Luke Galen
...rs, not socially engaged nonbelievers. Therefore, defining individuals who are not committed or engaged in socially supportive groups solely in terms of their lack of religious belief virtually guarantees that atheists and agnostics will appear inferior on a variety of outcome variables. However, nonbelief and secular worldviews can also be practiced in social groups such as atheist, humanist, and freethought organizations. Contrary to prevalent stereotypes, o...
Joseph Langston1*, Joseph Hammer2, Ryan T. Cragun3
...ntributed 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 preferences in three areas. First, we examined the preferences of nonbelieving group members (“secular affiliates”), former members, and nonbelieving non-members (“secular nonaffiliat...
David F. Bradley*, Julie J. Exline, Alex Uzdavines
...el, and/or distant). Can nonbelievers form an image of a hypothetical god? What characteristics do their hypothetical gods have? We conducted an Internet-based survey of adult nonbelievers in the U.S. (N = 458). Most (86%; N = 393) were able to form an image of a hypothetical god. On average, nonbelievers described a god that was more loving than distant or cruel. Compared to a previousl...
