreligious and nonspiritual. There is a need to develop a valid and reliable measure of (non)religi…
27 Jul 2015
Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and ScienceExplaining the Secularity of Academics: Historical Questions and Psychological Findings
Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi
Religious beliefs are the products of natural, intuitive human thinking, and are shared by most humans. Academic research, or science, is the product of counter-intuitive, unnatural psychological processes, and the resulting concepts are beyond the reach of mo…
28 Jul 2015- Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and Science
Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions by Phil Zuckerman, Penguin Press, 2014, 288 pp. $25.95 (hardcover), ISBN 978-1594205088
Amanda Schutz
Living the Secular Life begins with a popular assumption: life without religion is empty and meaningless. Without religion, one cannot develop a moral compass, raise decent and happy children, navigate tragedy, or cooperate effectively with others in society.…
28 Jul 2015 - Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and Science
The New Atheist Novel: Fiction, Philosophy, and Polemic after 9/11, Arthur Bradley & Andrew Tate, London and New York, NY: Continuum Publishing, 2010, 136pp.
Marcus Mann
As the story goes, on the morning of September 12, 2001, Sam Harris, a graduate student in neuroscience at the University of California – Los Angeles, woke up with an itch. He had been shaken to his core by the events of the previous day and found himsel…
28 Jul 2015 - Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and Science
Discourse Analysis and the Definition of Atheism
Ethan G. Quillen
In recent years the study of Atheism has grown in popularity, leading to both positive and negative results. On one end, this has engendered a polyvocal and polyfocal discourse, garnering perspectives from a number of different methodological and theoretical a…
27 Jul 2015 - Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and Science
The God of Nonbelievers: Characteristics of a Hypothetical God
David F. Bradley, Julie J. Exline, Alex Uzdavines
People who believe in the existence of a god or gods often hold an image of a god with relational characteristics (e.g., loving, cruel, and/or distant). Can nonbelievers form an image of a hypothetical god? What characteristics do their hypothetical gods have?…
28 Jul 2015 - Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and Science
An Introduction to Atheism, Secularity, and Science
Thomas J. Coleman III, Ralph W. Hood Jr, John R. Shook
Over the past 10 years research and scholarship on secularity in general, and atheism in particular, has increased significantly. Moreover, these phenomena have been researched, studied and documented by multiple disciplines ranging from cognitive science to r…
26 Jul 2015 - Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and Science
On (not) defining (non)religion
Jonathan Jong
Social scientific research on religion (and related phenomena, including nonreligion, atheism, and secularity) is invariably prefaced by sheepish attempts to define these terms, followed by apologies for the inevitable inadequacy of the proposed definiti…
27 Jul 2015 - Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and Science
Atheism, Wellbeing, and the Wager: Why Not Believing in God (With Others) is Good for You
Luke Galen
The majority of social science research on religiosity and associated variables has tended to focus on putative beneficial aspects, implying that the absence of religious belief is accompanied by liabilities. However, a closer examination of the literature rev…
27 Jul 2015 - Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and Science
Atheism Looking In: On the Goals and Strategies of Organized Nonbelief
Joseph Langston, Joseph Hammer, Ryan T. Cragun
This exploratory study contributed to research on nonbelievers, their communities, and the atheist movement in general by dividing nonbelievers (N=1,939) into four groups based on degree of formal affiliation and assessing attitudes, perceptions, and preferenc…
27 Jul 2015 - Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and Science
A Profile of the Members of the British Humanist Association
Gareth Longden
In 1967 Campbell published the first detailed survey of the members of the British Humanist Association. His survey of 931 members represented the most comprehensive study of the members of the organisation then published. The current research builds on…
27 Jul 2015 
Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and ScienceSimple Markov Model for Estimating the Growth of Nonreligion in the United States
John Stinespring, Ryan T. Cragun
The authors develop a simple Markov model to forecast future rates of religious nonaffiliation. A two-period, two-variable Markov switching model is used which yields a tractable steady state solution and growth path for the share of the population that is non…
27 Jul 2015- Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and Science
When Rabbis Lose Faith: Twelve Rabbis Tell their Stories about their Loss of Belief in God
Rabbi Paul Shrell-Fox
Religious intuition evolves over time. To the degree that belief in a supernatural God is a derivative of religious intuition, it is safe to assume that over one’s lifetime, intuition and attitudes towards a belief in God is subject to fluctuation. Denne…
28 Jul 2015 - Special Issue: Atheism, Secularity, and Science
Trent Dougherty, The Problem of Animal Pain: A Theodicy for All Creatures Great and Small, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, 197pp., $105.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780230368484.
Liz Goodnick
Probably the greatest challenge to theism is the problem of evil (perhaps better understood as the problem of pain and/or suffering): it is difficult to understand why an all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly good being2 would allow his creatures to suffer:…
28 Jul 2015