tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/atheism-2778/articlesAtheism – The Conversation2024-01-11T13:27:12Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157492024-01-11T13:27:12Z2024-01-11T13:27:12ZChurch without God: How secular congregations fill a need for some nonreligious Americans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567496/original/file-20231229-29-rjfaky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C20%2C4495%2C2994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sunday Assembly is one of the larger secular congregations aiming to provide community and ritual for nonreligious people. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CORRECTIONAtheistMegachurches/a408a90613b243ee90974d507a2d60ed/photo?Query=%22sunday%20assembly%22&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=9&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Jae C. Hong</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Shared testimonies, collective singing, silent meditation and baptism rituals – these are all activities you might find at a Christian church service on a Sunday morning in the United States. But what would it look like if atheists were gathering to do these rituals instead?</p>
<p>Today, almost 30% of adults in the United States <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/12/14/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated/">say they have no religious affiliation</a>, and only half <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/">attend worship services</a> regularly. But not all forms of church are on the decline – including “secular congregations,” or what many call “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/10/atheist-mega-churches/3489967/">atheist churches</a>.” </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.cla.purdue.edu/directory/profiles/jacqui-frost.html">sociologist of religion</a> who has spent the past 10 years studying <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110458657-010">nonreligious communities</a>, I have found that atheist churches serve many of the same purposes as religious churches. Their growth is evidence that religious decline does not necessarily mean a decline in community, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soac042">ritual or people’s well-being</a>. </p>
<h2>What is an atheist church?</h2>
<p>Secular congregations often mimic religious organizations by using the language and structure of a “church,” such as meeting on Sundays or hearing a member’s “testimony,” or by adapting religious language or practices in other ways.</p>
<p>For example, there are a growing number of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-nones-the-religiously-unaffiliated-are-finding-meaning-purpose-and-spirituality-in-psychedelic-churches-207461">psychedelic churches</a>, which cater to people looking to experience spirituality and ritual <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-atheist-churches-to-finding-healing-in-the-sacred-flower-of-cannabis-spiritual-but-not-religious-americans-are-finding-new-ways-of-pursuing-meaning-191840">through drug use</a>. </p>
<p>There are also secular organizations that promote the idea that people can live forever, such as the <a href="https://www.churchofperpetuallife.org/">Church of Perpetual Life</a>. Members believe they <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/human-body/the-church-of-perpetual-life-the-people-who-believe-they-can-cheat-death-forever/news-story/79e6860884ebca53cc02ba40968db1b0">can achieve immortality</a> on Earth through radical life-extension technologies such as gene editing or cryonic preservation – <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/18/health/how-cryopreservation-and-cryonics-works/index.html">freezing bodies after death</a> in hopes that they can someday be resuscitated.</p>
<p>These secular congregations often appeal to atheists and other secular people, but their main purpose is not promoting atheism. </p>
<p>However, “atheist church” organizations like the <a href="https://www.sundayassembly.org/">Sunday Assembly</a> and <a href="https://www.oasisnetwork.com/">the Oasis</a> explicitly celebrate atheists’ identities and beliefs, even though <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122419871957">not everyone who attends identifies as an atheist</a>. Testimonies and activities extol values like rational thinking and <a href="https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/philosophy/materialism">materialist philosophies</a>, which promote the idea that only physical matter exists. </p>
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<span class="caption">British comedian Sanderson Jones leads a Sunday Assembly meeting in 2013 in Washington, D.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/british-comedian-sanderson-jones-leads-the-sunday-assembly-news-photo/452045207?adppopup=true">Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>There are also long-standing humanist and <a href="https://religionnews.com/2014/10/01/original-atheist-church-dont-atheists-know-ethical-culture/">ethical communities</a> that promote secular worldviews and provide secular ceremonies for major life transitions, like births, funerals and weddings. The <a href="https://americanhumanist.org/">American Humanist Association</a>, for example, describes its values as “Good without a God.” And for decades, Unitarian Universalist congregations, which grew out of Christian movements, have drawn on teachings from both religious and nonreligious traditions, without imposing specific creeds of their own.</p>
<p>But there has been a recent rise in secular congregations that explicitly mimic religious organizations and rituals to celebrate atheistic worldviews. Many have just one or two chapters, such as the <a href="https://seattleatheist.church/">Seattle Atheist Church</a> and the <a href="https://www.churchoffreethought.org/">North Texas Church of Freethought</a>. </p>
<p>However, Sunday Assembly and the Oasis have networks with dozens of chapters, and Sunday Assembly has been dubbed the “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/10/atheist-mega-churches/3489967/">first atheist mega-church</a>.” Many chapters of Sunday Assembly <a href="https://www.npr.org/2014/01/07/260184473/sunday-assembly-a-church-for-the-godless-picks-up-steam">see hundreds of attendees</a> at their services. </p>
<h2>Testimonies, singalongs – but nothing supernatural</h2>
<p>Many features of atheist churches in the U.S. are directly borrowed from religious organizations. At Sunday Assembly, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soac042">where I spent three years doing research</a>, services include collective singing, reading inspirational texts, silent reflection and collecting donations. They center around a central lecture given by a member of the congregation or a member of the larger local community. I attended one service where an astronomer gave a talk about the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pluto-exploration/">New Horizons spacecraft’s mission to Pluto</a>. At another service, a member of a local community garden organization talked about building community through her community garden program. </p>
<p>Atheist church organizers I met told me that they intentionally borrow the structure of a church because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110458657-010">they see it as a good model</a> for building effective rituals and communities. More generally, the structure of a “congregation” <a href="https://studyingcongregations.org/congregationalism-in-american-churches-a-reaction-by-r-stephen-warner/">is popular and familiar</a> to most attendees. </p>
<p>However, there are key differences. Sunday Assembly has no hierarchical structure, and there is no pastor or minister, meaning that decisions are made by the community. Attendees share duties for running the services and finding speakers and readings. </p>
<p>The other key difference is the complete lack of reference to the supernatural. Lectures and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soac042">rituals I have encountered</a> at atheist church services are centered around affirming atheistic beliefs, celebrating science, cultivating experiences of awe and wonder for nature, and creating communities of support. </p>
<p>Sociologists of religion call these practices “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-016-9350-7">sacralizing the secular</a>” and “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/atheist-awakening-9780199986323?cc=de&lang=en&">secular spirituality</a>”: activities that enable nonreligious people to express their shared beliefs and cultivate a sense of belonging and purpose. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567498/original/file-20231229-23-9mioe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Stickers with messages such as 'Born again humanist' and 'I believe in life before death.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567498/original/file-20231229-23-9mioe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567498/original/file-20231229-23-9mioe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567498/original/file-20231229-23-9mioe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567498/original/file-20231229-23-9mioe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567498/original/file-20231229-23-9mioe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567498/original/file-20231229-23-9mioe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567498/original/file-20231229-23-9mioe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An attendee grabs a brochure at the Sunday Assembly in Los Angeles in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/AtheistMegachurches/b0e301a630c643f2aae47f2cabea555f/photo?Query=%22sunday%20assembly%22&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=9&currentItemNo=8">AP Photo/Jae C. Hong</a></span>
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<p>One example is collective singing: borrowing a familiar aspect of religious services that can give members a sense of transcendence. Most Sunday Assembly chapters have church bands that lead singalongs to pop songs like “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi and “Brave” by Sara Bareilles. When the astronomer talked to Sunday Assembly about NASA’s mission to Pluto, the congregation sang “Across the Universe” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” by the Beatles to reinforce their reverence for the vastness of the universe.</p>
<p>Another borrowed ritual is the sharing of testimony. Many Sunday Assembly services involve a member standing in front of the congregation to share something they learned recently, to express gratitude, or to affirm their atheistic beliefs by sharing why they left religion. </p>
<p>Some atheist communities, although not Sunday Assembly, even engage in <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/atheists-conduct-de-baptisms/story?id=11109379">“debaptism” ceremonies</a> in which they renounce their former religion. Some atheists I interviewed sent their debaptism certificates to their former churches as a way of solidifying their new nonreligious identity. </p>
<h2>Change ahead?</h2>
<p>As rates of religious affiliation continue to decline, many scholars and pundits have argued that there will be a <a href="https://psmag.com/social-justice/losing-our-religion-and-its-spaces">decline in community engagement</a> <a href="https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/decline-in-religiosity-a-public-health-crisis-117821.html">and other important indicators of well-being</a>, such as health, happiness and people’s sense of meaning and purpose.</p>
<p>However, atheist churches are an example of how nonreligious Americans are finding <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/sraa016">new ways</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srad002">meet those needs</a>. A member of Sunday Assembly told me: “I honestly can’t think of a word to describe it. I mean, ‘life-changing’ sounds stupid, but Sunday Assembly just helped so much. I’ve always struggled with depression, and I’m so much happier now that I have this group of friends who share my beliefs and who are trying to do good out in the world with me.” </p>
<p>Atheist churches are still fairly new, but <a href="https://doi.org/10.5334/snr.102">studies have shown</a> that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2010.510829">participation in them</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110458657">other types of atheist organizations</a> can bring social and emotional benefits. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000392">In particular</a>, it can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soab165">help atheists buffer the negative effects</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2012.642741">experiencing stigma</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26166844">or discrimination</a>. </p>
<p>Whether the atheist church trend will continue remains to be seen. But such churches’ recent growth is evidence that they can work much like religious organizations to build community, cultivate rituals and bolster well-being in a time of religious change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215749/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqui Frost does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A sociologist of religion explains how atheist churches are helping people find meaning and community – serving many of the same purposes as religious churches.Jacqui Frost, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Purdue UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2086462023-09-07T12:22:46Z2023-09-07T12:22:46ZReligious leaders without religion: How humanist, atheist and spiritual-but-not-religious chaplains tend to patients’ needs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542217/original/file-20230810-28-rzbkx4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C3%2C2284%2C1293&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chaplains talk with anyone, regardless of whether or not the patient has a religious affiliation – and some chaplains themselves are not religious.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-holding-hands-and-closeup-for-therapy-royalty-free-image/1511184644?phrase=counselor+hand&adppopup=true">Jacob Wackerhausen/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In times of loss, change or other challenges, chaplains can listen, provide comfort and discuss spiritual needs. These spiritual caregivers can be found working in hospitals, universities, prisons and many other secular settings, <a href="https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/406838/one-four-americans-served-chaplains.aspx">serving people of all faiths and those with no faith tradition at all</a>.</p>
<p>Yet a common assumption is that chaplains themselves must be grounded in a religious tradition. After all, how can you be a religious leader without religion?</p>
<p>In reality, <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/resources/faith-tradition/humanist-chaplaincy">a growing number of chaplains are nonreligious</a>: people who identify as atheist, agnostic, <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/resources/faith-tradition/humanist-chaplaincy">humanist</a> or “spiritual but not religious.” I am <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/team/amy-lawton-phd">a sociologist and research manager</a> at Brandeis University’s <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/">Chaplaincy Innovation Lab</a>, where our team researches and supports chaplains of all faiths, including those from nonreligious backgrounds. <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/projects/sbnr">Our current research</a> has focused on learning from 21 nonreligious chaplains about their experiences.</p>
<h2>A changing society</h2>
<p>Thirty percent of Americans <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/09/13/modeling-the-future-of-religion-in-america/">are religiously unaffiliated</a>. Research suggests that people who are atheists or otherwise nonreligious sometimes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08854726.2022.2150026">reject a chaplain out of wariness</a>, or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-023-01757-z">shut down a conversation</a> if they feel judged for their beliefs. But this research has not accounted for a new, increasingly likely situation – that the chaplain might also be nonreligious.</p>
<p>No national survey has been done, so the number of nonreligious chaplains is unknown. But there is plenty of reason to think that as more Americans choose not to affiliate with any particular religion, so too do more chaplains.</p>
<p>Nonreligious chaplains have been a part of hospital systems and universities for years, but they came into the national spotlight in August 2021 when Harvard University’s organization of chaplains <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-harvards-humanist-chaplain-shows-about-atheism-in-america-168237">unanimously elected humanist and atheist Greg Epstein as president</a>. <a href="https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/definition-of-humanism/">Humanists believe</a> in the potential and goodness of human beings without reference to the supernatural. </p>
<p>Other <a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/06/17/humanist-chaplains-guide-nonreligious-students-on-quest-for-meaning/">recent reporting</a> on <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/06/28/bringing-light-without-god-humanist-chaplain-anthony-cruz-pantojas/">humanist chaplains</a> has also focused on school campuses, but nonreligious chaplains are not limited to colleges and universities. Eighteen of the <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/projects/sbnr">21 nonreligious chaplains</a> we spoke with in our study work in health care, including hospice. The <a href="https://americanhumanist.org/press-releases/humanist-chaplains-reach-landmark-recognition-by-prison-system/">Federal Bureau of Prisons</a> allows nonreligious chaplains, but we were unable to find any of them to participate in the current study. </p>
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<span class="caption">Humanist chaplain Bart Campolo, center, and his wife, Marty, right, mingle with students at the University of Southern California in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/AtheistChaplains/5de6fecc1cb24dbe93954703ac811906/photo?Query=humanist%20chaplain&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=7&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Jae C. Hong</a></span>
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<p>Not all settings allow nonreligious chaplains, however, <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/atheists-foxholes-military-program">including the U.S. military</a>.</p>
<h2>Authentic calling</h2>
<p>The idea of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15363759.2011.576213">a “call” from God</a> is central to many religious vocations: a strong impulse toward religious leadership, which many people attribute to the divine.</p>
<p>Chaplains who are atheists, agnostics, humanists or who consider themselves spiritual but not religious also can feel called. But they do not believe that their calls come from a deity. </p>
<p>Joe, for example, an atheist and a humanist whom we interviewed, has worked as a chaplain in hospitals and hospices. He says that his “light bulb moment” came after a history professor told him that beliefs are the source of a community’s power. While atheists do not believe in God or gods, many do have strong beliefs about ethics and morality, and American atheists are more likely than American Christians to say they <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/12/06/10-facts-about-atheists/">often feel a sense of wonder about the universe</a>. Joe’s call was not “from a divine source,” but nonetheless, he says this experience “kind of filled me with a sense of control, and confidence, and presence” in his life that grounded his sense of a calling.</p>
<p>Sunil, another chaplain our team interviewed, was inspired by his college chaplain, whom he calls “a really influential presence.” The chaplain helped Sunil answer questions about identity and values without “necessarily having any religious or spiritual leanings to it,” and encouraged him to go to divinity school.</p>
<p>Today, Sunil tries to help others answer those same questions in his work as a health care chaplain – and to offer deeply thoughtful, meaningful spiritual care to people who aren’t religious. </p>
<h2>Education and training</h2>
<p>Most chaplaincy jobs require a <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Cadge-et-al-What-Are-Chaplains-Learning-rev.-April-2023.pdf">theological degree</a>. Along with coursework in sacred scriptures and religious leadership, chaplaincy training usually involves <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1542305019875819">clinical pastoral education</a>, where students learn about hands-on, care-oriented aspects of their profession. This involves learning to provide care to everyone, regardless of their religious background.</p>
<p>Although coursework is broadly the same for all students, religious or nonreligious, the actual experience of earning a degree is very different for nonreligious students. In the United States, Christian students are easily able to enroll in a seminary or divinity school that shares their faith identity and spend their years of study learning about their own tradition. </p>
<p>Chaplaincy programs that focus on non-Christian traditions are available, but scarcer, and our team does not know of an overtly nonreligious chaplaincy program. In recent years, more seminaries have <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/04/29/seminary-draws-nonreligious-students-social-justice">welcomed nonreligious students</a>, but nonetheless, nonreligious students often find themselves focusing their study on traditions to which they have no personal connection. </p>
<p>Yet there is a surprising bright side.</p>
<h2>‘I am here to support you’</h2>
<p>Being deeply immersed in traditions that are not one’s own is one of the reasons that nonreligious chaplains can be so effective. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542222/original/file-20230810-23-tzigib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A poster that says 'We are with you,' with an illustration of someone sitting in scrubs as dozens of ghostly figures hold them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542222/original/file-20230810-23-tzigib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542222/original/file-20230810-23-tzigib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542222/original/file-20230810-23-tzigib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542222/original/file-20230810-23-tzigib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542222/original/file-20230810-23-tzigib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542222/original/file-20230810-23-tzigib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542222/original/file-20230810-23-tzigib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artwork posted by a chaplain in a break room in the trauma surgery ICU at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/artwork-posted-by-a-chaplain-is-seen-in-a-break-room-in-the-news-photo/1229806458?adppopup=true">David Ryder/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, our team asked Kathy, a health care chaplain, how she approaches prayer with religious and nonreligious patients. “My goal is to try to meet that person where they are and pray in a way that’s helpful and comforting for them, or meets whatever the need is that’s arisen during the conversation that we’ve had,” she said. Like all chaplains, Kathy is there to accompany, not proselytize. While she herself prays to the “great mystery,” she is comfortable facilitating whatever prayer is needed.</p>
<p>Claire, a chaplaincy student, agreed with Kathy and described her own first experience meeting an evangelical Christian patient. It was easy, she said, because “you’re not trying to fix anything. You’re just trying to meet them where they are. So that’s it.”</p>
<p>Nonreligious chaplains are used to thinking outside the box. Having learned about major world religions, many of them can find overlapping values and beliefs with their patients, such as finding beauty and meaning in the natural world or finding strength in their conviction that human beings are inherently good.</p>
<p>Cynthia works in the palliative care department in a hospital and tells her patients, “I am here to support you in whatever is meaningful to you right now and whatever is most important in your life in this moment.” She asks patients: “What are you struggling with right now? What are your goals? What do you hope for? What are you afraid of?” – trying to “unpack that with a spiritual lens rather than a medical lens.”</p>
<p>Cynthia is an example of why spiritual care by nonreligious chaplains may be surprising, but is likely here to stay. Based on our research, nonreligious chaplains are as capable as religious chaplains of meeting a person in their darkest hour and taking them by the hand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208646/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab received funding from the Fetzer Institute to support this research. </span></em></p>As more Americans step away from organized religion, so do more chaplains – but they are prepared to offer spiritual care regardless of a patient’s beliefs.Amy Lawton, Research Manager, Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2075842023-09-06T12:25:58Z2023-09-06T12:25:58ZNot religious, not voting? The ‘nones’ are a powerful force in politics – but not yet a coalition<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535164/original/file-20230702-192977-l8drvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2117%2C1409&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Politicians all over the spectrum have long tried to appeal to religious voters. What about atheists, agnostics and nothing-in-particulars?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/atheist-checkbox-on-white-paper-with-metal-pen-royalty-free-image/1137047566?phrase=atheist+voter&adppopup=true">Y.Gurevich/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nearly 30% of Americans say they <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/12/14/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated/">have no religious affiliation</a>. Today the so-called “nones” represent <a href="https://www.prri.org/spotlight/prri-2022-american-values-atlas-religious-affiliation-updates-and-trends/">about 30% of Democrats and 12% of Republicans</a> – and they are making their voices heard. <a href="https://secular.org/">Organizations lobby</a> on behalf of <a href="https://www.atheists.org/">atheists</a>, agnostics, <a href="https://americanhumanist.org/">secular humanists</a> and other nonreligious people. </p>
<p>As more people leave religious institutions, or never join them in the first place, it’s easy to assume this demographic will command more influence. But as a sociologist <a href="https://www.umb.edu/directory/evanstewart/">who studies politics and religion</a>, I wanted to know whether there was evidence that this religious change could actually make a strong political impact.</p>
<p>There are reasons to be skeptical of unaffiliated Americans’ power at the ballot box. Religious institutions have long been key for mobilizing voters, both <a href="https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/black-church-has-been-getting-souls-polls-more-60-years">on the left</a> and <a href="https://www.oah.org/tah/issues/2018/november/evangelicalism-and-politics/">the right</a>. Religiously unaffiliated people <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/2020-census-of-american-religion/#:%7E:text=While%20more%20than%20one%2Dthird,those%20ages%2065%20and%20older.">tend to be younger</a>, and younger people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2012.12.006">tend to vote less often</a>. What’s more, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/">exit polls</a> from <a href="https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/exit-polls/president/national-results">recent elections</a> show the religiously unaffiliated may be a smaller percentage of voters than of the general population. </p>
<p>Most importantly, it’s hard to put the “unaffiliated” in a box. Only a third of them <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/12/14/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated/">identify as atheists or agnostics</a>. While there is a smaller core of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108923347">secular activists</a>, they tend to hold different views from <a href="http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/books/b9789004319301s009">the larger group</a> of people who are religiously unaffiliated, such as being more concerned about the separation of church and state. </p>
<p>By combining all unaffiliated people as “the nones,” researchers and political analysts risk missing key details about this large and diverse constituency.</p>
<h2>Crunching the numbers</h2>
<p>In order to learn more about which parts of religious unaffiliated populations turn out to vote, I used data from the <a href="https://cces.gov.harvard.edu/">Cooperative Election Study</a>, or CES, for presidential elections in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020. The CES collects large surveys and then matches individual respondents in those surveys to validated voter turnout records.</p>
<p>These surveys were different from exit polls in some key ways. For example, according to these survey samples, overall validated voter turnout looked higher in many groups, not just the unaffiliated, than exit polls suggested. But because each survey sample had over 100,000 respondents and detailed questions about religious affiliation, they allowed me to find some important differences between smaller groups within the unaffiliated.</p>
<p><iframe id="oK8sa" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/oK8sa/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>My findings, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srad018">published in June 2023 in the journal Sociology of Religion</a>, were that the unaffiliated are divided in their voter turnout: Some unaffiliated groups are more likely to vote than religiously affiliated respondents, and some are less likely.</p>
<p>People who identified as atheists and agnostics were more likely to vote than religiously affiliated respondents, especially in more recent elections. For example, after controlling for key demographic predictors of voting – like age, education and income – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srad018">I found</a> that atheists and agnostics were each about 30% more likely to have a validated record of voting in the 2020 election than religiously affiliated respondents. </p>
<p>With those same controls, people who identified their religion as simply “nothing in particular,” <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/12/14/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated/">who are about two-thirds of the unaffiliated</a>, were actually less likely to turn out in all four elections. In the 2020 election sample, for example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srad018">I found</a> that around 7 in 10 agnostics and atheists had a validated voter turnout record, versus only about half of the “nothing in particulars.”</p>
<p>Together, these groups’ voting behaviors tend to cancel each other out. Once I controlled for other predictors of voting like age and education, “the nones” as a whole were equally likely to have a turnout record as religiously affiliated respondents.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535350/original/file-20230703-252214-2e0whd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Five people with their backs to the camera vote at small booths in a room with bunting in the colors of the American flag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535350/original/file-20230703-252214-2e0whd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535350/original/file-20230703-252214-2e0whd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535350/original/file-20230703-252214-2e0whd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535350/original/file-20230703-252214-2e0whd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535350/original/file-20230703-252214-2e0whd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535350/original/file-20230703-252214-2e0whd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535350/original/file-20230703-252214-2e0whd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Religious and nonreligious voting patterns may not be so different after all.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/voters-voting-in-polling-place-royalty-free-image/138711450?phrase=young+voters&adppopup=true">Hill Street Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2024 and beyond</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/after-trump-christian-nationalist-ideas-are-going-mainstream-despite-a-history-of-violence-188055">Concern about growing Christian nationalism</a>, which advocates for fusing national identity and political power with Christian beliefs, has put a spotlight on religion’s role in <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-god-strategy-9780195326413?cc=us&lang=en&">right-wing advocacy</a>. </p>
<p>Yet religion does not line up neatly with one party. The <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/04/21/christian-nationalists-have-provoked-a-pluralist-resistance/">political left also boasts a diverse coalition of religious groups</a>, and there are many Republican voters for whom religion is not important. </p>
<p>If the percentage of people without a religious affiliation continues to rise, both Republicans and Democrats will have to think more creatively and intentionally about how to appeal to these voters. My research shows that neither party can take the unaffiliated for granted nor treat them as a single, unified group. Instead, politicians and analysts will need to think more specifically about what motivates people to vote, and particularly what policies encourage voting among young adults.</p>
<p>For example, some activist groups talk about “<a href="https://secular.org/grassroots/valuesvoter/#:%7E:text=Secular%20Values%20Voter%20is%20a,values%20for%20which%20they%20stand.">the secular values voter</a>:” someone who is increasingly motivated to vote by concern about separation of church and state. I did find evidence that the average atheist or agnostic is about 30% more likely to turn out than the average religiously affiliated voter, lending some support to the secular values voter story. At the same time, that description does not fit <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108923347">all the “nones</a>.”</p>
<p>Instead of focusing on America’s declining religious affiliation, it may be more helpful to focus on the country’s <a href="https://www.interfaithamerica.org/">increasing religious diversity</a>, especially because many unaffiliated people still report having religious and spiritual beliefs and practices. Faith communities have historically been important sites for political organizing. Today, though, motivating and empowering voters might mean looking across a broader set of community institutions to find them.</p>
<h2>Rethinking assumptions</h2>
<p>There is good news in these findings for everyone, regardless of their political leanings. <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Bowling-Alone-Revised-and-Updated/Robert-D-Putnam/9780743219037">Social science theories from the 1990s and 2000s argued</a> that leaving religion was part of a larger trend in declining civic engagement, like voting and volunteering, but that may not be the case. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srad018">According to my research</a>, it was actually unaffiliated respondents who reported still attending religious services who were least likely to vote. Their turnout rates were lower than both frequently attending religious affiliates and unaffiliated people who never attended.</p>
<p>This finding matches up with previous research on religion, spirituality and other kinds of civic engagement. Sociologists <a href="https://www.cla.purdue.edu/directory/profiles/jacqui-frost.html">Jacqui Frost</a> and <a href="https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/edgell">Penny Edgell</a>, for example, found <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764017746251">a similar pattern in volunteering</a> among religiously unaffiliated respondents. In a previous study, sociologist <a href="https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/our-faculty/directory/faculty-detail/jaime-lee-kucinskas">Jaime Kucinskas</a> and I found that spiritual practices like meditation and yoga were <a href="https://theconversation.com/yoga-versus-democracy-what-survey-data-says-about-spiritual-americans-political-behavior-187960">just as strongly associated with political behavior</a> as religious practices like church attendance. Across these studies, it looks like disengagement from formal religion is not necessarily linked to political disengagement.</p>
<p>As the religious landscape changes, new potential voters may be ready to engage – if political leadership can enact policies that help them turn out, and inspire them to turn out, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207584/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evan Stewart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nonreligious voters are poised to make an impact, but sweeping statements about the ‘nones’ don’t tell the full story.Evan Stewart, Assistant Professor of Sociology, UMass BostonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1993782023-02-27T13:23:03Z2023-02-27T13:23:03Z3 big numbers that tell the story of secularization in America<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510909/original/file-20230217-361-vzuqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C7%2C1017%2C674&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An empty church in Hiers-Brouage, France.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/interior-of-the-church-empty-church-news-photo/1449548678?phrase=%22empty%20church%22&adppopup=true">Andia/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>About six months ago, Americans’ belief in God hit an all-time low. </p>
<p>According to a 2022 <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/393737/belief-god-dips-new-low.aspx">Gallup survey</a>, the percentage of people who believe in God has dropped from 98% in the 1950s to 81% today; among Americans under 30, it is down to an unprecedented 68%.</p>
<p>Up close, the trend looks even more dramatic. Only <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/trust/archive/fall-2018/when-you-say-you-believe-in-god-what-do-you-mean">about half</a> of Americans believe in “God as described in the Bible,” while about a quarter believe in a “higher power or spiritual force,” according to a Pew poll. Just one-third of Generation Z say they believe in God <a href="https://twitter.com/ryanburge/status/1620141695945035778">without a doubt</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/11/what-should-america-do-its-empty-church-buildings/576592/">Congregational membership</a>, too, is at an all-time low. In 2021 Gallup found that, for the first time ever, <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx">fewer than half</a> of Americans – 47% – were members of a church, synagogue or mosque. </p>
<p>Yet another crucial measure of institutional religion in the U.S., the percentage of people identifying as religious, is also at a low: About 1 in 5 adults now say they have no religious affiliation, up from <a href="https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/406544/slowdown-rise-religious-nones.aspx">1 in 50</a> in 1960. </p>
<p>In short, when it comes to three key realms of religious life – belief, behavior and belonging – all are lower than they have ever been in American history.</p>
<p>What’s going on? In my view, it’s clear: secularization.</p>
<p>However, despite these seemingly unambiguous numbers, debate about whether secularization really is happening has persisted. Indeed, for several decades now, many academics have continued to doubt its trajectory, especially in the United States.</p>
<h2>‘The sacred shall disappear’</h2>
<p>Secularization is the process whereby religiosity weakens or fades in society. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/29/us/obituary-peter-berger-dead-theologian-sociologist.html">Peter Berger</a>, a sociologist of religion, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/12389/the-sacred-canopy-by-peter-l-berger/">defined it</a> as the process that removes institutionalized religion’s domination over a culture, and a situation where more and more people make sense of their lives without traditional religious interpretations.</p>
<p>As Berger noted, one key aspect of secularization is societal: Organized religion loses its overarching public power. Welfare of the poor and sick, for example, is no longer overseen by religious orders, but is largely the responsibility of state bureaucracies. </p>
<p>But secularization is also about families and individuals: Fewer people believe in supernatural claims, attend worship services or follow religious teachings. For instance, more and more Americans are choosing to <a href="https://research.lifeway.com/2018/05/31/why-no-one-may-be-getting-married-at-your-church-this-summer/">get married in secular settings</a>, and <a href="https://religionnews.com/2015/12/17/nonreligious-reshaping-american-burial-rituals/">record low numbers</a> are wanting to have religious funerals.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510743/original/file-20230216-16-7iyuzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Sand is strewn across a table with a white tablecloth and candle on it, and two folding chairs behind." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510743/original/file-20230216-16-7iyuzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510743/original/file-20230216-16-7iyuzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510743/original/file-20230216-16-7iyuzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510743/original/file-20230216-16-7iyuzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510743/original/file-20230216-16-7iyuzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510743/original/file-20230216-16-7iyuzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510743/original/file-20230216-16-7iyuzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A table decorated with sand for a secular wedding ceremony.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/decorated-marriage-table-for-secular-wedding-royalty-free-image/1451691175?phrase=secular&adppopup=true">OceanProd/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Secularization in industrializing societies had been anticipated by many European thinkers in the 19th century, including the likes of <a href="https://iep.utm.edu/emile-durkheim/">Emile Durkheim</a> and <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/weber/">Max Weber</a>, two of the founders of sociology. Weber spoke of the “disenchantment” of the world: the idea that increasing scientific knowledge would replace supernatural explanations.</p>
<p>For decades afterward, social scientists who study religion took secularization in industrialized societies more or less for granted. Some assumed that religion’s disappearance from many societies was all but certain – such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/C-Wright-Mills">C. Wright Mills</a>, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-sociological-imagination-9780195133738?cc=us&lang=en&">who proclaimed in 1959</a> that “the sacred shall disappear altogether except, possibly, in the private realm.”</p>
<h2>Not so fast</h2>
<p>Not everyone was so sure. In the decades after Mills’ dire prognostication, many sociologists began to voice skepticism about secularization’s inevitability. As they observed developments like the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/11/14/why-has-pentecostalism-grown-so-dramatically-in-latin-america/">rise of Pentecostalism</a> throughout much of Latin America and the momentum of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-religious-right-shaped-american-politics-6-essential-reads-89005">the religious right</a> in the U.S., debate took off about <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780203398494-23/secularization-de-secularization-peter-berger-linda-woodhead-christopher-partridge-hiroko-kawanami">the extent of secularization</a>, and even whether it was happening at all.</p>
<p>Other critics pointed out that sociologists of secularization tended to focus on wealthy, Western countries with Christian heritages, and that their theories did not always translate well to other settings. Even a question like “Are you religious?” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2010.07.010">can mean something different</a>, especially in non-monotheistic religions or religions where “belief” is not as central as it is in Christianity. </p>
<p>The most notable critic of secularization was sociologist <a href="https://soc.washington.edu/news/2022/08/23/rodney-stark-reckless-eclectic-remembered#:%7E:text=%E2%80%9CRodney%20Stark%20was%20a%20powerful,translated%20into%2012%20different%20languages.">Rodney Stark</a>, who, in the 1980s, insisted that secularization theory was a sham. Stark was so sure that religion was as strong as ever <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3711936">that he wrote</a> the very idea of secularization ought to be carried off to “the graveyard of failed theories.” </p>
<p>Secularization cannot occur, Stark argued, because religion addresses certain human needs and fears that are fundamental, universal <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520057319/the-future-of-religion">and unchanging</a>. He viewed religions in diverse societies like companies in an economy: If a religion appears anemic, it is only because its “firms” aren’t marketing themselves well enough. Once they improve their outreach, messaging and branding – or if other, more innovative religious entrepreneurs step up – religious life continues <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/handbook-of-the-sociology-of-religion/dynamics-of-religious-economies/B154F640CFF7DEA94CED3DE108A85C11">as usual</a>, or even increases. </p>
<p>As recently as 2015, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/928886820">Stark wrote</a> that religion in the U.S. has actually strengthened, arguing that Americans simply aren’t responding to pollsters much anymore, and therefore results were unreliable. He also noted that only a small slice of people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004297395_006">identify as atheists</a>: fewer than 5% in most nations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510745/original/file-20230216-26-s950q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A family holds hands with their eyes shut around a table outdoors." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510745/original/file-20230216-26-s950q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510745/original/file-20230216-26-s950q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510745/original/file-20230216-26-s950q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510745/original/file-20230216-26-s950q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510745/original/file-20230216-26-s950q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510745/original/file-20230216-26-s950q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510745/original/file-20230216-26-s950q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Saying grace – just one example of religion woven into everyday life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/portrait-of-multiracial-three-generations-family-royalty-free-image/1351044861?phrase=praying&adppopup=true">Halfpoint Images/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Latest data</h2>
<p>In our 2023 book, “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479814299/beyond-doubt/">Beyond Doubt</a>,” however, religion and secularism scholars <a href="https://www.abdn.ac.uk/socsci/people/profiles/isabella.kasselstrand">Isabella Kasselstrand</a>, <a href="https://www.ut.edu/directory/cragun-ryan">Ryan Cragun</a> and I argue that religious faith, participation and identification are unambiguously weaker than they have ever been. </p>
<p>This is not only true in the U.S, but many parts of the world, as seen in surveys of people in countries such as <a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-uk-and-ireland/2018/08/survey-finds-scotland-is-more-secular-but-catholics-are-keeping-faith">Scotland</a>, South Korea, Chile and Canada. </p>
<p>Our book lays out data on declines in religion in areas that have traditionally been home to many different faiths. In 2013, for example, 10% of Libyans and 13% of Tunisians said that they had no religion. By 2019, those numbers had <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-48703377">more than doubled</a>. <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479814299/beyond-doubt/">Declines in belief in God</a> are apparent in countries from Denmark and Singapore to Malaysia and Turkey.</p>
<p>But why? In our analysis, the transition from a traditional, rural, nonindustrial society to an urban, industrial or post-industrial society is a key part of the answer – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/17/emile-durkheim-religion-sacred">along the lines of the first sociologists’ predictions</a>. As these changes take place, religion is more likely to become unyoked from other aspects of society, such as education and government. Additionally, there is an increase in the amount of religious diversity in a given society, and there tend to be changes in the family, with parents granting their children more freedom regarding religious choices. </p>
<p>In nearly every society that we examined that has experienced these concomitant phenomena, secularization has occurred – often in spades. Of course, compared to most other wealthy countries, the U.S. <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/07/31/americans-are-far-more-religious-than-adults-in-other-wealthy-nations/">is quite religious</a>. Fifty-five percent of Americans, for example, say they pray daily, compared to an average of 22% of Europeans. </p>
<p>Still, we argue that the latest numbers regarding religious belief, behavior and belonging in the U.S. paint a clear portrait of secularization. Beyond the more universal factors, other developments that have been detrimental to religion include <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-christian-right-is-helping-drive-liberals-away-from-religion/">a strong reaction</a> against the political power of the religious right, and anger at the Catholic Church’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/03/13/more-us-catholics-are-considering-leaving-church-over-sex-abuse-crisis-poll-says/">child sex abuse scandal</a>.</p>
<p>The consequences of religion’s weakening are unclear. But while its meaning for America remains an open question, whether secularization is happening is not.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199378/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phil Zuckerman is affiliated with Humanist Global Charity</span></em></p>Secularization has fascinated sociologists for 200 years – but that doesn’t mean they always agree on what it is, or how much it’s happening.Phil Zuckerman, Professor of Sociology and Secular Studies, Pitzer CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1989282023-02-15T13:55:13Z2023-02-15T13:55:13ZNigeria’s election: six dangers of mixing religion with politics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508344/original/file-20230206-27-xjgrc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supporters of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party describe their presidential candidate and his running mate as unifiers because of their ethnic and religious mix. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the issues that has generated great concern among voters in the run up to the Nigerian <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64187170">presidential elections</a> is religion. </p>
<p>Many Nigerians <a href="https://doi.org/10.54561/prj0202123l">see</a> the mixing of religion and politics as an impediment to progress and development. This idea can be traced to Europe. The Middle Ages were a time when religious authorities and political authorities clashed in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01436599714722">European states</a>, resulting in instability. The need to separate religion from politics thus became normalised in western political thought by the early 20th century. Over the years the idea found its way into other societies.</p>
<p><a href="https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/scientia/article/view/1802">Recent studies</a> have shown that, in fact, the relationship between religion and politics isn’t always unproductive. Religion embeds some doctrines such as love and obedience to political authority that support secular authorities and the development process. And religious authorities and their followers have the capacity to be tolerant. </p>
<p>Still, the experience in multi-religious societies where religious communities vie for resources and power does point to some dangers for peace, development and democracy. </p>
<p>This has become apparent in the build up to Nigeria’s 2023 presidential elections. For instance, the <a href="https://canng.org/">Christian Association of Nigeria</a> and the Northern Christian Elders Forum have <a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/06/11/dont-present-muslim-running-mates-can-northern-christian-elders-warn-tinubu-atiku/">cautioned</a> against the nomination of Muslim vice-presidential candidates by the <a href="https://apc.com.ng/">All Progressives Congress</a> and the <a href="https://peoplesdemocraticparty.com.ng/">Peoples Democratic Party</a>. </p>
<p>Religious bodies’ interest in who wields the power of the state is not out of place. But the extent of their intervention can portend serious dangers for the state.</p>
<p>These dangers have severe implications for the election and its outcome. The legitimacy and power of the state could be challenged. Religion claims to be based on divine authority, which it considers to be superior to that of the state. This threatens the state’s legitimacy, given that its authority derives from the people and the constitution.</p>
<h2>Six dangers</h2>
<p>Religion’s inroads into politics in Nigeria aren’t new.</p>
<p>Since the return to democratic governance, religion has <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/pentecostal-republic-9781786992406/">influenced</a> how state power is captured. This can be seen in the political statements of religious institutions, their choice of candidates and the inclination of candidates to turn to their religious communities for support. </p>
<p>The trend continues in 2023, with slight variations. </p>
<p>Firstly, leading candidates have appealed to their faith communities, as in the past. Perhaps what is new comes from the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Tinubu; he is a Muslim and his wife a Christian. Rather than appealing to one faith community, Tinubu is seeking support from two. Normally, this should promote religious tolerance. But a religiously diverse family that controls state power might not be immune from competition for influence from each religion.</p>
<p>Secondly, there has been an outcry from some quarters about the fact that the ruling <a href="https://apc.com.ng/">All Progressives Congress</a> is presenting voters with a “<a href="https://guardian.ng/opinion/religious-identity-muslim-muslim-ticket-and-2023-elections/">Muslim-Muslim ticket</a>.” The party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates are both Muslim. </p>
<p>The last time this happened was in <a href="https://leadership.ng/29-years-after-abiola-kingibe-tinubu-resurrects-muslim-muslim-ticket-picks-shettima-as-running-mate/">1993</a>. In that poll Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for Moshood Abiola and Babagana Kingibe – possibly because Abiola broke through the religious divide through philanthropy and business investments. Today, having a similar ticket is risky.</p>
<p>Thirdly, fuelling the anger about the Muslim-Muslim ticket is the escalation of terrorist attacks by Boko Haram in north-east Nigeria. Both Muslims and Christians have been victims of the terror. But the popular impression among Christians is that they have been the <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/09/muslim-muslim-ticket-christianity-would-suffer-at-nigerias-seat-of-sovereignty/">most targeted</a> for persecution and Islamisation. </p>
<p>Fourth: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12088">religion</a> is a way of life for many people in Nigeria. It has a direct impact on their social and political decisions. The danger here is that a religious community could insist on voting one of their own members into office even though the candidate is generally considered to be a misfit.</p>
<p>The fifth danger is that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275115572153">inter-religious conflict</a> could be ignited if one religious group rejects the candidate of another, or if <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/02/why-religion-is-dangerous-for-politics-in-nigeria/">a politician mobilises</a> his religious community against his opponent in another religion. </p>
<p>Religion could also be used to mobilise ethnic support against political competitions from other groups. Nigeria is not only multi-religious but also multi-ethnic. The country has witnessed many incidents of conflicts along ethno-religious line. The civil war of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nigerian-civil-war">1967-1970</a> was the most catastrophic.</p>
<p>Lastly, there’s the threat that <a href="https://www.idea.int/news-media/news/political-inclusion-vital-sustainable-democracy">citizens</a> could be excluded from the political process. If a religious community, by virtue of numbers, is allowed to dominate the political space, it could prevent minorities from having a say and being represented in government. Nigeria has <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2007-09-02-voa22-66787697/565609.html">substantial numbers of</a> indigenous religious practitioners and a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2018/9/18/nigerias-undercover-atheists-in-their-words">growing</a> atheist community. Any of them might feel excluded by the dominant Muslim-Christian politics. </p>
<h2>Mitigation strategies</h2>
<p>One way to mitigate these threats is for the constitution to properly define the position of religion in the electoral process. </p>
<p>The Nigerian public and the political parties have worked out a temporary system called “<a href="https://africaupclose.wilsoncenter.org/ethnicity-religion-and-polarization-in-nigeria/">religious balancing</a>.” With this informal system, a Muslim candidate stands for election with a Christian deputy, and vice versa.</p>
<p>But this time the ruling party is fielding two <a href="https://guardian.ng/opinion/religious-identity-muslim-muslim-ticket-and-2023-elections/">Muslim</a> candidates for the upcoming election. The constitution needs to address the issue. It recognises the religious diversity of Nigerians but is silent on the religious identities of political office holders.</p>
<p>It is also important to incorporate the leaders of a variety of religious communities into government and political parties. Religious leaders can educate their followers to support any politician irrespective of their religious differences.</p>
<p>Religious tolerance is also necessary. Tolerance promotes inter-religious understanding, which in turn helps people to respect each other’s political choices.</p>
<p>Mixing religion with politics does not bode well for the <a href="http://theconversation.com/nigeria-insecurity-2022-was-a-bad-year-and-points-to-need-for-major-reforms-194554">ongoing tension</a> in many parts of the country. These tensions could seriously damage the already fragile Nigerian state.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198928/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adeyemi Balogun previously receives funding from DAAD for his doctoral study in Germany. </span></em></p>Damage to the fragile Nigerian state is one possible fallout of mixing religion with politics.Adeyemi Balogun, Lecturer, Osun State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1935022022-12-01T13:40:39Z2022-12-01T13:40:39ZWho’s giving Americans spiritual care? As congregational attendance shrinks, it’s often chaplains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497717/original/file-20221128-4841-1rdrsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C6%2C990%2C674&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A chaplain hugs a registered nurse at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chaplain-kevin-deegan-hugs-registered-nurse-connie-carrillo-news-photo/1302733890?phrase=hospital%20chaplain&adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images News via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Americans picture a chaplain, many of them likely think of someone like Father Mulcahy, the Irish American priest who cared for Korean War soldiers in the classic TV show “M.A.S.H.” </p>
<p>The reality is much more complex. Today’s chaplains are <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/this-chaplain">diverse</a> in gender, age, religious background and sexuality. They serve people from all backgrounds, including those with no affiliation. And their roles may become more significant as more Americans step away from traditional religious congregations. <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/12/14/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated/">Three in 10</a> adults in the United States say they are atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular.” </p>
<p>I have spent the past 15 years interviewing, shadowing and writing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12582">about chaplains</a>: religious professionals who work outside of congregations in health care, the military, prisons, higher education and other institutions. My latest book, “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/spiritual-care-9780197647820?cc=us&lang=en&">Spiritual Care: The Everyday Work of Chaplains</a>,” describes who they are, what they do and how it connects to broader aspects of American religious life. In a <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Survey-of-Demand-for-Chaplaincy-among-US-Adults-Chaplaincy-Innovation-Lab-2022.pdf">recent survey</a> that colleagues and I conducted at Brandeis University in partnership with the polling firm Gallup, we found that a quarter of people in the U.S. have been assisted, counseled or visited by a chaplain at some point in their lives.</p>
<h2>Brief history</h2>
<p>In the U.S., chaplains have been present in the military since the Revolutionary War – initially all Christians. <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/resources/working-papers/mapping-jewish-chaplaincy">Jewish leaders</a> began to work as chaplains with the advent of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1bmznx6">Jewish hospitals</a> in the 19th century. In 1861, at the start of the Civil War, a rabbi named Arnold Fischel <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/rabbi-chaplains-of-the-civil-war/">lobbied President Abraham Lincoln</a> to let Jewish chaplains serve in the military. Lincoln stretched the phrase in federal legislation that required chaplains to be of “some Christian denomination” far enough to formally include Jews as chaplains in government positions for the first time. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A stamp with a black and white illustration of four men and a boat, with the words 'These immortal chaplains...interfaith in action.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497720/original/file-20221128-20-3ska04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497720/original/file-20221128-20-3ska04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497720/original/file-20221128-20-3ska04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497720/original/file-20221128-20-3ska04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497720/original/file-20221128-20-3ska04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497720/original/file-20221128-20-3ska04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497720/original/file-20221128-20-3ska04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A stamp honoring four U.S. military chaplains – Catholic, Protestant and Jewish – who died after helping soldiers escape a sinking ship during World War II.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/four-chaplains-royalty-free-image/177385842?phrase=chaplain&adppopup=true">AlexanderZam/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The number of non-Christian chaplains has increased ever since. While rabbis frequently visited Jewish inmates, it was not until 1895 that New York state funded an <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Cadge-and-Horowitz-Mapping-Jewish-Chaplaincy-Full.pdf">official Jewish chaplain position</a> in the state prisons. </p>
<p>Non-Christian chaplains began appearing on college and university campuses in the 1920s. Today, there are campus chaplains from a broad range of religious and spiritual backgrounds, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-harvards-humanist-chaplain-shows-about-atheism-in-america-168237">including humanists</a> who see and emphasize the goodness in all people. They are often able to quickly connect with young people, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/09/13/modeling-the-future-of-religion-in-america/">one-third</a> of whom are not religiously affiliated. </p>
<p>Chaplains have become increasing diverse in other ways, as well. Little has been written about <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/resources/working-papers/black-chaplains">chaplains of color</a>, for example, but African American newspapers suggest that the first Black chaplains served in the military, which was <a href="https://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/index.html?dod-date=726#:%7E:text=On%20July%2026%2C%201948%2C%20President,to%20integrating%20the%20segregated%20military.">segregated until 1948</a>.</p>
<h2>The work today</h2>
<p>Today chaplains work in a variety of settings. Beyond the military, federal prisons and veterans’ centers, they are also present in most health care organizations, and places as surprising as <a href="https://religionnews.com/2021/08/06/chaplain-provides-friendly-face-spiritual-and-mental-support-to-olympians-amid-unusual-games/">the Olympics</a>, <a href="https://vt.public.ng.mil/News/News-Article-View/Article/2203632/from-vermont-to-antartica-and-back/">research stations</a> in Antarctica, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srx025">airports</a> and some <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/10/29/1132633475/in-the-face-of-political-violence-one-group-recruits-poll-chaplains">polling places</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in an orange vest bends over as he prays with a man in a football uniform, seated next two other players in a locker room." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497716/original/file-20221128-12-3vvhck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497716/original/file-20221128-12-3vvhck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497716/original/file-20221128-12-3vvhck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497716/original/file-20221128-12-3vvhck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497716/original/file-20221128-12-3vvhck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497716/original/file-20221128-12-3vvhck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497716/original/file-20221128-12-3vvhck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chaplain Earl Smith of the San Francisco 49ers with Dre Greenlaw and Azeez Al-Shaair in the locker room before a game in September 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chaplain-earl-smith-of-the-san-francisco-49ers-with-dre-news-photo/1423802849?phrase=chaplain&adppopup=true">Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images Sport via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>In interviews I conducted with <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/spiritual-care-9780197647820?cc=us&lang=en&">chaplains in greater Boston</a>, all said they work around end of life care, and almost all engage with people’s big-picture life questions – what one chaplain described to me as people’s peripheral vision, the questions hovering just out of sight until a crisis forces them into view. Rather than offering answers, chaplains offer a listening ear. Describing her work in a hospital, one explained her role as creating “a bit of a holding space” and to “validate what a person is feeling and give them some sense of hope or stability in the midst of chaotic times.”</p>
<p>According to our <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Survey-of-Demand-for-Chaplaincy-among-US-Adults-Chaplaincy-Innovation-Lab-2022.pdf">recent survey</a> on demand for chaplains’ services, about half of people who connected with a chaplain did so in health care settings, including hospices. Respondents said that chaplains listened to them, prayed, offered spiritual or religious guidance, or comforted them in a time of need. “He was just so compassionate with my mom and I when we lost my grandfather, and it was a sudden loss,” one participant recalled of meeting with a chaplain. “I knew then God had sent him there to help me deal with the pain and loss.” Another said: “We talked for hours and he truly seemed to understand the path my life had been on. I will never forget his kindness!”</p>
<p>Others said chaplains helped them negotiate conflict, advocated on their behalf, or directed them to resources. Loss, mental and emotional health, death and dying, and dealing with change were frequent topics of conversation. Respondents described chaplains as compassionate, good listeners, knowledgeable, helpful and trustworthy. Those who were not religiously affiliated interacted with chaplains in similar ways as those who are not. </p>
<h2>Religious leadership looking forward</h2>
<p>In many churchyards across the U.S., “<a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/03/15/thousands-of-churches-close-every-year-what-will-happen-to-their-buildings/">for sale</a>” signs have been hammered into the ground as places of worship fail to keep afloat. Attendance and membership <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx">have been declining</a> for years, and many congregants who switched to virtual attendance during the pandemic are <a href="https://www.christiancentury.org/article/news/churches-reopen-attendance-remains-flat">not coming back</a> in person.</p>
<p>As membership in formal religious groups <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx">continues to decline</a>, enrollment in theological schools is shifting, with growing numbers of new students and programs <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11089-020-00906-5">focused on chaplaincy</a> as opposed to more traditional work in a congregation. About a quarter of new students in the Master of Divinity programs at Boston University and Union Theological Seminary in fall 2022 were in a chaplaincy track. That number is closer to three-quarters at Iliff School of Theology and at Emmanuel College in Canada.</p>
<p>Chaplains have long provided spiritual support, and continue to do so as religious demographics shift. They meet people as they are, where they are, and they will provide more and more spiritual care for the future. Closed churches do not signal the end of religious leadership, but a change in where and how it is provided.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193502/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Cadge receives funding from the Charles H. Revson Foundation.</span></em></p>Chaplains have always provided spiritual care outside traditional houses of worship, but their significance is growing as Americans’ religious identities change.Wendy Cadge, Professor of Sociology and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1911322022-11-04T17:05:53Z2022-11-04T17:05:53ZHas the modern world discovered the ancient truths of Buddhism or simply invented a new version?<p>For many people, <a href="https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,2163560,00.html">Buddhism</a> appears to be uniquely compatible with modern lifestyles and world views. It provides staunch atheists – those who do not believe in the existence of any god – with a religious experience that does not require belief in supernatural beings. Conversely, it also provides new-age spiritualists with a connection to a deeper reality beyond the bounds of everyday observation and scientific knowledge.</p>
<p>With its non-judgmental exploration of emotions and physical sensations, Buddhist mindfulness has <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/02/buddhism-psychology">influenced</a> many schools of contemporary psychology. Buddhist philosophy, which embraces constant change and the inherent impermanence of all things, also chimes with today’s fast-paced and fragmented societies.</p>
<p>Some years ago, as I began to practise meditation and study popular teachings of Buddhist belief, I wondered how a 2,500 year-old religion could be so uniquely modern. There seemed to be two possible answers.</p>
<p>One was that the Buddha discovered eternal truths through meditation that are now <a href="https://www.lionsroar.com/buddhism-science-teachings-reports-commentaries-and-conversations/">confirmed</a> by contemporary philosophy and science. That was a nice answer, because it meant that he may have been right about everything and that we can therefore achieve <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/nirvana-religion">nirvana</a> (the absence of suffering) by following his path. </p>
<p>The other possible answer was that modern Buddhism is a new invention, which uses language and practices from the ancient religion but gives them novel meanings. That answer was sort of depressing, because it meant that much of modern Buddhism could simply be a form of disrespectful cultural appropriation, fetishising exotic Asian spirituality and converting it into a passing consumer fad.</p>
<p>As someone who <a href="https://www.globalbuddhism.org/article/view/1993">studies</a> the cultural impact of Buddhism in the west, the question of how this ancient religion could be so modern was an intriguing one. So I turned to scholars who had documented the formation of modern Buddhism: <a href="https://tricycle.org/author/donaldslopezjr/">Donald Lopez Jr</a>, <a href="https://tricycle.org/magazine/context-matters/">David McMahan</a>, <a href="https://professorjeffwilson.wordpress.com/">Jeff Wilson</a> and <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300215809/american-dharma/">Ann Glieg</a>. But I soon discovered the question was more complex than the separate possibilities I lay out above.</p>
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<h2>Buddhist modernisers east and west</h2>
<p>First, I had to overcome my initial assumption that modern Buddhism was a purely western phenomenon. It in fact emerged in the east, as Asian countries wrestled with colonialism and the <a href="https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/rsjars/82/2/82_KJ00005034613/_article/-char/en">influence of Christian missionaries</a>.</p>
<p>In the 19th century, visionary monks sought to take Buddhist philosophy and meditation <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism/Buddhism-in-the-contemporary-world">outside the monastery walls</a>, bringing the religion closer to the people, just as Protestant reformers had done with Christianity in Europe. At the same time, western scholars and spiritual seekers saw in ancient texts a <a href="https://study.com/learn/lesson/nontheistic-religions-buddhism-hinduism-confucianism.html">non-theistic</a> religion – the belief that whether or not they exist, deities have no impact on how we should live our lives. As it centred on a mortal man not a God it was therefore compatible with modern rationality. </p>
<p>On the one hand, all these revivalists certainly transformed Buddhism, making it unrecognisable to many Buddhists. They invented a new, modern Buddha, no longer embedded in a universe of reincarnation, multiple heavens and hells, demons and gods. Their recounting of Buddhist beliefs edited out those supernatural elements, or made them into psychological symbols rather than real forces.</p>
<p>However, one can argue that Buddhism had already been transformed numerous times as it <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism/Historical-development">spread from India</a> to the rest of Asia over the centuries. The efforts of these modernisers were the latest in a long series of reconfigurations of the tradition. </p>
<p>What I found, rather than an either/or answer, was a captivating cast of characters making up modern Buddhism. The 19th century Burmese monk <a href="https://www.lionsroar.com/the-insight-revolution/">Ledi Sayadaw</a> travelled the nation teaching meditation and founding study groups. The forms of <a href="https://tricycle.org/magazine/vipassana-meditation/">Vipassana meditation</a> he initiated are the blueprint for techniques still found in courses and manuals around the world today.</p>
<p>American civil war veteran <a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Henry_Steel_Olcott">Henry Steel Olcott</a> and Russian aristocrat émigré <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Helena-Blavatsky">Madame Helene Petrovna Blavatsky</a>, travelled together to Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka) and joined the struggle there against Christian missionaries.</p>
<p>Olcott’s <a href="https://theosophy.wiki/en/The_Buddhist_Catechism_(book)">Buddhist Catechism</a> is a forerunner of today’s advocates of an entirely secularised Buddhism, while Blavatsky’s mystical books tell of an ancient secret society based in Tibet. Her work is reminiscent of some of today’s new-age ideas, as well as popular comic fiction like Marvel’s Dr Strange series, with its character the Ancient One, a sorcerer from a secret land in the Himalayas. Olcott, Blavatsky and the Ceylonese monks must have had bizarre and fascinating conversations.</p>
<p>The parade of charismatic figures continues up to the present day, with the revered and recently deceased Vietnamese monk <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jan/23/thich-nhat-hanh-obituary">Thich Nhat Hanh</a>, who, along with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/22/mindfulness-jon-kabat-zinn-depression-trump-grenfell">Jon Kabat-Zinn</a>, helped make mindfulness a household word.</p>
<p>Rather than putting modern Buddhism to the test of authenticity, the more interesting story is how such a diverse range of people founded schools of Buddhist faith, philosophy and psychology based on their personal struggles, or on their social struggles with violence, injustice and widespread mental health problems. And how some of them then became larger-than-life figures, celebrities and icons.</p>
<p>My <a href="https://www.globalbuddhism.org/article/view/1993">recent article</a> on the 2013 Spike Jonze film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6p6MfLBxc">Her</a> argues that the disembodied AI protagonist Samantha, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, is a Buddha-like figure, pointing to a future where AI transcends the bounds of ordinary thought and experience.</p>
<p>It’s interesting that Jonze draws from the concept of Buddhist enlightenment as a model for this fictional future where our machines surpass our cognitive capacity. It shows the continuing relevance of Buddha’s insights for the problems and challenges we face today and will face in the future.</p>
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<p>My journey to understand why Buddhism speaks so meaningfully to the modern world also led to a 14-minute documentary called Why Buddhism Now? It tracks the modernisation of Buddhism and comes to the following conclusion:</p>
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<p>The new modern religion of Buddhist mindfulness, like all religions, speaks to our gravest social problems and anxieties. It can be part of these problems or part of the solution to them. Buddhism does not offer any final answers, just an invitation to meditate, to explore experience, to watch the mind’s thoughts and learn from the unending flow of all living and non-living things.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jesse Barker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A look at whether modern Buddhists adhere to the faith’s original religious principles or simply guilty of a cherrypicking cultural appropriation that turns religion into a fad.Jesse Barker, Lecturer in Hispanic Studies, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1918402022-10-31T12:33:17Z2022-10-31T12:33:17ZFrom atheist churches to finding healing in the ‘sacred flower of cannabis,’ spiritual but not religious Americans are finding new ways of pursuing meaning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491982/original/file-20221026-18679-kx131x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C512%2C341&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The interior of the International Church of Cannabis in Denver, Colorado.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/international-church-of-cannabis">International Church of Cannabis Denver, Colorado</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>According to a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/09/13/modeling-the-future-of-religion-in-america/#fn-38123-1">recent Pew Center report</a>, American Christianity remains in a nearly <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/christianity-us-shrinking-pew-research/">three-decade decline</a>. Responding as “none” or “unaffiliated” on religious surveys, people increasingly identify as humanists, atheists, agnostics, or simply spiritual. If current trends continue, by 2070 Christianity may no longer be the dominant expression of American religion. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://people.cal.msu.edu/shiple18/">scholar who studies alternative spirituality and new religious movements</a> in the United States, I believe the reality of America’s diverse religious and spiritual landscape is more complex than often presented. </p>
<p>The nones – or those claiming no particular religious affiliation – range from atheists to individuals searching for spiritual answers <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/10617">outside traditional religious groups</a>. This last group commonly identifies as spiritual but not religious – or SBNR. Dissatisfied with traditional religion, these individuals think about spirituality in a more secular way, as representing their pursuit of meaning, healing, purpose and belonging.</p>
<h2>The many expressions of spirituality</h2>
<p>In her <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199931002.001.0001">study of multiple SBNR identities</a>, theologian <a href="https://www.healthybeliefs.org/meet-dr-linda-mercadante/">Linda Mercadante</a> found that the turn away from organized religion does not necessarily come at the expense of faith, ritual or practice. For “post-Christianity” seekers, Mercadante stresses how spiritual fulfillment moves from “religious and civic institutions to ‘gathering places.’”</p>
<p>Such “gathering places” range widely. </p>
<p>Many turn to <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/peace-love-yoga-9780190888633?cc=us&lang=en&">practices appropriated</a> from different religious contexts. <a href="https://thensrn.org/2020/02/26/is-mindfulness-a-religion-for-unbelievers/">Mindfulness</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190888626.001.0001">yoga</a>, in particular, have emerged as popular alternatives for seeking spiritual, psychological and physical healing. </p>
<p>These practices point to the growing connection between spirituality and health. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3109%2F10826084.2013.808540">Twelve-step meetings</a> for addiction recovery and <a href="https://bioethics.hms.harvard.edu/journal/spirituality-medicine">contemporary medicine</a>, for example, stress the need to balance spirit and body for wellness.</p>
<p>Several <a href="https://crossroadpublishing.com/product/spirituality-and-the-secular-quest/">nonreligious practices</a> create opportunities to explore spirituality beyond religious affiliation. People find a sense of belonging through the internet and social media. Others turn to self-help literature or elements of popular culture. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.149">Sports</a> similarly provide an <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-sport-is-a-spiritual-experience-and-failure-can-help-65871">avenue for spiritual renewal</a>. The rituals of training, competing and camaraderie reflect the spiritual quest for personal growth and locating community. Digital communities and online options likewise afford new modes for spiritual practice and connection. </p>
<p>Accordingly, some scholars, such as religious studies professor <a href="https://www.bradley.edu/academic/departments/phlrs/faculty/profile.dot?id=172384">Robert Fuller</a>, have stressed the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/spiritual-but-not-religious-9780195146806?cc=us&lang=en&">“unchurched” nature of the SBNR</a>. </p>
<p>At the same time, the continued desire to find meaning and connection has led to the development of secular, spiritual and atheist churches. Although almost universally understood as physical spaces for religious practice, the rise of nonreligious churches demonstrate the benefits and shared opportunities many nones and SBNR people associate with the experience of “going to church.” </p>
<h2>Secular and atheist churches</h2>
<p>Emerging over the past decade, and although still small in scale, secular and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqFJEzsffnE">atheist churches</a> indicate how changes in religious affiliation do not <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/10/atheist-mega-churches/3489967/">necessarily include a rejection of the communal structures</a> that provide avenues for spiritual rejuvenation.</p>
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<p>The <a href="https://seattleatheist.church/">Seattle Atheist Church</a>, for example, <a href="https://seattleatheist.church/mission/">positions itself</a> as “a place where atheists come together” to address big questions and “celebrate meaningful life events with atheist rituals.” Founded in 2015, the church offers weekly Sunday meetings for a couple dozen participants who share in leading sermons in relation to their commitment to <a href="https://secularhumanism.org/what-is-secular-humanism/">secular humanism</a>, a nonreligious worldview that rejects belief in the supernatural.</p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://www.sundayassemblydetroit.org/">Sunday Assembly Detroit</a> seeks to “help everyone live life as fully as possible.” One of 70 chapters spread across eight different countries, the Sunday Assembly was founded by comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans in 2013. Their motto was “Live Better, Help Often, Wonder More.”</p>
<p>Others find refuge in secularized churches that combine alternative rituals, such as the use of cannabis, with various humanist, ethical and spiritual orientations.</p>
<p>Identifying as Elevationists, <a href="https://elevationists.org/">members of the International Church of Cannabis</a> in Denver, Colorado, for example, come together through the ritual sharing of cannabis, or what they call “the sacred flower.” </p>
<p>This sharing, they say, helps them “reveal the best version of self.” It also aids in discovering “a creative voice” that can can help enrich the community “with the fruits of that creativity.” These “fruits” often manifest as charitable projects, including street cleaning and an outreach initiative to feed and clothe Denver’s homeless population.</p>
<p>Such an approach does not deny members who might still hold religious beliefs, but focuses attention away from the supernatural toward self-improvement. Similarly, members of the nondenominational <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FCCoLaR/">First Church of Logic and Reason</a>, based in Lansing, Michigan, elevate cannabis as a spiritual and therapeutic element. The church’s ritual use of cannabis offers a way to heal and find a sense of belonging for those disenchanted with traditional religion. </p>
<p>Additionally, digital opportunities <a href="https://sacredmattersmagazine.com/from-the-madness-of-reefer-to-the-ecstatic-bliss-of-marijuana-the-rise-of-cannabis-churches/">have emerged as a vital site</a> for cultivating spirituality.</p>
<h2>Digital spirituality</h2>
<p>For those disillusioned with traditional religion, <a href="https://laverne.edu/chaplain/apps-for-spiritual-wellbeing/">digital technologies, apps, and online options</a> offer new avenues to engage with secular and alternative forms of spiritual practice. </p>
<p>Current apps can calculate one’s <a href="https://chart.chaninicholas.com/">astrological chart</a> or provide <a href="https://www.evatarot.net/">online tarot readings</a>. Social media platforms – particularly <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/discover/spirituality?lang=en">TikTok</a> – make a host of New Age practices, including <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/discover/healing-crystal?lang=en">crystal healing</a>, immediately available. <a href="https://www.allure.com/story/does-reiki-therapy-tiktok-work">Reiki</a> finds a <a href="https://paritashahhealing.com/distant-reiki/">robust community</a> of <a href="https://www.nycreikicenter.com/treatments/virtual-reiki-treatments/">virtual practitioners</a>, and <a href="https://www.mindful.org/free-mindfulness-apps-worthy-of-your-attention/">mindfulness</a> can be cultivated across a host of <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/best-meditation-apps-4767322">meditation apps</a>. </p>
<p>Shifts away from traditional religious membership doesn’t simply mean Americans are rejecting religion. Rather, they are exploring an ever-evolving spectrum of spirituality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morgan Shipley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>America’s religious landscape is getting more diverse as people find new ways of expressing spirituality.Morgan Shipley, Foglio Endowed Chair of Spirituality & Associate Chair of Religious Studies, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1930732022-10-27T12:28:20Z2022-10-27T12:28:20ZAmericans who aren’t sure about God are a fast-growing force in politics – and they’re typically even more politically active than white evangelicals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491429/original/file-20221024-17-7gs3gb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C1%2C1020%2C680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Religion shapes how many people vote – and lack of religion does, too. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/primary-day-voters-use-voting-booths-as-they-cast-their-news-photo/509150980">Joe Raedle/Getty Images News via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s hard to remember now, given the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-issued-jan-subpoena-orchestrated-effort-overturn-2020/story?id=91677206">attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election</a>, but the day after votes were cast, one theme stood out: voter turnout.</p>
<p>Every state in the nation saw higher turnout in 2020 than 2016, according to an <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/28/turnout-soared-in-2020-as-nearly-two-thirds-of-eligible-u-s-voters-cast-ballots-for-president/">analysis from the Pew Research Center</a>. Overall, there were more than 158 million votes cast, <a href="https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/2020presgeresults.pdf">according to the Federal Election Commission</a> – <a href="https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/federalelections2016.pdf">nearly 22 million more</a> than just four years prior.</p>
<p>Turnout will likely play an outsize role in the 2022 midterms, too, as voters determine what political party will have control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in January 2023. As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XnbzexUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">a political scientist</a> who studies the intersection of religion and politics, I am interested in which groups may have a strong impact on the balance of power. And if the data is any guide, there are two key communities political analysts often overlook: atheists and agnostics. </p>
<h2>Partisan divides</h2>
<p>In 2008, almost 8% of the entire U.S. population claimed to be atheist or agnostic, according to my analysis of data from the <a href="https://cces.gov.harvard.edu/">Cooperative Election Study</a>, or CES – an annual survey coordinated by a team at Harvard University. Atheists believe that there is no higher power in the universe, while agnostics contend that a higher power may exist but it’s impossible to know for certain. </p>
<p>By 2021, that share had risen to just about 12%. But atheists and agnostics are often left-leaning in their political persuasion, and their <a href="https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1502313d">rapid ascendance in the American religious landscape</a> is proving much more consequential to the Democratic Party than the GOP. </p>
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<p>Just 4% of people who align with the Republican Party <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506465852/The-Nones">say that they are atheist or agnostic</a>. That same figure was 3% when Barack Obama won the White House in 2008.</p>
<p>However, according to my analysis of <a href="https://cces.gov.harvard.edu/">the CES data</a>, 1 in 5 Democrats today are atheist or agnostic, an increase of eight percentage points from 2008.</p>
<h2>Getting to the ballot box</h2>
<p>Just because these groups have increased as a percentage of the overall population does not necessarily mean their growth will translate to political wins during the 2022 midterms. While political scientists <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfw021">have struggled</a> with how to measure voter turnout through survey data, it’s possible to use other measures to infer just how politically active atheists and agnostics are – and there’s strong evidence that they will make their presence felt on Election Day. </p>
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<p><a href="https://cces.gov.harvard.edu/">The CES</a> asks respondents if they have engaged in a number of political activities over the prior 12 months. Secular Americans’ political engagement comes into sharper focus when their behavior is compared with that of another group, one that is often considered <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Onward-Christian-Soldiers-The-Religious-Right-in-American-Politics/Wilcox-Robinson/p/book/9780813344539">very politically active</a>: white evangelicals.</p>
<p>Over the past 40 years, the religious right has won many victories by organizing a loose coalition of theologically and politically conservative faith groups to vote, advocate and agitate. <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/19-1392">Overturning the Roe v. Wade decision</a>, for example – which the Supreme Court did in June 2022 – was a long-cherished goal of the movement, resulting in several states’ <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/us/abortion-laws-roe-v-wade.html">banning abortion</a> in nearly all circumstances.</p>
<p>In 2020, 8% of white evangelicals attended a political meeting such as school board or city council, <a href="https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi%3A10.7910/DVN/E9N6PH">according to the CES</a>. Yet the percentage is even higher for atheists – 11% – and agnostics – 10%. There was also a small difference in the data about putting up a political yard sign or bumper sticker. Among atheists, 27% had done so, compared with 21% of white evangelicals.</p>
<p>However, when it comes to political protests, there’s no doubt that secular Americans are more politically engaged. In 2020, 18% of atheists and 16% of agnostics said that they had gone to a march or rally about a political issue, versus just 5% of white evangelicals, based on <a href="https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi%3A10.7910/DVN/E9N6PH">CES data</a>. When it comes to donations, the gulf is even wider. In 2020, half of all atheists made a political donation, along with 43% of agnostics. In comparison, only about a quarter of white evangelicals made a political donation to a candidate or party.</p>
<h2>Speaking up – and being heard</h2>
<p>Democratic candidates have shown increasing awareness that they are becoming more dependent on secular voters. For instance, in April 2018, members of Congress <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/385573-dem-reps-launch-congressional-freethought-caucus/">founded the Congressional Freethought Caucus</a> to specifically focus on these voters’ needs and concerns. </p>
<p>Though atheists and agnostics are still a relatively small portion of the population, there’s strong evidence they will make their voices heard during the 2022 midterms – and help campaigns with funding and support at every stage, not just on Election Day. Whether Republicans can counter this level of engagement from specific religious groups will be a key question of the upcoming midterms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193073/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Burge is the Director of Research of Faith Counts, a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy group based in DC. He also gave a presentation to the Congressional Freethought Caucus over the summer. </span></em></p>Winning elections isn’t just a matter of how many players you have. It’s how engaged they are.Ryan Burge, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Eastern Illinois UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1929972022-10-24T19:47:24Z2022-10-24T19:47:24ZNew Congress has a humanist rep and a religiously unaffiliated senator – but why is it so hard for outright atheists to get voted in?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502981/original/file-20230103-64877-i1f8s3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C1%2C1019%2C680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Congress includes people of many faiths – but not many who profess no faith at all.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-house-of-representatives-votes-on-speaker-of-the-house-news-photo/1245964216?phrase=congress&adppopup=true">Kent Nishimura /Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the 118th session of Congress begins on Jan. 3, 2023, members with a wide range of religious beliefs will enter the Capitol.</p>
<p>But while self-identified <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/01/04/faith-on-the-hill-2021/">Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus</a> rub shoulders in the corridors of power, one group is noticeably absent: atheists. And despite a <a href="https://onlysky.media/hemant-mehta/nonreligious-candidates-2022/">growing number of openly nonreligious candidates</a> running for office – and the growing number of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated – it remains difficult for atheists to get a foothold in Congress.</p>
<p>Of the 534 members to be sworn in (Virginia’s 4th District seat is currently unfilled, because of Rep. Donald McEachin’s recent death), 88% identify as Christian, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/01/03/faith-on-the-hill-2023/">according to Pew Research Center</a>. Those of a Jewish faith make up 6%. Only two people in Congress don’t openly identify with any mainstream religion, according to Pew – Rep. Jared Huffman, a Californian Democrat who identifies as a “humanist”; and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who describes herself as religiously unaffiliated – although the affiliations of another 20 are unknown. But neither Huffman nor Sinema has self-identified as being an “atheist.”</p>
<p>A <a href="http://freethoughtequality.org/2022-endorsements/">list compiled by the Freethought Equality Fund Political Action Committee</a> indicates that atheists are running for a few seats in the U.S. Congress, and many more are doing so at the state level.</p>
<p>But throughout history, only one self-identified atheist in the U.S. Congress comes to mind, the late <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/us/politics/pete-stark-dead.html">California Democrat Peter Stark</a>.</p>
<h2>‘In atheists, they don’t trust’</h2>
<p>This puts the country at odds with democracies the world over that have elected openly godless – or at least openly skeptical – leaders who went on to become revered national figures, such as <a href="https://humanism.org.uk/humanism/the-humanist-tradition/20th-century-humanism/nehru/">Jawaharlal Nehru in India</a>, <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/09/sweden-social-democracy-olaf-palme-assasination-reforms/">Sweden’s Olof Palme</a>, <a href="https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2012/05/19/theres-an-openly-atheist-president-in-uruguay/">Jose Mujica in Uruguay</a> and <a href="https://www.hpb.com/products/the-portable-atheist-9780306816086">Israel’s Golda Meir</a>. New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, the global leader who has arguably navigated the coronavirus crisis with the most credit, <a href="https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2017/10/19/new-zealands-next-prime-minister-set-to-be-agnostic-woman-who-left-mormonism/">says she is agnostic</a>.</p>
<p>But in the United States, self-identified nonbelievers are at a distinct disadvantage. A <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/254120/less-half-vote-socialist-president.aspx">2019 poll asking Americans who they were willing to vote for</a> in a hypothetical presidential election found that 96% would vote for a candidate who is Black, 94% for a woman, 95% for a Hispanic candidate, 93% for a Jew, 76% for a gay or lesbian candidate and 66% for a Muslim – but atheists fall below all of these, down at 60%. That is a sizable chunk who would not vote for a candidate simply on the basis of their nonreligion.</p>
<p><iframe id="sICq4" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/sICq4/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>In fact, a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/05/19/for-2016-hopefuls-washington-experience-could-do-more-harm-than-good/">2014 survey</a> found Americans would be more willing to vote for a presidential candidate who had never held office before, or who had extramarital affairs, than for an atheist.</p>
<p>In a country that <a href="https://petitions.obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/petition/change-motto-united-states-america-e-pluribus-unum/">changed its original national motto in 1956</a> from the secular “e pluribus unum” – “out of many, one” – to the faithful “in God we trust,” it seems people don’t trust someone who doesn’t believe in God.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/phil-zuckerman/">scholar who studies atheism in the U.S.</a>, I have long sought to understand what is behind such antipathy toward nonbelievers seeking office.</p>
<h2>Branding issue?</h2>
<p>There appear to be two primary reasons atheism remains the kiss of death for aspiring politicians in the U.S. – one is rooted in a reaction to historical and political events, while the other is rooted in baseless bigotry. </p>
<p>Let’s start with the first: atheism’s prominence within communist regimes. Some of the most murderous dictatorships of the 20th century – including <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2010/09/23/naimark-stalin-genocide-092310/">Stalin’s Soviet Union</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-10684399">Pol Pot’s Cambodia</a> – were explicitly atheistic. Bulldozing human rights and persecuting religious believers were fundamental to their oppressive agendas. Talk about a branding problem for atheists.</p>
<p>For those who considered themselves lovers of liberty, democracy and the First Amendment guarantee of the free exercise of religion, it made sense to <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-spiritual-industrial-complex-9780195393460?cc=us&lang=en&">develop fearful distrust of atheism</a>, given its association with such brutal dictatorships.</p>
<p>And even though such regimes have long since met their demise, the <a href="https://www.americanpopularculture.com/journal/articles/spring_2005/aiello.htm?report=reader">association of atheism with a lack of freedom</a> lingered long after.</p>
<p>The second reason atheists find it hard to get elected in America, however, is the result of an irrational linkage in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12035">many people’s minds between atheism and immorality</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/csnp2">Some assume</a> that because atheists don’t believe in a deity watching and judging their every move, they must be more likely to murder, steal, lie and cheat. One recent study, for example, found that Americans even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092302">intuitively link atheism with necrobestiality and cannibalism</a>. </p>
<p>Such bigoted associations between atheism and immorality do not align with reality. There is simply no empirical evidence that most people who lack a belief in God are immoral. If anything, the evidence points in the other direction. Research has shown that atheists tend to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309352179">less racist</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2018.1522809">less homophobic</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-014-0379-3">less misogynistic</a> than those professing a belief in God.</p>
<p>Most atheists subscribe to <a href="https://thehumanist.com/magazine/september-october-2019/features/living-humanist-values-the-ten-commitments">humanistic ethics</a> <a href="https://www.counterpointpress.com/dd-product/what-it-means-to-be-moral/">based on compassion and a desire to alleviate suffering</a>. This may help explain why atheists have been found to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134868">more supportive of efforts to fight climate change</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/05/24/republicans-turn-more-negative-toward-refugees-as-number-admitted-to-u-s-plummets/">more supportive of refugees</a> and of <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3712123">the right to die</a>.</p>
<p>This may also explain why, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199644650.013.010">according to my research</a>, those states within the U.S. with the least religious populations – as well as democratic nations with the most secular citizens – tend to be the most humane, safe, peaceful and prosperous.</p>
<h2>Freethought Caucus</h2>
<p>Although the rivers of anti-atheism run deep throughout the American political landscape, they are starting to thin. More and more nonbelievers are <a href="https://www.barna.com/rise-of-atheism/">openly expressing their godlessness</a>, and swelling numbers of Americans are becoming secular: In the past 15 years, the <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/">percentage of Americans claiming no religious affiliation has risen</a> from 16% to 26%. Meanwhile, some find the image of a Bible-wielding Trump troubling, opening up the possibility that suddenly Christianity may be contending with a branding problem of its own, <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/prri-rns-poll-nones-atheist-leaving-religion/">especially in the skeptical eyes of younger Americans</a>.</p>
<p>In 2018, a new group emerged in Washington, D.C.: The Congressional Freethought Caucus. Although it has only 16 members, it portends a significant shift in which some elected members of Congress are no longer afraid of being <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/11/09/this-lawmaker-is-skeptical-that-god-exists-now-hes-finally-decided-to-tell-people/">identified as, at the very least, agnostic</a>. Given this development, as well as the growing number of nonreligious Americans, it shouldn’t be a surprise if one day a self-identified atheist makes it to the White House.</p>
<p>Will that day come sooner rather than later? God only knows. Or rather, only time will tell.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-it-so-hard-for-atheists-to-get-voted-in-to-congress-146748">article that was originally published</a> on Oct. 5, 2020.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192997/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phil Zuckerman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite a growing number of non-religious Americans, self-declared atheists are few and far between in the halls of power – putting the US at odds with other global democracies.Phil Zuckerman, Professor of Sociology and Secular Studies, Pitzer CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1868532022-08-02T14:05:40Z2022-08-02T14:05:40ZChristians in Nigeria feel under attack: why it’s a complicated story<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476578/original/file-20220728-20412-8gvl0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Christians hold signs as they march on the streets of Abuja calling for peace and security in Nigeria.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nigeria has a <a href="https://theworld.org/stories/2014-03-10/roots-nigerias-religious-and-ethnic-conflict">long history</a> of religious tensions against which the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/61719973">current spate</a> of violence against Christians must be seen. </p>
<p>There are a number of factors that have heightened religious tensions in Nigeria. </p>
<p>The first is the competition for space between the two main religions of Islam and Christianity. Secondly, there is the perception that Nigerian leaders use the state to promote their religion or faith at the expense of others. Thirdly, there’s a culture of insensitivity to the feelings of minorities. </p>
<p>The root of Islam in northern Nigeria can be traced to the <a href="https://www.ascleiden.nl/content/webdossiers/islam-nigeria">11th century</a>, when it first appeared in Borno. The northern region of Nigeria has a majority Muslim population. Southern Nigeria has a majority Christian population. Christian missionary work in southern Nigeria effectively began in Yorubaland <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ujah/article/download/101237/91927">around 1842</a>.</p>
<p>Christianity also provided a platform for the establishment of western education in western Nigeria. This failed in several areas in northern Nigeria, where western education was equated with Christianity. </p>
<p>Both religions significantly affected the culture, education, politics and many other facets of people’s social lives. Since religion tends to be a central part of people’s identity, any perceived threat to one’s religious beliefs is seen as a threat to one’s whole being.</p>
<p>Given this history and context, it is no surprise that the latest incidents have been read as a campaign against Christians.</p>
<h2>Recent attacks on Christians</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.persecution.org/2022/05/14/nigeria-worlds-scariest-country-christian/">International Christian Concern</a>, in a report on 15 May 2022, described Nigeria as the world’s scariest country in which to be a Christian. </p>
<p>The report argued that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Christian communities in the Middle Belt of Nigeria have effectively suffered a twenty-year long genocide.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Attacks appear to be escalating. In early June <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/536016-40-dead-over-80-injured-in-owo-attack-ondo-govt.html">40 worshippers</a> were killed in a church attack in Owo, Ondo state, south-west Nigeria. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/61719973">BBC reported</a> that by the middle of this year there had already been 23 attacks on church premises and people linked to them. This was compared with 31 attacks in 2021 and 18 in 2020.</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://dailypost.ng/2022/07/02/owo-terror-attack-us-senators-decry-killings-persecution-of-christians-in-nigeria/">US senators</a> recently wrote to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, faulting the decision of the American government to remove Nigeria’s designation as a <a href="https://www.state.gov/countries-of-particular-concern-special-watch-list-countries-entities-of-particular-concern/">Country of Particular Concern</a>. This designation refers to countries whose governments have “engaged in or tolerated ‘particularly severe violations of religious freedom’.”</p>
<p>The American senators saw the Owo attack as another evidence of the persecution of Christians in Nigeria. They said more than 4,650 Nigerian Christians had been killed for their faith in 2021. </p>
<h2>Non-Christians also allege persecution</h2>
<p>Non-Christian groups have their own stories of mistreatment. </p>
<p>The Muslim Rights Concern, an Islamic rights group, <a href="https://dailypost.ng/2021/05/26/hijab-yoruba-muslimsll-face-persecution-on-creation-of-oduduwa-republic-islamic-group/">has alleged</a> that Muslims in Yorubaland, southwestern Nigeria, face persecution.</p>
<p>Practitioners of traditional African religion equally complain of being persecuted. In particular they complain that institutional practices show preference to Christianity and Islam. </p>
<p>Atheists similarly <a href="https://www.uscirf.gov/religious-prisoners-conscience/mubarak-bala">complain of persecution</a>.</p>
<p>There are also cases of interdenominational discrimination within the Christian and Islamic faith adherents. </p>
<p>For instance, members of the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49175639">Islamic Movement in Nigeria</a> routinely <a href="https://sites.uab.edu/humanrights/2020/10/19/persecution-of-the-shia-islamic-movement-of-nigeria/">complain</a> of persecution and police brutality from members of the dominant Sunni Muslims. </p>
<h2>Why persecution claims are complicated</h2>
<p>Several factors explain why the alleged persecution of Christians seems to dominate headlines more than complaints from other religious groups.</p>
<p>The first is competition between Christianity and Islam. Both religions are constantly competing for space and control. Each suspects the other of wanting to encroach on its space and poach its members. </p>
<p>In recent years, Muslims have proudly announced that Islam is the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/06/why-muslims-are-the-worlds-fastest-growing-religious-group/">fastest rising</a> religion in the world. This has stoked fears in the Christian community. </p>
<p>Similarly, many <a href="https://www.cesnur.org/2005/pa_hady.htm">Muslims fear</a> that globalisation and western culture undermine Islam and therefore view them with suspicion, if not antagonism. </p>
<p>The second factor is open violence. Tension between Muslims and Christians has sometimes blown up into deadly violence. One example is the <a href="https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/maitatsine-riots">Maitatsine riots</a> in Kano in 1980 in which at least 4,179 people lost their lives. There was also the killing of more than <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2007/04/03/chronology">1,000 people</a> in Zamfara State in January 2000 following news of the <a href="https://www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/content/sharia-implementation-northern-nigeria-after-15-years">introduction of sharia</a> in the state. </p>
<p>Third is the fact that the Nigerian state seems to recognise only Islam and Christianity. This is despite a constitutional provision guaranteeing freedom of religion. </p>
<p>Fourth is the issue of cultural insensitivity towards minority groups.</p>
<p>Across the country, there is a pervasive culture of insensitivity to minority groups’ concerns in virtually all spheres of life, including politics and religion. This gives the impression of the <a href="https://www.pointblanknews.com/Articles/artopn3239.html">glorification of majority tyranny</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has been <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/284189-again-can-accuses-buhari-of-lopsided-appointments.html">accused</a> of favouring Muslims in critical political appointments even though the populations of Muslims and Christians are about evenly balanced. </p>
<p>This has heightened the sense of exclusion and suspicion among Christians. </p>
<p>There’s a danger that tensions could escalate in the run-up to next year’s elections in the country. </p>
<p>Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a Muslim from the southwestern part of the country and the presidential candidate of the ruling <a href="https://apc.com.ng/">All Progressives Congress</a>, has chosen Kashim Shettima, a fellow Muslim from Borno State in the northeast, as his running mate in the 2023 election. </p>
<p>This is a choice that could make religion an election issue and lend weight to the allegation that the All Progressives Congress harbours an <a href="https://www.ripplesnigeria.com/huriwa-accuses-buhari-apc-of-agenda-to-islamize-nigeria-with-muslim-muslim-ticket/">Islamisation agenda</a> for the country.</p>
<p>Lastly, tensions between religious groups are fuelled by attacks by Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Boko-Haram">Boko Haram</a> and the <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/west-africa/nigeria/273-facing-challenge-islamic-state-west-africa-province">Islamic State West Africa Province</a> attack both Christians and Muslims as well as government assets. But when Christians are victims, it tends to remind them of the groups’ avowed goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate. </p>
<p>The attacks appear to be aimed at legitimising the religious basis of the groups’ terrorism among their members. </p>
<p>It is sometimes difficult to isolate a religious motive behind the attacks. But it’s clear that attacking churches and the killing or kidnapping of top clergy guarantee the terrorists the news headlines they desire.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186853/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jideofor Adibe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Recent incidents have been read as a campaign against Christians, but other religious groups feel they are targets too.Jideofor Adibe, Professor of International Relations and Political Science, Nasarawa State University, KeffiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1824792022-05-15T13:38:20Z2022-05-15T13:38:20ZBlasphemy in Nigeria’s legal systems: an explainer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463011/original/file-20220513-20-j4u4kv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Amina Ahmed, wife of Mubarak Bala, recently convicted of blasphemy, displays her husband's photo in Abuja, Nigeria. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/amina-ahmed-wife-of-mubarak-bala-an-outspoken-atheist-who-news-photo/1232412554?adppopup=true">Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>A court in Kano, northern Nigeria, recently <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/5/nigerian-atheist-jailed-for-blasphemy-over-facebook-posts">convicted</a> an atheist for making social media posts it found to be blasphemous against Islam. After a lengthy trial, Mubarak Bala pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 24 years in prison. The Conversation Africa’s Wale Fatade asked Islamic law expert AbdulRazzaq Alaro to explain the judgement.</em></p>
<h2>Is blasphemy a criminal offence in Nigeria?</h2>
<p>Blasphemy is an offence under sharia (Islamic law). Sharia law operates in most northern states, including Kano.</p>
<p>Blasphemy is also an offence under Nigeria’s criminal law in states that put it on their statute books. This is true for states in both the north and the south.</p>
<p>The defendant in the recent case in Kano was convicted of “inciting disturbance and insulting” and “exciting contempt of religious creed” under <a href="http://www.sharia-in-africa.net/media/publications/sharia-implementation-in-northern-nigeria/vol_4_4_chapter_4_part_III.pdf">sections 114 and 210 of the penal code law of Kano State</a>. He was alleged to have posted something considered to be insulting to God, Prophet Muhammad and Islam in general.</p>
<p>At first glance this charge does not appear to be one of blasphemy, but rather of an offence against religion. However, a close reading of Kano’s penal code shows that the charge equals that of blasphemy, an offence under both the state’s penal code and its system of sharia law. The two are implemented side by side.</p>
<p>It’s important to note that the outcome would have been the same in a Lagos High Court because the criminal law of Lagos State also criminalises blasphemous utterances. They are criminalised under <a href="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3.sourceafrica.net/documents/120445/Criminal-Law-of-Lagos-State.pdf">section 124</a>, which forbids insults to religion. </p>
<h2>Have there been similar convictions before?</h2>
<p>In the north yes, but not in the south.</p>
<p>There have been a number of trials of similar offences under the penal code and sharia penal code in the northern parts of the country.</p>
<p><a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/16/africa/blasphemy-nigeria-boy-sentenced-intl/index.html">In 2020</a> Omar Farouq was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on a charge popularly described as blasphemy. A singer, Yahaya Sherif Aminu, was <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/29/africa/blasphemy-trial-nigeria/index.html">sentenced</a> to death by hanging in 2020 for the same offence by a sharia court in Kano. </p>
<p>However, the high court overturned the two convictions. Farouq was acquitted for being a minor. Sherif’s case was sent back for retrial. </p>
<p>There are no records of either of these two cases having been sent on appeal to a higher court.</p>
<p>It’s worth noting that the Supreme Court of Nigeria <a href="http://www.nigeria-law.org/LawReporting/2008/February%202008/15th%20February%202008/Usman%20Kaza%20v%20The%20State.htm">has also recognised blasphemy</a> as a sharia offence. The court affirmed the conviction of the defendants for taking laws into their own hands by extra-judicially killing a suspect of blasphemy. It went on to describe blasphemy as “a serious crime which is punishable by death” under sharia, noting however that it “has to be established through evidence before a court of law” and that “the killing is controlled and sanctioned by the authorities.”</p>
<h2>How are the penal and criminal codes and sharia law managed in Nigeria?</h2>
<p>Nigeria operates penal as well as criminal codes. Both are substantive laws on crimes and punishments in Nigeria. The penal code applies in the north, where there is a Muslim majority, and the criminal code in the southern part of the country, where there is a Christian majority.</p>
<p>The laws use different names for offences. For example, the offence of murder in the criminal code is referred to as culpable homicide – punishable with death – in the penal code. Manslaughter in the criminal code is called culpable homicide – not punishable with death – in the penal code.</p>
<p>Some acts are offences under the penal code but not under the criminal code. Examples include adultery and drinking alcohol.</p>
<p>As for the sharia law, it is applicable in some states in Nigeria, particularly in the predominantly Muslim north, in personal matters, such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and succession. Since 1999, some states have also made laws to apply sharia law in criminal matters. Kano State is one of them. </p>
<h2>How many legal systems operate in Nigeria?</h2>
<p>Each Nigerian state has a distinct legal system. This is because each state is constitutionally mandated to have a State House of Assembly to make laws for it on matters that don’t fall under the exclusive legislative list which stipulates what falls under the country’s federal jurisdiction.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court is Nigeria’s apex court. Its word is final in all cases – including blasphemy.</p>
<p>All Nigerian laws make it clear that under no circumstance must people take laws into their hands through extra-judicial killings. This is also the stand of sharia, as it provides for suspects of any crime to be tried and sentenced, if found guilty, only by courts of competent jurisdiction and not through “jungle justice”. </p>
<h2>Isn’t Nigeria a secular state?</h2>
<p>Section 10 of Nigeria’s 1999 constitution (as amended) prohibits <a href="https://lawglobalhub.com/section-10-of-the-nigerian-constitution/">the adoption of any religion as a state religion</a>.</p>
<p>However, the same constitution also states in its preamble that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the people of Nigeria have resolved to live as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The combined reading of these two constitutional provisions therefore supports designating Nigeria as a multi-religious state rather than a secular state. </p>
<p>Secular states are those that are not connected in any way with religion. Based on its constitution, Nigeria is not one of them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182479/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>AbdulRazzaq A. Alaro does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Insults against religion are illegal in Nigeria’s multi-faceted legal codes.AbdulRazzaq A. Alaro, Professor of Islamic Law, University of IlorinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1807052022-04-17T06:35:24Z2022-04-17T06:35:24ZAtheism in Kenya: why accurate numbers are hard to come by<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457445/original/file-20220411-14283-v7yxwh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pupils in a school in Nairobi, Kenya, pray before a meal.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The accuracy of statistics on religious affiliations in sub-Saharan Africa is questionable. This makes it difficult to assess religious trends. </p>
<p>The issue has come to the fore recently in Kenya with the release of statistics around religious affiliation. In particular, the fact that the census showed that <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2020-02-21-more-than-half-a-million-kenyans-dont-believe-in-god-census/">1.6% of Kenyans</a> identified themselves as atheists, agnostics or as following no religion in particular. In the parlance of the census, they were classified as ‘nones’.</p>
<p>But is this number accurate? I think it’s doubtful. There are two major reasons why.</p>
<p>The first is that religious statistics are highly politicised because they’re associated with ethnicity and politics. Across the continent, there has generally been a tendency by politicians to co-opt religious leadership for their campaigns. </p>
<p><a href="https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/africans-trust-religious-leaders-more-than-politicians-poll-says/12683">According to some surveys</a>, people generally trust religious leaders more than politicians. It, therefore, makes sense for politicians to enlist these leaders. </p>
<p>Anthropologists Yonatan N Gez, Nadia Beider and Helga Dickow point to a number of examples in their <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00020397211052567">study</a> on this issue. In Chad, for instance, due to the protracted civil war between 1965 and 1979, the 2009 census was withheld due to implications for the demographic balance of Muslims and Christians. And in Nigeria, Muslim leaders threatened to boycott the national census if the category of ‘religion’ was included in the questionnaire. </p>
<p>The academics warn that these examples show that census reports in Africa should not be taken at face value when it comes to religious affiliation.</p>
<p>The second reason that the accuracy of statistics on religious affiliation is flawed has to do with the way census questionnaires are designed, particularly around the category of ‘nones’. The use of the category varies widely. In some countries, it is used to encapsulate a range of groups that are not affiliated with religion. In others, it’s left out completely. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00020397211052567">A study</a> of 105 census reports in Africa found that only 64 employed the category of ‘nones’. </p>
<p>These problems explain why census data could be showing a stable and very low percentage of African ‘nones’. This runs counter to the global trend of <a href="https://colinmathers.com/2020/09/30/global-trends-in-religiosity-and-atheism-1980-to-2020/">declining religiosity</a>.</p>
<p>The difficulties in correctly projecting ‘religious nones’ on the continent has further been highlighted by the three anthropologists in their <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00020397211052567">study</a>. They say estimates of this category vary greatly, depending on the design of each piece of research. This includes the sampling methods used and how questions are framed. </p>
<p>For example, a 2012 Gallup poll pegged ‘religious nones’ in sub-Saharan Africa at 7%, the highest estimate. In the middle are the most extensive data sources on the topic, the Pew Research Center (2010) and Afrobarometer (2018). Both put ‘religious nones’ at 3.2%. At the bottom is the World Christian Encyclopedia’s estimate of just under 1%.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/atheist-group-in-kenya-tests-boundaries-of-religious-tolerance-59847">Atheist group in Kenya tests boundaries of religious tolerance</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>And now, the latest census figures (2019) suggest that 1.6% of Kenyans are ‘nones’. The ‘nones’ as measured in Kenya include a range of groups such as atheists, agnostics and humanists, pointing to a broad scope and lack of precision. The website of the <a href="https://atheistsinkenya.org/">Atheists in Kenya Society</a> also includes a range of groups with different orientations but united by non-belief. </p>
<h2>Trends in religious following</h2>
<p>Data shows a global decline in religiosity. A <a href="https://colinmathers.com/2020/09/30/global-trends-in-religiosity-and-atheism-1980-to-2020">comparative study</a> of 1980 to 2020 indicated the following global trends:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>‘practising religion’ group stayed below the 40% mark,</p></li>
<li><p>‘non-religious’ group fell from around 16% in 1980 to around 13% in 2020, </p></li>
<li><p>‘non-practising’ group rose from 24% in 1980 to almost 34% in 2020,</p></li>
<li><p>‘atheists’ pretty much stayed on course around 21% during the period. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>In sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage of the ‘practising religion’ group remained at around 81-82% over this period. The ‘non-practising religion’ group stayed around 15%, while the trend for ‘atheists’ oscillated between 4% and close to 2%. </p>
<p>It is against this backdrop that the Kenyan census data stands out. </p>
<p>The difficulty with most surveys, including the state-run census, is that the questions are not clearly defined – or key factors that distinguish different cohorts are ignored, sometimes deliberately to skew the outcomes. The religion question is considered unambiguous and definitive. However, religious pluralism is <a href="https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02521822/document">commonplace</a> in much of sub-Saharan Africa. </p>
<h2>The morality question</h2>
<p>Religious affiliations are typically believed to influence individual behaviour. <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/07/20/the-global-god-divide/">Global trends</a> reveal that in countries with a lower GDP, there is a higher likelihood of people associating belief in God with morality. Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are countries with lower GDP per capita and have shown greater affinity with belief in God to have good moral values. </p>
<p>In the West, younger populations tend to show less concern for belief in God in order to have good values. In Nigeria, and presumably in Kenya too, no such age difference is visible in claiming that belief in God is essential for having good values. </p>
<p>There seems to be a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/07/20/the-global-god-divide/">small difference</a> between how Protestants and Catholics fare in this equation. In Kenya, more Protestants than Catholics claim that God plays an important role. The sentiment is similar in South Africa, too – Protestants 98%, Catholics 97% and people from traditional religions 92%.</p>
<p>Given these statistics, atheists in Kenya have their work cut out in gaining larger support from society to freely co-exist. However, lumping them in the broader category of ‘nones’ makes them less visible as a distinct group. </p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Atheists face an uphill struggle in Kenya.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://atheistsinkenya.org/about/">Atheists in Kenya Society</a> has battled state authorities over registration. Their application was initially declined in January 2016 before being approved the following month. In April of the same year, the country’s attorney general suspended the society’s registration. Two years later, after an appeal filed at Kenya’s high court, registration was reinstated. </p>
<p>The society, however, has a long way to go to convince the rest of Kenya to embrace a secular life. If Kenyan atheists want to <a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/02/07/after-moving-out-of-their-comfort-zone-atheists-in-kenya-gain-visibility/">lobby</a> for a secular mode of life and have <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/entertainment/news/2001439105/atheists-ask-magoha-to-ban-mandatory-prayer-days-in-schools">prayers</a> removed from schools, then they need to convince the larger society as to why atheism matters in the country. They also need to address the underlying assumptions of freedom in a secular society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180705/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>P. Pratap Kumar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Statistics on religious affiliation in Africa are often questionable - partly because of religion’s link to ethnicity and politics.P. Pratap Kumar, Emeritus Professor, School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1691302021-11-08T13:42:41Z2021-11-08T13:42:41ZHow one atheist laid the foundation of contemporary Hindu nationalism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430383/original/file-20211104-19858-16kqm1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=59%2C0%2C3934%2C2646&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh take part in a march in Ahmedabad, India.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-the-hindu-nationalist-group-rashtriya-news-photo/1235931212?adppopup=true">Sam Panthaky/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>India’s position as a secular nation is under threat. </p>
<p>Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, the country’s <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/india-muslims-marginalized-population-bjp-modi">200 million Muslim minority</a> population has been increasingly targeted. Over the past few years, so-called cow vigilante groups have attacked Muslims for <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36518974">consuming beef</a>, an act that many Hindus consider to be sacrilegious. </p>
<p>The ruling party has also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-politics-media-analysis/indian-journalists-say-they-intimidated-ostracized-if-they-criticize-modi-and-the-bjp-idUSKBN1HX1F4">come down heavily</a> on free speech. </p>
<p>Concerned by these developments, 53 American universities, including Harvard, Stanford, Princeton and Columbia, co-sponsored a three-day conference, “<a href="https://dismantlinghindutva.com/">Dismantling Hindutva</a>” in September 2021 in which scholars discussed the rise of Hindu nationalism.</p>
<p>India is the <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/hold-on-to-that-idea-of-india-the-worlds-largest-democracy-celebrates-its-75th-independence-day-tomorrow-where-are-we-as-a-nation-two-views/">world’s biggest democracy</a>. But according to several experts, that democracy is <a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/02/02/global-democracy-has-a-very-bad-year">under threat</a>.</p>
<p>As a scholar of <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/saba-sattar-797766224/">South Asian affairs</a>, I’d argue that it is important to understand that India’s move to a Hindu identity has roots in the early 20th century, when it was part of the British colonial empire.</p>
<p>In 1923, an anti-colonial revolutionary, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Hindutva/XEdEQgAACAAJ?hl=en">Vinayak D. Savarkar</a>, first invented the term Hindutva, which loosely translates to “<a href="https://archive.org/stream/hindutva-vinayak-damodar-savarkar-pdf/hindutva-vd-savarkar_djvu.txt">Hindu-ness</a>.” This view emphasized that a native of India, even if not a Hindu, could fully embrace the geography, languages, and religions of “Mother India.” </p>
<h2>A movement inspired by a non-believer</h2>
<p><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/spotlight/Atheist-fundamentalists/articleshow/6014430.cms">Savarkar was an atheist</a>, with little interest in religion, other than for political use. In 1910, he was <a href="https://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/vinayak-damodar-savarkar">sentenced to life imprisonment</a> for his participation in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7s415.5">plot to assassinate</a> the British Assistant Secretary of State Curzon Wyllie. </p>
<p>It was during his <a href="https://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/vinayak-damodar-savarkar">imprisonment</a> that Savarkar wrote his foundational treatise, “Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?”</p>
<p><a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/experts/692">Christophe Jaffrelot</a>, one of the most noted scholars on Hindu nationalism, calls Savarkar’s work “<a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt15zc7zj.45">the first charter of Hindu nationalism</a>.” Savarkar sought to unite religions native to India against Muslims and Christians, who were considered to be outside invaders. </p>
<p>Back then, Savarkar wanted to call the Indian subcontinent <a href="https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/veer-savarkar-hindutva-india/38073/">the great Hindu Rashtra</a>, or nation encompassing a common geography, religion and culture. Adherents of other religions, such as Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, would simply need to pay homage to Hindu culture and accept a national identity within the larger Hindutva framework. The same would apply to “foreigners,” such as Muslims and Christians, as long as they did not attempt to impose their own rule.</p>
<p>At first, the concept of a Hindu identity did not include a religious creed. Instead, it espoused bringing forward identity politics based on the perceptions of dominant ethnicity and nationalism.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Khilafat-movement">Khilafat movement</a>, a 1919 pan-Islamist campaign that encompassed the Islamic world and had a profound impact in uniting the Indian Muslim community, radicalized Savarkar. </p>
<p>The unity of Indian Muslims during this period in contrast to the divided caste-based Hindu community amounted to a threat, according to Savarkar, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7s415.5">gave rise</a> to a political party, the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/hindu-nationalism-and-indian-politics/2E218CFDC1A1052F511A311C45D5A3D2">Hindu Mahasabha</a>, in 1921, in which he was a leading figure.</p>
<p>Following his release from prison, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Hindutva/ezS6SHt0hPwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=vinayak+savarkar+more+radical+after+prison+against+muslims&pg=PA143&printsec=frontcover">Savarkar’s rhetoric</a> became less inclusive and grew correspondingly hostile toward Muslims. </p>
<p>In his 1963 book “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Six_Glorious_Epochs_of_Indian_History/IajTDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">Six Glorious Epochs</a>,” written shortly before his death, Savarkar stated that Muslims and Christians wanted to destroy Hinduism. He also contended that India <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/4408848">should enforce the kind of authoritarian rule</a> that was imposed in totalitarian Germany, Japan and Italy during World War II. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430384/original/file-20211104-21790-1xwm8cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a man bows before a statue and a mural of a man." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430384/original/file-20211104-21790-1xwm8cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430384/original/file-20211104-21790-1xwm8cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430384/original/file-20211104-21790-1xwm8cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430384/original/file-20211104-21790-1xwm8cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430384/original/file-20211104-21790-1xwm8cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430384/original/file-20211104-21790-1xwm8cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430384/original/file-20211104-21790-1xwm8cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man pays homage to the leader of Hindu nationalism, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, in Pune, India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-visit-to-the-hostel-room-of-veer-savarkar-on-the-news-photo/1146939046">Milind Saurkar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Savarkar also believed Muslims in law enforcement and the military were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1479244310000144">potential traitors</a> and their numbers needed to be kept in check.</p>
<p>Savarkar’s views became the foundation of contemporary Hindu nationalism. </p>
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<h2>The new shade of nationalism</h2>
<p>In 1925, another leader, K.B. Hedgewar, emerged near Mumbai and created the <a href="https://www.rss.org/Timeline.html">Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or the RSS</a>. Today, the RSS is the umbrella organization of the <a href="https://www.bjp.org/en/ourphilosophy">BJP</a>, the ruling party.</p>
<p>By the 1940s, RSS membership base grew to <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/politics/in-its-91st-year-rss-plans-to-reach-each-of-600-000-villages-of-india-115102101117_1.html">600,000 volunteers</a>. Today, it has well over <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/05/03/706808616/the-powerful-group-shaping-the-rise-of-hindu-nationalism-in-india">5 million</a>. Under Modi, Hindu nationalism has been <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/rss-has-benefited-greatly-under-modi-government-1187765-2018-03-12">brought</a> to mainstream politics, and Hindu nationalists now hold prominent cabinet- and ministerial-level positions in government.</p>
<p>The RSS was twice banned as a political party. Once was after <a href="https://southasia.ucla.edu/history-politics/hindu-rashtra/nathuram-godse-rss-murder-gandhi/">Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 by former member RSS Nathuram Godse</a>. The second time was more recent, following the <a href="https://thewire.in/communalism/rss-sangh-parivar-babri-masjid">demolition</a> of Babri mosque – a holy site in the north Indian city of Ayodhya – in <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/harsh-mander-on-bans-and-organisations-in-the-name-of-national-security/article7770177.ece">1992</a>. The demolition led to nationwide riots where 1,000 people, <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/babri-masjid-bloody-aftermath-across-india-147823-2011-12-05">mostly Muslims, were killed</a>. Hindu nationalists claim that the site is the birthplace of Lord Rama. In 2019, the Indian Supreme Court <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ayodhya-verdict-understanding-the-supreme-court-judgment/story-G7mzXfBFEDJ88PmuLj8CpL.html">allowed a Rama temple</a> to be constructed at the contested site.</p>
<p>After the first ban, the RSS and Mahasabha created their own political party called the <a href="https://theprint.in/politics/on-this-day-69-years-ago-200-leaders-formed-jana-sangh-it-is-now-the-bjp/528070/">Bharatiya Jana Sangh</a> – the predecessor to the current BJP – in 1951. The Jana Sangh ran on a platform of “<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7s415.5">Indianizing</a>,” or assimilating, all minorities into a unified Hindu nation.</p>
<p>For centuries, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24590025">Muslims were perceived</a> by many Hindus as another ethnic group or a subcaste within South Asia, not as an external threat that needed to be warded off. But Savarkar did not believe so. He wanted to bring about an <a href="https://theprint.in/opinion/savarkar-wanted-to-smash-caste-system-cooked-prawns-and-didnt-worship-the-cow/161016/">internal cohesion</a> among various Hindu groups to protect against any external invasion.</p>
<p>Savarkar’s treatise was the <a href="https://www.thequint.com/news/politics/maharashtra-bjp-manifesto-proposes-bharat-ratna-for-veer-savarkar">foundation</a> for the <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/archive/01830/BJP_election_manif_1830927a.pdf">2014 BJP manifesto</a>, which set the party’s agenda to mend the “discarded vision” of a Hindu nation.</p>
<p>Secularism is written in India’s <a href="https://www.india.gov.in/my-government/constitution-india">constitution</a>, but the BJP’s <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/elections/lok-sabha-2019/analysis-highest-ever-national-vote-share-for-the-bjp/article27218550.ece">reelection</a> in 2019 demonstrates that India may be undergoing a fundamental change and embracing a Hindu identity. </p>
<p>The Rama temple construction is expected to be <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/north-and-central/ram-temple-may-open-to-devotees-ahead-of-2024-lok-sabha-poll-1016182.html#:%7E:text=The%20Ram%20Temple%2C%20which%20is,elections%2C%20due%20in%20May%202024.&text=Prime%20min">ready before the next parliamentary election in 2024</a>. The building and celebration of a Hindu temple on the grounds of a destroyed Muslim mosque is, I believe, emblematic of India’s transition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169130/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Saba Sattar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar on South Asian affairs traces the growth of Hindu nationalism, started by an atheist anti-colonial revolutionary, to the one adopted under Modi’s government.Dr. Saba Sattar, PhD Student in Statecraft and National Security, The Institute of World PoliticsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1676772021-11-02T12:27:10Z2021-11-02T12:27:10ZMany scientists are atheists, but that doesn’t mean they are anti-religious<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429603/original/file-20211101-25-47o9kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C6732%2C4976&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The public often assumes that scientists are atheists. The reality, however, is more complex.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/thoughtful-young-man-making-up-his-mind-science-or-royalty-free-image/662212340?adppopup=true"> SIphotography/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2017/02/15/americans-express-increasingly-warm-feelings-toward-religious-groups/">Distrust of atheists is strong</a> in the United States. The General Social Survey consistently demonstrates that as a group, <a href="https://www.secularismandnonreligion.org/articles/10.5334/snr.136/">Americans dislike atheists more than any other religious group</a>. According to various studies, nearly half of the country would <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100203">disapprove of their child marrying an atheist</a>, some 40% of the public <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100203">does not believe atheists share their view of American society</a>, and only 60% of Americans <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/285563/socialism-atheism-political-liabilities.aspx">would be willing to vote for an atheist in a presidential election</a>. </p>
<p>There is one field, however, where atheism is often assumed: science.</p>
<p>People often view scientists as “Godless.” Some of these views may be a result of people hearing more from vocal atheist scientists such as evolutionary biologist <a href="https://richarddawkins.net/">Richard Dawkins</a>, neuroscientist <a href="https://samharris.org/">Sam Harris</a> and others who are at the vanguard of a movement known as “<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/palcomms201699">new atheism</a>.” New atheists are not simply scientists who are convinced there is no God or gods. They couple their irreligion with an aggressive critique of religious belief as a threat to societal well-being. </p>
<p>These scientists espouse a frequently derisive rhetoric on religion and the religious public. Dawkins, for example, has argued that religion is a form of “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Selfish_Gene.html?id=ekonDAAAQBAJ">mental illness</a>” and one of the world’s “great evils” comparable to smallpox. </p>
<p>But such strident attitudes may not be representative of scientists in general.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/varieties-of-atheism-in-science-9780197539163?cc=us&lang=en&">research study</a> we conducted reveals that most atheist scientists in the U.S. and U.K. are not anti-religious. </p>
<h2>The real story of atheism in science</h2>
<p>Drawing on quantitative surveys with 1,293 scientists who identified as atheists, 81 in-depth qualitative interviews conducted from 2013 through 2016 and context material collected since then, we found that scientists’ views of religion are much more diverse than the image conveyed by new atheists. </p>
<p>Each of the scientists in <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/varieties-of-atheism-in-science-9780197539163?cc=us&lang=en&">our study</a> selected the statement “I do not believe in God” when asked about their views of God – and selected this choice over options including agnosticism, the view that the existence of God or the divine is unknowable. </p>
<p>As <a href="http://www.elainehowardecklund.com/">sociologists</a>, <a href="https://rplp.rice.edu/people/david-r-johnson">we view religion</a> as multidimensional – consisting of beliefs, practices, traditions and identities – and seek to understand such dimensions in the lives of atheist scientists and their views of religion. </p>
<p>One of our main findings is that most atheist scientists do not want to be aligned with rhetoric that condemns religious people. Although we did not specifically ask about Dawkins in interviews, scientists often brought him up. </p>
<p>As one biologist that we interviewed in the U.K. said of him, “Well, he has gone on a crusade, basically … I think that [religion] is an easy target, and I think that he’s rather insensitive and hectoring.”</p>
<p>Even atheist scientists who harbored occasional negative views of religion expressed concerns that such rhetoric is bad for science. </p>
<p>Not only are many atheist scientists not hostile to religion, but some think religion can also be beneficial to society; in the words of one of our respondents, “you can see the benefits of going to church.” Many, for example, discussed the sense of community one finds in churches. Others emphasized religious attendance as a force of good, encouraging people to act more charitably.</p>
<p>Indeed in the U.S., 29% of atheist scientists also say they are <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/varieties-of-atheism-in-science-9780197539163?facet_narrowbytype_facet=Academic%20Research&view=Standard&type=listing&facet_narrowbypubdate_facet=Last%203%20months&facet_narrowbyproducttype_facet=Digital&lang=en&cc=us">culturally religious</a>. That is, despite their lack of belief in God, they routinely interact with religious individuals or organizations, such as having a religious spouse, sending their children to a religious school, or attending services themselves.</p>
<p>As one atheist biologist told us: “I enjoy going to church for the suspension of disbelief, for the theatrical experience, for reading, for the liturgy, for the magnificent stories and the mythic quality of those stories, which is intensely spiritual. That’s a real experience.” </p>
<h2>Atheist scientists and the religious</h2>
<p>We also found that atheist scientists and persons of faith have more in common than most people may think, such as the experience of awe and wonder. Whereas many religious individuals experience spirituality through their faith, some atheist scientists speak of their work with similar notions of awe and wonder.</p>
<p>These scientists talk about “intangible realities that imbue wonder, motivate their work and are beyond observation” – realities that they call spirituality. </p>
<p>[<em>This Week in Religion, a global roundup each Thursday.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-global-roundup">Sign up.</a>]</p>
<p>As sociologists <a href="https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/edgell">Penny Edgell</a>, <a href="https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/gerte004">Joseph Gerteis</a> and <a href="https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/hartm021">Douglas Hartmann</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100203">explain</a>, when asked about atheists on surveys, Americans are most likely imagining a theoretical person who rejects the idea of God, rather than thinking about an actual atheist they may have encountered. </p>
<p>Indeed, in an <a href="https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/ideological-segregation-online-and-offline/">ideologically segregated society such as the U.S</a>, religious and nonreligious individuals may not <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2011.01576.x">interact in ways that would actually inform their perspectives of one another</a>. As a result, religious and nonreligious individuals’ views of one another are heavily reliant on stereotypes of each group. </p>
<p>Consequently, when people think about atheist scientists, it is all too easy to imagine the picture painted based on those presented in the public sphere, such as Dawkins and others, in the absence of one who inhabits their community. </p>
<p>What is more, it is difficult to know an atheist when you see one, especially if they are sitting down the pew from you in church, as our research indicates they might. </p>
<p>In an era where our lives literally depend on trust in the scientific community, telling the truth about who atheist scientists are through research on them, rather than allowing them to be represented by the loudest atheist scientist voices, is consequential.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two sociologists conducted interviews with atheist scientists and found that their views on religion are not as strident as the public perceives. Some even go to church.Elaine Howard Ecklund, Professor of Sociology and Director of The Religion and Public Life Program, Rice UniversityDavid R. Johnson, Associate Professor of Higher Education, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1682372021-09-24T12:35:18Z2021-09-24T12:35:18ZWhat Harvard’s humanist chaplain shows about atheism in America<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422979/original/file-20210923-19-irsite.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C85%2C2959%2C1742&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People in attend a talk at the American Atheists National Convention in 2014. Many Americans remain distrustful of atheists, surveys show.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/AtheistConferenceUtah/7b1a427c335b4a6695c09ebfdc631e31/photo?Query=atheist&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=338&currentItemNo=8">AP Photo/Rick Bowmer</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the end of August 2021, Harvard University’s organization of chaplains <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/26/us/harvard-chaplain-greg-epstein.html">unanimously elected</a> Greg Epstein as president. Epstein – the atheist, humanist author of “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/good-without-god-greg-epstein?variant=32205367345186">Good Without God</a>” – will be responsible for coordinating the school’s <a href="https://chaplains.harvard.edu/">more than 40 chaplains</a>, who represent a broad range of religious backgrounds. </p>
<p>His election captured media attention, prompting articles in several outlets such as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/08/29/1032259870/harvards-new-head-chaplain-young-people-are-looking-for-a-non-religious-alternat">NPR</a>, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/20/harvards-atheist-chaplain-controversy">The New Yorker</a>, the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9929315/New-Harvard-chief-chaplain-atheist-ordained-humanist-rabbi.html">Daily Mail </a> and the <a href="https://www.jewishexponent.com/2021/09/13/the-real-danger-of-that-atheist-harvard-chaplain/">Jewish Exponent </a>. Some portrayed the idea of an atheist chaplain as one more battle in the culture wars. </p>
<p>But the trends that Epstein’s position reflects are not new. Non-religious Americans, sometimes referred to as “nones,” have grown from <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2012/10/NonesOnTheRise-full.pdf">7% of the population in 1970</a> to <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/">more than 25%</a> today. Fully <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/13/a-closer-look-at-americas-rapidly-growing-religious-nones/">35% of millennials say they are not affiliated with any particular religion</a>.</p>
<p>They are part of <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199341221.001.0001/acprof-9780199341221">a diverse group</a> that’s changing ideas about what it means to be nonreligious. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://wendycadge.com/">sociologists of religion</a>, <a href="http://pennyedgell.com/">we have studied</a> these transitions and their implications. A <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5658afe2e4b0f33a7ad1a4d4/t/582ca13503596ed3373ac56e/1479319862512/Atheists+Social+Forces-2016+FINAL+PUBLISHED+%281%29.pdf">recent study</a> with colleagues at the University of Minnesota shows that, while Americans are becoming more comfortable with alternative forms of spirituality, they are less comfortable with those they see as entirely secular.</p>
<p>We argue that Epstein’s election represents a shift that shows the increasing visibility and acceptance of nonreligious Americans. At the same time, the commotion around his position shows many Americans’ lingering <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5658afe2e4b0f33a7ad1a4d4/t/582ca13503596ed3373ac56e/1479319862512/Atheists+Social+Forces-2016+FINAL+PUBLISHED+%281%29.pdf">moral unease</a> about atheism.</p>
<p>Epstein seems to understand this cultural dilemma and emphasizes his commitments to <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22419487/religion-justice-fairness">social justice</a> and humanism, <a href="https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/definition-of-humanism/">a philosophy</a> that rejects supernatural beliefs and seeks to promote the greater good. In doing so, he is becoming a spokesman for something new in the American context: an atheism that explicitly emphasizes its morality.</p>
<h2>Joining ranks</h2>
<p>Atheism has long generated contention in the United States, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691168647/village-atheists">going back to colonial times</a>. But the late 19th century’s “<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780805077766">Golden Age” of freethought</a> brought the first widespread public expressions of skepticism toward religion. Lawyer and public orator <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-G-Ingersoll">Robert Ingersoll</a> drew religious leaders’ ire as he lectured on agnosticism in sold-out halls across the country.</p>
<p>In the 1920s, the <a href="http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/evolut.htm">Scopes “Monkey Trial</a>” over the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution in public schools highlighted struggles over religious authority in America’s laws and institutions. Meanwhile, Black skeptics of religion, often <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814766729/by-these-hands/">overlooked by scholars</a>, influenced artists like <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/agents-of-change-black-freethinkers-then-and-now/">Zora Neal Hurston</a> and, later, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/t-magazine/james-baldwin-pentecostal-church.html">James Baldwin</a>. Many Americans know of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/16/us/bodies-identified-as-those-of-missing-atheist-and-kin.html">Madalyn Murray O’Hair</a>, who successfully challenged mandated Christian prayer and Bible readings in public schools in the 1960s and founded the organization that became <a href="https://www.atheists.org/">American Atheists</a>. </p>
<p>More recently, a <a href="https://secular.org/">growing number of atheist and humanist organizations</a> have promoted the separation of church and state, fought discrimination, supported pro-science policies and encouraged public figures to “<a href="https://richarddawkins.net/2019/08/i-prefer-non-religious-why-so-few-us-politicians-come-out-as-atheists/">come out</a>” as atheist. </p>
<p>Black atheists, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/06/16/blacks-are-even-discriminated-against-by-atheists/">not always feeling welcome</a> in white-led organizations, have formed their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/fashion/african-american-atheists.html">own</a>, often centered on social justice. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Humanist chaplain Bart Campolo walks past the United University Church at the University of Southern California in 2015." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423033/original/file-20210923-22-189bo8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423033/original/file-20210923-22-189bo8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423033/original/file-20210923-22-189bo8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423033/original/file-20210923-22-189bo8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423033/original/file-20210923-22-189bo8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423033/original/file-20210923-22-189bo8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423033/original/file-20210923-22-189bo8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Humanist chaplain Bart Campolo walks past the United University Church at the University of Southern California in 2015. A handful of campuses, including Harvard, now have humanist chaplains.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/AtheistChaplains/d0f6eb7acc894f35a34d350bb260f844/photo?Query=harvard%20AND%20chaplain&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=9&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Jae C. Hong</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>No God, no trust?</h2>
<p>Despite this increasing <a href="https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/0d8b9ed5-a402-42bd-afe6-f08d4fa595a5/650053.pdf">organization and visibility</a>, a large percentage of Americans <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025882">do not trust</a> atheists to be good neighbors and citizens. <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5658afe2e4b0f33a7ad1a4d4/t/582ca13503596ed3373ac56e/1479319862512/Atheists+Social+Forces-2016+FINAL+PUBLISHED+%281%29.pdf">A national survey</a> in 2014 found that 42% of Americans said atheists did not share their “vision of American society,” and 44% would not want their child marrying an atheist. Those percentages were virtually unchanged in a <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5658afe2e4b0f33a7ad1a4d4/t/614c828db0ce99001f60eb04/1632404109942/AMP+Wave+2.5+Report+fall+2020+%281%29.pdf">2019 follow-up</a>. </p>
<p>These attitudes affect young people like those to whom Epstein ministers. A <a href="https://www.secularsurvey.org/executive-summary">third of atheists under age 25</a> report experiencing discrimination at school, and over 40% say they sometimes hide their nonreligious identity for fear of stigma. </p>
<p>As a chaplain, Epstein’s job is to provide <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/why-americans-are-turning-chaplains-during-pandemic/611767/">spiritual guidance</a> and moral council to students, with a special focus on those who do not identify with a religious tradition. He himself identifies as an atheist, but also as a humanist.</p>
<p>In U.S. society, humanism is increasingly accepted as a positive, and moral, belief system, which some react to more favorably than to atheism, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20453183">which is perceived as a rejection of religion</a>. And <a href="http://humanistchaplaincies.org/humanist-chaplaincies/">a handful</a> of America’s college campuses now have <a href="https://www.humanistchaplains.org/">humanist chaplains</a>.</p>
<p>But atheism remains more controversial in the United States, and an atheist chaplain is a harder sell. Efforts to include atheist chaplains in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/us/27atheists.html">military</a>, for example, have <a href="https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/03/26/no-atheistchaplains-lawmakers-tell-navy/">not succeeded</a>.</p>
<h2>Shift in tone</h2>
<p>Epstein, a vocal advocate for humanism, appears to be pushing back against Americans’ persistent <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5658afe2e4b0f33a7ad1a4d4/t/582ca13503596ed3373ac56e/1479319862512/Atheists+Social+Forces-2016+FINAL+PUBLISHED+%281%29.pdf">moral concerns</a> about atheism identified in <a href="https://cla.umn.edu/sociology/research-collaboration/collaboration-opportunities/american-mosaic-project-amp/american">the research from the University of Minnesota</a>. </p>
<p>His book <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121813448">openly challenges</a> those views by arguing that atheism is a morally anchoring identity for people around the world. He talks at length about how humanism can motivate <a href="https://podcasts.la.utexas.edu/raceanddemocracy/podcast/ep-50-race-humanism-and-the-search-for-the-common-faith-a-conversation-with-greg-epstein/">concern for racial justice</a> and has called for political leaders on the left <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/14/opinion/truly-inclusive-vision-america-recognizes-nonreligious-too/">to embrace the nonreligious</a> as an important, values-motivated constituency. </p>
<p>This marks a different approach from <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-arguments-of-the-new-atheists-are-often-just-as-violent-as-religion-95185">more militant</a> high-profile atheists, particularly the <a href="http://www.the-brights.net/">Brights movement</a> and the so-called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/palcomms.2016.99">New Atheist</a> intellectuals like <a href="https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/The-God-Delusion/9780618680009">Richard Dawkins</a> or <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/80738/god-is-not-great-by-christopher-hitchens/9780771041433">Christopher Hitchens</a>. Epstein does not position himself “against religion” but seeks to cooperate with religious leaders on matters of common moral concern.</p>
<p>It’s too soon to say whether Epstein’s strategy of linking atheism to humanism, <a href="https://thehumanist.com/magazine/july-august-2018/features/humanist-interview-greg-epstein/">justice</a> and morality will be successful in changing attitudes toward atheists. It is, however, likely to keep him in the public eye, a symbol of the transition in how Americans relate to organized religion. </p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168237/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Penny Edgell receives funding from The National Science Foundation and the Edelstein Family Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Cadge receives funding from the Henry Luce Foundation and the Templeton Religion Trust.</span></em></p>Americans are getting more comfortable with new forms of spirituality, but their views of atheists are still complicated.Penny Edgell, Professor of Sociology, University of MinnesotaWendy Cadge, Professor of Sociology and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1651272021-09-13T12:13:38Z2021-09-13T12:13:38Z‘Imagine’ at 50: Why John Lennon’s ode to humanism still resonates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420554/original/file-20210910-19-y8luzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C694%2C2220%2C1633&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fifty years ago, did John Lennon tell us not to pray?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/photo-of-john-lennon-news-photo/80800975?adppopup=true">Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fifty years ago, John Lennon released <a href="https://theconversation.com/john-lennons-imagine-at-50-a-deceptively-simple-ballad-a-lasting-emblem-of-hope-167444">one of the most beautiful, inspirational</a> and catchy pop anthems of the 20th century: “Imagine.” </p>
<p>Gentle and yet increasingly stirring as the song progresses, “Imagine” is unabashedly utopian and deeply moral, calling on people to live, as one humanity, in peace. It is also purposely and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-04/imagine-50-years-john-lennon-beatles/100238128">powerfully irreligious</a>. From its opening lyric, “Imagine there’s no heaven,” to the refrain, “And no religion too,” Lennon sets out what is, to many, a clear atheistic message.</p>
<p>While most pop songs are secular by default – in that they are about the things of this world, making no mention of the divine or spiritual – “Imagine” is explicitly secularist. In Lennon’s telling, religion is an impediment to human flourishing – something to be overcome, transcended.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/phil-zuckerman/">scholar of secularism</a> and a devout fan of the Beatles, I have always been fascinated by how “Imagine,” perhaps the first and only atheist anthem to be so enormously successful, has come to be so widely embraced in America. After all, the U.S. is a country that has – at least until <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx">recently</a> – had a much <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/07/31/americans-are-far-more-religious-than-adults-in-other-wealthy-nations/">more</a> religious population than other Western industrialized democracies.</p>
<p>Since being released as a single on Oct. 11 1971, “Imagine” has sold millions, going No. 1 in the U.S. and U.K. charts. And its popularity has endured. Rolling Stone magazine named “Imagine” as the <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-151127/aretha-franklin-respect-36873/">third greatest song of all time</a> in 2003, and it regularly tops national polls in Canada, <a href="https://radioinfo.com.au/news/imagine-voted-best-gold-hit/">Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/jan/07/johnarlidge.theobserver">the U.K</a>.</p>
<p>Countless recording artists have covered it, and it remains one of the most performed songs throughout the world – the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZaXRQIjR68">opening ceremony</a> of this year’s Olympics Games in Tokyo featured it being sung by a host of international artists, a testament to its global appeal.</p>
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<p>But not everyone is enamored of its message. Robert Barron, the auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/07/25/imagine-blared-at-the-olympics-is-a-totalitarians-anthem/">responded to the recent Tokyo rendition</a> by lambasting “Imagine” as a “totalitarian anthem” and “an invitation to moral and political chaos.” His issue: the atheistic lyrics.</p>
<p>Numerous attempts have been made since “Imagine” was released to reconcile Lennon’s anthem with religion. Scholars, those of faith and fellow musicians have argued that the lyrics <a href="https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/faith-and-reason-imagine-really-atheist">aren’t really atheistic</a>, just <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/imagine-the-anthem-of-2001-83559/">anti-organized religion</a>. Others have taken the sledgehammer approach and just changed the lyrics outright – CeeLo Green sang “And all religion’s true” in <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/cee-lo-green-outrages-john-lennon-fans-by-changing-lyrics-to-imagine-202240/">a televised rendition</a> on New Year’s Eve 2011.</p>
<p>In interviews, Lennon was at times <a href="http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/dbjypb.int3.html">ambiguous about his beliefs</a> on religion and spirituality, but such ambiguity is at odds with the clear message of “Imagine.” The song’s irreligious ethos is frank. The first verse speaks of there being “no heaven,” “no hell” – “Above us, only sky.” In such clear, distilled words, Lennon captures the very marrow of the secular orientation. To me, Lennon is saying that we live in a purely physical universe that operates along strictly natural laws – there is nothing supernatural out there, even beyond the stars.</p>
<p>He also expresses a distinct “here-and-nowness” at odds with many religions. In asking listeners to “Imagine all the people, livin’ for today,” Lennon is, to quote the <a href="https://www.upworthy.com/ever-heard-of-union-hero-joe-hill-hes-missing-from-most-history-books-today">labor activist and atheist Joe Hill</a>, suggesting there will be “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8qoB1XwtHM">no pie in the sky when you die</a>,” nor will a fiery eternal torture await you.</p>
<p>Lennon’s lyrics also give way to an implied existentialism. With no gods and no afterlife, only humankind – within ourselves and among each other – can decide how to live and choose what matters. We can choose to live without violence, greed or hunger and – to quote “Imagine” – exist as a “brotherhood of man … sharing all the world.”</p>
<p>It is here that Lennon’s <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-secular-life/202002/what-is-secular-humanism">humanism</a> – the belief that humans, without reliance upon anything supernatural, have the capacity to create a better, more humane world – comes to the fore. Nihilism is not the path, nor is despondency, debauchery or destruction. Rather, Lennon’s “Imagine” entails a humanistic desire to see an end to suffering.</p>
<p>The spirit of empathy and compassion throughout the song is in line with what <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1948550612444137">scholarship</a> has <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13674670310001606450?src=recsys">found</a> to be strong traits <a href="https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/research/centres/benedict-xvi/docs/benedict-centre-understanding-unbelief-report.pdf">commonly</a> <a href="https://phys.org/news/2021-02-atheists-believers-moral-compasses-key.html?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Phys.org_TrendMD_1">observable</a> among <a href="https://news.berkeley.edu/2012/04/30/religionandgenerosity/">secular men and women</a>. Despite attempts to tie Lennon and “Imagine” to blood-lusting atheists <a href="https://sojo.net/articles/why-john-lennons-imagine-actually-not-great-song">like Stalin and Pol Pot</a>, the overwhelming majority of godless people <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/311795/living-the-secular-life-by-phil-zuckerman/">seek to live ethical lives</a>.</p>
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<p>For example, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/08/21/staunch-atheists-show-higher-morals-than-the-proudly-pious-from-the-pandemic-to-climate-change/">studies have shown</a> that when it comes to things like <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/05/24/the-group-least-likely-to-think-the-u-s-has-a-responsibility-to-accept-refugees-evangelicals/">wanting to</a> <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jrs/article/32/3/502/5298199?login=true">help</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/socofthesacred/status/1427973457703211012/photo/1">refugees</a>, seeking to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13644-020-00396-0">establish affordable health care</a>, <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/fractured-nation-widening-partisan-polarization-and-key-issues-in-2020-presidential-elections/">fighting</a> <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2015/10/22/religion-and-views-on-climate-and-energy-issues/">climate change</a> and being sensitive to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1088868309352179">racism</a> and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/28/religiously-unaffiliated-people-more-likely-than-those-with-a-religion-to-lean-left-accept-homosexuality/">homophobia</a>, the godless stand out as particularly moral.</p>
<p>Indeed, secular people in general <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-10474-001">exhibit an orientation</a> that is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1368430211410996?casa_token=lAvYSk5xzI8AAAAA%3AzyF9nW4T0_p6nuM_v2NIiZLkEuar1rhGQdg2J7Qy2NLmu3c-yiWb4zFoeVnMpOKC3FiIpKXO9y17bfQ">markedly tolerant</a>, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327582ijpr0202_5?src=recsys">democratic</a> and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-secular-life/201807/religion-secularism-and-xenophobia">universalistic</a> – values Lennon holds up as ideals in “Imagine.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/11/09/the-unbearable-wrongness-of-william-barr/">Other studies reveal</a> that the democratic countries that are the least religious – the ones that have gone furthest down the road of “imagining no religion” – <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479878086/society-without-god-second-edition/">are the most</a> safe, humane, green and ethical. </p>
<p>“Imagine” was not the first time Lennon sang his secular humanism. A year before, in 1970, he released “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MqKXjclNHw">I Found Out</a>,” declaring his lack of belief in either Jesus or Krishna. Also in 1970, he put out the haunting, scorching “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCNkPpq1giU">God</a>.” Beginning with a classic psychological explanation of theism – that humans construct the concept of God as a way to cope with and measure their pain – “God” goes on to list all the things that Lennon most decidedly does not believe in: the Bible, Jesus, Gita, Buddha, I-Ching, magic and so on. In the end, all that he believes in is his own verifiable personal reality. Arriving at such a place was, for the bespectacled walrus from Liverpool, to be truly “reborn.”</p>
<p>But neither “I Found Out” nor “God” achieved anywhere near the massive success that “Imagine” did. No other atheist pop song has.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phil Zuckerman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Regularly topping lists for ‘greatest song of all time,’ the former Beatle’s classic 1971 song is taken by many as an atheistic anthem.Phil Zuckerman, Professor of Sociology and Secular Studies, Pitzer CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1647582021-08-02T12:39:37Z2021-08-02T12:39:37Z70 years ago Walter Plywaski fought for atheists’ right to become citizens – here’s why his story is worth remembering<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413811/original/file-20210729-23-1qxx2uq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4249%2C2828&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Walter Plywaski fought for atheists to be given citizenship rights.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/boulder-resident-and-holocaust-survivor-walter-plywaski-news-photo/161159773?adppopup=true">Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dailycamera/name/walter-plywaski-obituary?pid=197670766">Walter Plywaski’s death</a> earlier this year from complications related to COVID-19 went largely unnoticed by national media. </p>
<p>Only an invitation by his family to <a href="https://action.aclu.org/give/now">donate to the civil liberties group ACLU</a> in Plywaski’s memory gave hint to his legacy in the fight for religious freedom. Almost 70 years ago, Plywaski <a href="https://www.dailycamera.com/2012/01/27/atheist-groups-highlight-church-and-state-cases/">fought for the right of atheists</a> to become U.S. citizens – and won.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.libarts.colostate.edu/people/klee27/">a scholar of religious and political rhetoric</a>, I believe that Plywaski’s fight is worth remembering. Stories like Plywaski’s give an insight into the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13235">discrimination atheists in the U.S. face even today</a> and the role that those professing no faith have had in holding society accountable to the goals of religious tolerance and freedom. </p>
<h2>‘Seeking admission on your own terms’</h2>
<p>Polish native Walter Plywaski, born Wladyslaw Plywacki, spent <a href="https://mediaspace.du.edu/media/Walter+Plywaski%2C+2012-01-27/0_fjau27v7/131213882">five years in Nazi concentration camps</a> during the Second World War. After being liberated from Dachau, the Bavarian camp in which <a href="https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/historischer-ort/kz-dachau-1933-1945/">41,500 prisoners died</a>, he worked as an interpreter before immigrating to the U.S and serving four years in the U.S. Air Force.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/258051022/?terms=Plywacki&match=1">August 1952</a>, Plywaski petitioned for U.S. citizenship while in Hawaii. All he had left to do was say his oath of allegiance.</p>
<p>Plywaski, however, was an atheist. He informed the judge that he could not sincerely end the oath with the words “so help me God” and requested an alternative. </p>
<p>Judge J. Frank McLaughlin <a href="http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,818392,00.html">reportedly asked</a> Plywaski to consider what it says on the back of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-complex-history-of-in-god-we-trust-91117">U.S. coins: “In God We Trust</a>.” McLaughlin then <a href="https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914a01badd7b049346745a4">denied Plywaski citizenship</a>, <a href="http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,818392,00.html">justifying his decision by proclaiming</a>, “Our government is founded on a belief in God,” and accused Plywaski of “seeking admission on your own terms.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/269061281/?terms=Plywacki%20AND%20atheist%20AND%20ACLU&match=1">With the help of the ACLU</a>, Plywaski appealed McLaughlin’s decision, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/38508571/?terms=Plywacki%20AND%20atheist%20AND%20religious%20freedom&match=1">arguing</a> it was a violation of religious freedom while noting that natural-born citizens had the option to say affirmations rather than oaths, which allowed them to <a href="https://www.nationalnotary.org/notary-bulletin/blog/2012/09/oaths-vs-affirmations-know-the-difference">affirm their allegiance based on their own honor rather than a belief in a higher power</a>.</p>
<p>McLaughlin, however, stood his ground. He <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/258051307/">argued</a> that the case was not about religious freedom but about whether Plywaski “believes in all the principles which support free government,” which according to McLaughlin included a belief in God. </p>
<p>Plywaski moved to Oregon and <a href="https://casetext.com/case/petition-of-plywacki-1">successfully petitioned</a> to have his case moved there to be looked at by a different judge. In January 1955, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/258078072/?terms=plywacki%20AND%20oregon%20AND%20atheist%20AND%20Mclaughlin&match=1">Plywaski won his case</a> and became a citizen.</p>
<p>Plywaski’s case confirmed that those applying for citizenship must have the option to not recite “so help me God” when taking their oath, a policy that is now explicit in the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-j-chapter-3">U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services policy manual</a>. </p>
<h2>Anti-atheist discrimination</h2>
<p>But despite the precedent he set, Plywaski was not the last atheist who would be denied U.S. citizenship – more than 60 years later, nonreligious people still had to fight for immigration rights. In <a href="https://archive.thinkprogress.org/woman-was-almost-denied-citizenship-for-being-atheist-c412cb4bd0b5/">2013</a> and <a href="http://www.allgov.com/usa/ca/news/california-and-the-nation/another-atheist-conscientious-objector-who-was-denied-us-citizenship-wins-reversal-140320?news=852720">2014</a>, two women were initially denied citizenship after being told they had to be religious in order to be conscientious objectors when refraining from stating in their oaths that they will “<a href="https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-j-chapter-3">bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law</a>.”</p>
<p>This was despite <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1964/50">1965</a> and <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1969/76">1970</a> court cases that affirmed that atheists could be conscientious objectors. </p>
<p>And even atheists with citizenship have been denied certain rights because of requirements that a religious oath be uttered.</p>
<p>Roy Torcaso won a <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/367/488.html">1961 U.S. Supreme Court case</a> after he was denied a position as a public notary when he refused to recite an oath acknowledging the existence of God. Torcaso’s case made clauses in state constitutions banning atheists from holding public office unconstitutional and unenforceable. Yet such bans have still occasionally been used to challenge open atheists who have won public office, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-it-matters-that-7-states-still-have-bans-on-atheists-holding-office-161069">though such challenges have failed</a>. </p>
<p>And <a href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-air-force-oath-so-help-me-god-20140918-story.html">in 2014</a>, an atheist in the Air Force was denied reenlistment after refusing to say “so help me God” in his oath. The Air Force later <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/18/us-air-force-atheist-airman-reeinlist">reversed the decision and updated its policy</a> after atheist groups threatened to sue.</p>
<p>Such instances fit a pattern of discrimination against atheists. <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/27d5/e5a6e5e6050986aa859559d5f2a9a484f4cb.pdf">A 2012 study</a> found that that nearly 50% of atheists have felt forced to swear a religious oath. While they legally should have options to say alternatives, <a href="https://theconversation.com/abolish-the-oath-moral-prejudice-against-atheists-may-bias-courtroom-decisions-82230">the pressure to take the religious oaths remains</a>.</p>
<p>Because “so help me God” is the a default in many oaths, atheists often have to decide between passing as theistic or outing themselves as atheists – which, in a country where good citizenship is <a href="https://dailybruin.com/1999/01/24/atheists-do-make-good-citizens">often unfairly tied</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100203">a belief in God</a>, could potentially <a href="https://theconversation.com/abolish-the-oath-moral-prejudice-against-atheists-may-bias-courtroom-decisions-82230">bring stigma onto themselves</a> or mean risking being denied certain rights. </p>
<p>Atheists tend to win cases in which they challenge the denial of their citizenship and other rights based on their refusal to acknowledge God. Yet the fact that atheists risk facing additional obstacles and legal fights to have their citizenship recognized speaks, I believe, to their continued marginalization. </p>
<h2>The atheist fight for religious tolerance</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36236100-godless-citizens-in-a-godly-republic">atheist fight for equal rights</a> is rarely acknowledged outside of active atheist communities. My research shows how the discrimination against atheists fits with what I describe as a deeply ingrained and coercive <a href="https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.23.2.0255">theistnormative mindset</a> that frames democratic societies and good citizenship as being tied to belief in a higher power. </p>
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<p>Historians such as <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691168647/village-atheists">Leigh Eric Schmidt</a>, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-myth-of-american-religious-freedom-updated-edition-9780190247218?cc=us&lang=en&">David Sehat</a> and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36236100-godless-citizens-in-a-godly-republic">Isaac Kramnick and Robert Laurence Moore</a> have all written about religious oppression in the United States and its impact on atheists. These histories highlight how stigma surrounding both atheism and openly critiquing religion and religious oppression often pressured atheists to <a href="https://www.aei.org/politics-and-public-opinion/hidden-identity-when-americans-decide-to-keep-their-religious-background-to-themselves/">hide their identity</a>.</p>
<p>Yet, there were – and still are – atheists, like Walter Plywaski, willing to openly challenge discrimination. Their stories are part of the larger fight for religious tolerance within the United States.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164758/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristina M. Lee is affiliated with Atheists United and the Boulder Atheists.</span></em></p>Polish-born Holocaust survivor paved the way for atheists to refuse pledge to God in citizenship oath. But discrimination against nonreligious Americans remains.Kristina M. Lee, Ph.D. Candidate in Rhetoric, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1641432021-07-16T12:26:20Z2021-07-16T12:26:20ZHow ‘In God We Trust’ bills are helping advance a Christian nationalist agenda<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411551/original/file-20210715-32887-1a1jb8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C63%2C4256%2C2758&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Christian nationalists are pushing for 'In God We Trust' to be omnipresent.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/in-god-we-trust-royalty-free-image/525213315?adppopup=true">Joe Longobardi Photography via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>City vehicles in Chesapeake, Virginia, will soon be getting religion. </p>
<p>At a meeting on July 13, 2021, <a href="https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/chesapeake/add-in-god-we-trust-to-city-vehicles-chesapeake-will-vote-on-proposal-tuesday-night/">city councilors unanimously voted in favor</a> of a proposal that would see the official motto of the U.S., “In God We Trust,” emblazoned on every city-owned car and truck, at an estimated cost to taxpayers of US$87,000.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the state of Mississippi is <a href="https://www.mississippifreepress.org/13182/atheists-sue-mississippi-for-in-god-we-trust-plates-i-dont-want-jesus-riding-on-my-car/">preparing to defend in court</a> its insistence that all citizens, unless they pay a fee for an alternative, must display the same four-word phrase on their license plates. Gov. Tate Reeves <a href="https://www.wlbt.com/2021/06/25/gov-reeves-calls-lawsuit-over-god-we-trust-license-plates-publicity-stunt/">vowed last month to take the issue</a> “all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court should we have to.”</p>
<p>“In God We Trust” became the national motto 65 years ago this month. But over the past few years a string of bills and city ordinances has sought to expand its usage and presence. Such efforts include legislation requiring or encouraging the motto be displayed in <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/02/oklahoma-house-speaker-wants-in-god-we-trust-displayed-in-state-buildings/334638007/">government buildings</a> and <a href="https://www.blitzwatch.org/in-god-we-trust-school-displays">schools</a>, on <a href="https://www.blitzwatch.org/in-god-we-trust-license-plates">license plates</a> and on <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/04/07/god-we-trust-police-cars/82762992/">police vehicles</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sample license plate with 'In God We Trust' on it" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411535/original/file-20210715-23-dxl77w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411535/original/file-20210715-23-dxl77w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411535/original/file-20210715-23-dxl77w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411535/original/file-20210715-23-dxl77w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411535/original/file-20210715-23-dxl77w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411535/original/file-20210715-23-dxl77w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411535/original/file-20210715-23-dxl77w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mississippi license plates carry the motto.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dor.ms.gov/TagsTitles/Documents/MS%20Passenger%20Reissue%202017%20V2_11-16-16%20HD%20LRG.jpg">State of Mississippi</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The rise of bills across the country at this time is no coincidence. It fits with a concerted effort by Christian nationalists who view the motto as a tool to help legitimize an agenda of passing legislation that <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/project-blitz-seeks-to-do-for-christian-nationalism-what-alec-does-for-big-business/">privileges conservative Christian values</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/february-web-only/what-is-christian-nationalism.html">Christian nationalism</a> is a political ideology that fuses conservative religious beliefs with a – <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-capitol-siege-recalls-past-acts-of-christian-nationalist-violence-153059">usually white</a> – American identity. Christian nationalists assume that the laws of the land should be based on Christian morals. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.libarts.colostate.edu/people/klee27/">a scholar of religious and political rhetoric</a>, I have observed how Christian nationalists are using what I call “<a href="https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.23.2.0255">theistnormative</a>” legislation – government-endorsed policies, rituals, laws and symbols that use vague religious references, such as “God” – to encourage people to view the United States as a theistic collective – that is to say, as a nation of believers in God.</p>
<h2>From coins to national motto</h2>
<p>Christian nationalists <a href="https://rewirenewsgroup.com/religion-dispatches/2019/08/27/the-story-of-in-god-we-trust-our-christian-nationalist-motto-part-1/">played a key role</a> in getting “In God We Trust” put on coins during the Civil War and ever since have attempted to use the motto as “proof” that the United States is a Christian nation. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/8/5/93/htm">Early Christian nationalists</a> criticized the Founding Fathers for failing to recognize the United States as an explicitly Christian nation in the Constitution. An early Christian nationalist organization, <a href="https://candst.tripod.com/nra.htm">The National Reform Association</a>, pushed for a “<a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/419814/pdf">Christian Amendment</a>” that would correct what they called the “<a href="https://reformed.org/eschaton/symington/index.html?mainframe=/eschaton/symington/a_editor_preface.html">original sin</a>” of not recognizing Jesus Christ in the Constitution. </p>
<p>Their efforts failed. But Christian nationalists had better success in getting the more ambiguous motto “In God We Trust” <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-complex-history-of-in-god-we-trust-91117">put on coins</a> in 1864. It followed a report to the U.S. Treasury by the director of the U.S. Mint, James Pollock, an active member of the National Reform Association, in <a href="http://www.chicagocoinclub.org/lib/us/usmnt/1863/mr.html">which he asked</a>: “We claim to be a Christian Nation – why should we not vindicate our character by honoring the God of Nations in the exercise of our political Sovereignty as a Nation?”</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A handwritten letter in which Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase amends 'In God is our Trust' to 'In God We Trust' in an 1863 letter to James Pollock, director of the Philadelphia mint." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411534/original/file-20210715-23-uffi58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411534/original/file-20210715-23-uffi58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411534/original/file-20210715-23-uffi58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411534/original/file-20210715-23-uffi58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411534/original/file-20210715-23-uffi58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411534/original/file-20210715-23-uffi58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411534/original/file-20210715-23-uffi58.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase amends ‘In God is our Trust’ to ‘In God We Trust’ in an 1863 letter to James Pollock, director of the Philadelphia mint.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chase_to_Pollock_1863-12-09_motto_only.png">National Archives and Records Administration</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Amid <a href="https://doi.org/10217/189376">fears of “atheistic communism</a>” during the Cold War a century later, Christian nationalists in the U.S. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.398">again tried and failed to pass</a> a “Christian Amendment.” But they again found success in advocating for legislation that used vague religious references, culminating in the adding of “<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/under-god-added-to-pledge-of-allegiance-2014-6">under God</a>” to the pledge of allegiance and making “In God We Trust” <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-complex-history-of-in-god-we-trust-91117">the national motto</a> on July 30, 1956. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="President Eisenhower at a ceremony introducing a 8-cent Statue of Liberty stamp with the inscription ‘In God We Trust.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411552/original/file-20210715-17-1w8s3ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411552/original/file-20210715-17-1w8s3ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411552/original/file-20210715-17-1w8s3ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411552/original/file-20210715-17-1w8s3ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411552/original/file-20210715-17-1w8s3ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411552/original/file-20210715-17-1w8s3ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411552/original/file-20210715-17-1w8s3ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two years before making ‘In God We Trust’ the national motto, President Eisenhower introduces a stamp carrying the slogan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/secretary-of-state-john-foster-dulles-president-eisenhower-news-photo/515383474?adppopup=true">Bettmann / Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since it became the national motto, conservative Christians have used “In God We Trust” to justify opposing <a href="https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/21198/zz0002rbw9/">abortion rights</a> and <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/America_s_Struggle_for_Same_Sex_Marriage/A_jA20D3U9cC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=In%20god%20we%20trust">same-sex marriage</a> by suggesting that they <a href="https://mndaily.com/197771/uncategorized/god-we-trust/">violate the principles embedded</a> in the motto.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, Mississippi state Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith <a href="https://ffrf.org/news/news-releases/item/38628-ffrf-calls-out-senator-from-mississippi-on-christian-nationalist-comments">justified legislation that would ban voter registration on Sundays</a> by holding up a dollar bill and saying, “This says, ‘The United States of America, in God we trust.’ … In God’s word in Exodus 20:18, it says ‘remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.‘” </p>
<p>While most Christian nationalists <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/14/christian-nationalists-bills-religious-freedom-project-blitz">claim to support religious freedom</a> – which would seemingly apply to all faiths – most believe Christianity, specifically white conservative Christian values, should be privileged in the public sphere.</p>
<h2>'Project Blitz’</h2>
<p>Christian nationalists have increasingly turned to “In God We Trust” bills as a way to further legitimize their agenda. This is particularly evident in the “Project Blitz” initiative, led by the <a href="https://cpcfoundation.com/about/">Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation</a>, which states its aim as “restoring Judeo-Christian principles to their rightful place.”</p>
<p>Project Blitz started in 2015 with the purpose of “blitzing” the country with legislation advancing Christian nationalism. As David Barton, a leader in the initiative, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/26/opinion/project-blitz-christian-nationalists.html">explained</a> in a 2018 conference call with state legislators: “It’s kind of like whack-a-mole for the other side; it’ll drive ‘em crazy that they’ll have to divide their resources out in opposing this.”</p>
<p>One such success in Project Blitz was in Chesapeake, where the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation is based. The organization <a href="https://wset.com/news/local/chesapeake-city-hall-to-display-in-god-we-trust-motto">successfully pushed for the motto “In God We Trust” to be displayed</a> at the City Hall.</p>
<p>After Project Blitz <a href="https://www.blitzwatch.org/">generated negative publicity</a> in 2018, it was misleadingly rebranded as “<a href="https://www.politicalresearch.org/2019/11/07/project-blitz-any-other-name">Freedom for All</a>.” During a recorded strategy meeting that was later <a href="https://www.politicalresearch.org/2019/11/07/project-blitz-any-other-name">circulated by the social justice think tank Political Research Associates</a>, Lea Carawan of the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation <a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-951886982/audio-10-24-19">explained</a>, “As soon as we understood that they knew they were on to us, we changed the name; shifted things around a little bit […] we’ve renamed and moved on but it’s moving just as strong and just as powerfully.”</p>
<p>Up to 2018, the initiative had helped more than <a href="https://www.blitzwatch.org/">70 bills</a> relating to their agenda get proposed. The group <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/exclusive-christian-right-bill-mill-project-blitz-hasnt-gone-away-its-just-gotten-more-secretive/">continues to have successes</a> in getting legislation not only proposed, but also passed. According to <a href="https://www.blitzwatch.org/legislation">BlitzWatch</a>, a group tracking Project Blitz initiatives, this includes bills that <a href="https://www.blitzwatch.org/bible-classes">support Bible readings in schools</a> and policies that allow <a href="https://www.blitzwatch.org/adoption-and-foster-care">adoption and foster agencies</a> and <a href="https://www.blitzwatch.org/religious-refusals-health-care">health care providers</a> to deny services based on religious grounds. But it is the “<a href="https://www.blitzwatch.org/in-god-we-trust-school-displays">In God We Trust” bills</a> that have seemingly been the most successful for Project Blitz.</p>
<h2>Pushing America’s 'Christian heritage’</h2>
<p>According to the initiative’s <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Religious-Freedom-Analysis-Report-2020-2021.pdf">2020-2021 playbook</a> – which was <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/exclusive-christian-right-bill-mill-project-blitz-hasnt-gone-away-its-just-gotten-more-secretive/">obtained by the religion news website Religion Dispatches</a> – “In God We Trust” bills aim to recognize “the place of Christian principles in our nation’s history and heritage.”</p>
<p>While those behind “Project Blitz” claim the bills are not about converting people to Christianity, they also argue that the U.S. should be a Christian nation whose laws and policies “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJHZ8OKPTEU">reflect Judeo-Christian or biblical values and concepts</a>.”</p>
<p>As such, “In God We Trust” bills set the foundation for more explicitly conservative Christian legislation. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Religious-Freedom-Analysis-Report-2020-2021.pdf">playbooks</a> suggest “In God We Trust” bills can “shore up later support for other governmental entities to support religious displays” to help America accept its “Christian heritage.” The Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation also recommends legislators push for other types of bills including, as stated in their <a href="https://www.au.org/sites/default/files/2019-01/Project%20Blitz%20Playbook%202018-19.pdf">2018-2019 playbook</a>, a resolution to establish policy “favoring intimate sexual relations only between married, heterosexual couples.”</p>
<h2>The risk of opposing</h2>
<p>What makes “In God We Trust” bills so successful is that they often receive bipartisan support. In Louisiana, for example, it was a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/11/us/in-god-we-trust-louisiana-schools/index.html">Democratic governor</a> who signed the 2019 bill requiring the motto be displayed in all schools. Politicians who do oppose “In God We Trust” bills run the risk of being labeled as “<a href="https://www.christianpost.com/trends/in-god-we-trust-motto-sparks-debate-in-minnesota.html">anti-faith</a>.”</p>
<p>Despite its being the national motto for only 65 years, Christian nationalists have framed “In God We Trust” as part of the U.S.’s founding tradition. Moreover, the motto has become an important rhetorical weapon for Christian nationalists – using it to advance their belief that governments and people are to “trust in God,” and more specifically their perception of a conservative Christian God.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristina M. Lee is affiliated with various secularists groups including Atheists United and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.</span></em></p>‘In God We Trust’ became the national motto of the US on July 30, 1956. Since then, it has been used to forward a conservative Christian agenda.Kristina M. Lee, Ph.D. Candidate in Rhetoric, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1642302021-07-15T12:27:12Z2021-07-15T12:27:12ZWhy some younger evangelicals are leaving the faith<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411295/original/file-20210714-23-12f7dj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=56%2C28%2C4632%2C3104&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young evangelical Christians are facing a dilemma whether to follow in the footsteps of their parents or pursue other choices.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-bow-their-heads-in-prayer-during-a-sunday-evening-news-photo/506230990?adppopup=true">Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The extent to which the number of white evangelicals have declined in the United States has been laid bare in 2021 by the <a href="https://www.prri.org/">Public Religion Research Institute’s</a> <a href="https://www.prri.org/press-release/prri-releases-groundbreaking-2020-census-of-american-religion/">2020 Census on American Religion</a>.</p>
<p>The institute’s study found that only 14% of Americans identified as white evangelical in 2020. This is a drastic decline since 2006, when America’s religious landscape was composed of 23% white evangelicals, as the report notes.</p>
<p>Along with a decline in white evangelicalism, the data indicates a stabilized increase in the number of those who no longer identify as religious at all. Scholars of religion refer to this group as “<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/08/why-americas-nones-dont-identify-with-a-religion/">nones</a>,” and they make up about a quarter of the American population. These statistics are even more drastic when considering age. In short, older Americans are much more religious than younger Americans, while millennials are likely to not practice or identify with religion. </p>
<p>This data is significant. Even though white evangelicals tend to be politically <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-christian-media-is-shaping-american-politics-95910">vocal and influential</a>, several are known to be leaving the faith. </p>
<p>Increasingly, scholarship is tracking the emergence of those defecting from religion. Religious studies scholar <a href="https://www.scu.edu/cas/religious-studies/faculty--staff/elizabeth-drescher/">Elizabeth Drescher’s</a> 2016 book, “<a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199341221.001.0001/acprof-9780199341221">Choosing Our Religion</a>,” examines numerous cases in which people transition away from their faith. She notes that people leaving evangelicalism “tended to express anger and frustration with both the teachings and practices of their childhood church.” </p>
<p>Although the statistics are sure to capture the attention of various readers, the data can give only limited insights into the more nuanced perspectives specific to critiquing white evangelicalism.</p>
<p>Over the past six years, I have been part of a team of scholars from various disciplines and universities <a href="https://wipfandstock.com/9781532617621/the-emerging-church-millennials-and-religion-volume-1/">examining the hesitancy and rejection</a> of younger individuals either leaving or attempting to reform evangelicalism in America. Some younger evangelicals are disenchanted with their faith traditions’ staunch and divisive political positions and how theology has been used to prop up these positions. </p>
<h2>Younger evangelicals’ experiences</h2>
<p>Between 2010 and 2018, I conducted over 75 interviews with those dissatisfied with their evangelical faith and observed multiple white evangelical megachurches.</p>
<p>My interviewees, all white, were typically in their late 20s to early 40s and highly critical of the Christian faith of their youth. These interviewees respond differently to their dissatisfaction. Some completely leave their faith while others try to reform their faith from within. For the majority, church was a major part of their social life, and they described rigid expectations to defend their theology, politics and spiritual communities to outsiders. </p>
<p>Several of those interviewed during my research mentioned how politics had influenced the theology of white evangelicalism in the United States. Rob, who resides in Florida and spent the majority of his early adult life as a musician in a white evangelical megachurch, told me that his church preached “God, country and the Republican Party.” He was even taught as a teenager that “Jesus was definitely a Republican,” and he characterized God as “quite angry, a cosmic referee” seeking to regulate the lives of the faithful. Today, Rob identifies as a progressive Christian and holds a much more generous view of his god. </p>
<p>My research shows <a href="https://theconversation.com/white-gen-x-and-millennial-evangelicals-are-losing-faith-in-the-conservative-culture-wars-162407">some younger evangelicals are fatigued with white evangelicalism’s allegiance to the Republican Party</a> and to specific stances on racism and sexuality. White evangelicals categorize these issues as <a href="https://iasculture.org/research/publications/culture-wars-struggle-define-america">a “culture war” for the soul of America</a> – an internal struggle for who will define and decide the future of America. </p>
<p>By framing these issues as a cultural battle, white evangelicals maintain an embattled posture targeting a list of such enemies as liberals, secularists and atheists. As sociologists <a href="https://raac.iupui.edu/about/who-we-are/our-staff/andrew-l-whitehead/">Andrew Whitehead</a> and <a href="https://www.ou.edu/cas/soc/people/faculty/samuel-perry">Samuel Perry</a> note in their <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190057886.001.0001/oso-9780190057886">study of Christian nationalism</a>, white evangelicals maintain a “collective desire to protect their cultural-political turf.” </p>
<p>Furthermore, in a racially and ethnically diversifying and increasingly pluralistic country, some evangelicals’ experiences transform their positions on political issues. Take for instance, the issue of immigration policies in the United States. White evangelicals as a group highly <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/a-nation-of-immigrants-diverging-perceptions-of-immigrants-increasingly-marking-partisan-divides/">favor restrictive immigration policies</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Rev. Jose Rodriguez, of the Waltham Worship Christian Center, speaks at a meeting in Boston in March 2018 to bring attention to immigration issues." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some evangelicals have taken a position against restrictive immigration policies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/USImmigration40DayFast/9714d1dae5e64e568342f8ee94574812/photo?Query=evangelicals%20united%20states&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=223&currentItemNo=79">AP Photo/Sarah Betancourt</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, Jerry, one of my interviewees who lives in North Carolina and grew up Methodist, cited the white evangelical position against restrictive immigration policies as a reason to question his faith. Today, Jerry identifies as spiritual but not religious; while still an evangelical, Jerry explained, “When it came to issues of immigration, we wanted our kids to know what it means to be an outsider. We want our kids to have a global experience.” His theological interpretation of the Bible at that time taught Jerry to welcome outsiders, and he applied this to national borders. </p>
<p>Political changes can shift religious beliefs. Jerry’s growing cultural awareness eventually replaced his evangelical interpretation of Scripture. He notes, “As opposed to looking to the Bible or church for answers, let’s have a multicultural world perspective to answer those questions.” </p>
<p>Likewise, Sarah grew up in Kentucky, spending much of her childhood in church services, Bible studies and Christian camps within a Baptist denomination. “Part of me likes the idea of church,” she says, “but I think I like the idea of just helping people more. That’s my idea of what a Christian is, someone who helps others.” She admits this while maintaining that for her personally, religious identity is unimportant. </p>
<p>Sarah’s involvement in poverty alleviation in Kentucky influenced her attitudes on how she sees white evangelical worship today: “The way that the church operates in Kentucky is so backwards. It’s all about the self. About pleasing yourself. It’s all white, middle- to upper-class people watching a big screen with a full band. I think that’s probably the opposite of what Jesus wanted.” </p>
<h2>Why is this happening now?</h2>
<p>For those trained and disciplined within white evangelicalism, the insular and authoritarian nature of the faith often creates circumstances where questioning or critiquing the faith seems impossible and can lead to shunning. </p>
<p>Brandy, in Tennessee and raised a Baptist, recounted that her family actually held a religious intervention, with a screen, PowerPoint and projector, after she stopped attending her family’s church. She experienced ostracization: “I felt rejected, overlooked, looked down upon,” she says. “I felt apart from the community.” Brandy is still a Christian and attends another more progressive church regularly, but her evangelical family refuses to accept her church as legitimate. </p>
<p>This is only a sample of interviewee comments I heard indicating a growing disaffection with the political stances and alliances of white evangelicalism. They represent a growing movement of <a href="https://www.emptythepews.epiphanypublishing.us/">“exvangelicals”</a> – those who grew up in the faith but have since abandoned it. </p>
<p>The staunch resistance to civil unions, transgender rights and women’s equality, along with the inability of white evangelicalism to grapple with its <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/White-Too-Long/Robert-P-Jones/9781982122867">racialized</a> and <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631495731">patriarchal</a> structures, is misaligned with some of these younger perspectives today.</p>
<p>As the report indicates, many millennials are simply rejecting traditional forms of religion altogether.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164230/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terry Shoemaker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Disaffected young evangelicals and those who left the church describe an out-of-touch institution not in line with their political beliefs, a scholar foundTerry Shoemaker, Lecturer in Religious Studies, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1603282021-06-16T12:36:32Z2021-06-16T12:36:32ZFaith still shapes morals and values even after people are ‘done’ with religion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405480/original/file-20210609-14775-tfl15n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C18%2C3056%2C2031&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For many, leaving religion does not mean leaving behind religious morals and values.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/">Jesus Gonzalez/Moment via Getty</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Religion forms a moral foundation for billions of people throughout the world. </p>
<p>In a 2019 survey, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/07/20/the-global-god-divide/">44% of Americans</a> – along with 45% of people across 34 nations – said that belief in God is necessary “to be moral and have good values.” So what happens to a person’s morality and values when they lose faith? </p>
<p>Religion influences morals and values through multiple pathways. It shapes the way people think about and respond to the world, fosters habits such as church attendance and prayer, and provides a web of social connections. </p>
<p>As researchers who study <a href="https://fhssfaculty.byu.edu/directory/sam-hardy">the psychology</a> and <a href="https://soc.unl.edu/philip-schwadel">sociology of religion</a>, we expected that these psychological effects can linger even after observant people leave religion, a group we refer to as “religious dones.” So together with our co-authors <a href="https://hope.edu/directory/people/van-tongeren-daryl/index.html">Daryl R. Van Tongeren</a> and <a href="https://psychology.as.uky.edu/users/njdewa2">C. Nathan DeWall</a>, we sought to test this “religion residue effect” among Americans. Our research addressed the question: Do religious dones maintain some of the morals and values of religious Americans?</p>
<p>In other words, just because some people leave religion, does religion fully leave them? </p>
<h2>Measuring the religious residue effect</h2>
<p>Recent research demonstrates that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000288">religious dones around the world</a> fall between the never religious and the currently religious in terms of thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Many maintain some of the attributes of religious people, such as volunteering and charitable giving, even after they leave regular faith practices behind. So in our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167220970814">first project</a>, we examined the association between leaving religion and the five <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-407236-7.00002-4">moral foundations</a> commonly examined by psychologists: care/harm, fairness/cheating, ingroup loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion and purity/degradation.</p>
<p>We found that religious respondents were the most likely to support each of the five moral foundations. These involve intuitive judgments focusing on feeling the pain of others, and tapping into virtues such as kindness and compassion. For instance, religious Americans are relatively likely to oppose acts they deem “disgusting,” which is a component of the purity/degradation scale. This aligns with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309353415">previous research on religion and moral foundations</a>.</p>
<p>Most importantly, and in line with the religion residue hypothesis, we have found what we call a “stairstep pattern” of beliefs. The consistently religious are more likely than the dones to endorse each moral foundation, and the religious dones are more likely to endorse them than the consistently nonreligious. The one exception was the moral foundation of fairness/cheating, which the dones and the consistently religious supported at similar rates.</p>
<p>Put another way, after leaving religion, religious dones maintain some emphasis on each of the five moral foundations, though less so than the consistently religious, which is why we refer to this as a stairstep pattern.</p>
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<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12620">second project</a> built on <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0038455">research showing that</a> religion is inextricably linked with values, particularly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60281-6">Schwartz’s Circle of Values</a>, the predominant model of universal values used by Western psychologists. Values are the core organizing principles in people’s lives, and religion is positively associated with the values of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2003.10.005">security, conformity, tradition and benevolence</a>. These are “social focus values”: beliefs that address a generally understood need for coordinated social action. </p>
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<p>For this project, we asked a single group of study participants the same questions as they grew older over a period of 10 to 11 years. The participants were adolescents in the first wave of the survey, and in their mid-to-late 20s in the final wave.</p>
<p>Our findings revealed another stairstep pattern: The consistently religious among these young adults were significantly more likely than religious dones to support the social focus values of security, conformity and tradition; and religious dones were significantly more likely to support them than the consistently nonreligious. While a similar pattern emerged with the benevolence value, the difference between the religious dones and the consistently nonreligious was not statistically significant.</p>
<p>Together, these projects show that the religion residue effect is real. The morals and values of religious dones are more similar to those of religious Americans than they are to the morals and values of other nonreligious Americans. </p>
<p>Our follow-up analyses add some nuance to that key finding. For instance, the enduring impact of religious observance on values appears to be strongest among former evangelical Protestants. Among dones who left mainline Protestantism, Catholicism and other religious traditions, the religion residue effect is smaller and less consistent. </p>
<p>Our research also suggests that the religious residue effect can decay. The more time that passes after people leave religion, the more their morals and values come to resemble those of people who have never been religious. This is an important finding, because a large and growing number of Americans <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3088891">are leaving organized religion</a>, and there is still much to be learned about the psychological and social consequences of this decline in religion. </p>
<h2>The growing numbers of nonreligious</h2>
<p>As recently as 1990, only <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3088891">7% of Americans reported having no religion</a>. Thirty years later, in 2020, the percentage claiming to be nonreligious had quadrupled, with <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2021/01/14/measuring-religion-in-pew-research-centers-american-trends-panel/">almost 3 in 10 Americans having no religion</a>. There are now more nonreligious Americans than affiliates of any one single religious tradition, including the two largest: Catholicism and evangelical Protestantism. </p>
<p>This shift in religious practice may fundamentally change Americans’ perceptions of themselves, as well as their views of others. One thing that seems clear, though, is that those who leave religion are not the same as those who have never been religious. Given the rapid and continued growth in the number of nonreligious Americans, we expect that this distinction will become increasingly important to understanding the morals and values of the American people. </p>
<p>[<em>Explore the intersection of faith, politics, arts and culture.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-explore">Sign up for This Week in Religion.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160328/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Religion affects how people regard qualities like benevolence, kindness, conformity and fairness even after they stop practicing religion.Philip Schwadel, Professor of Sociology, University of Nebraska-LincolnSam Hardy, Professor of Psychology, Brigham Young UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1610692021-06-04T12:28:24Z2021-06-04T12:28:24ZWhy it matters that 7 states still have bans on atheists holding office<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404276/original/file-20210603-25-uh53ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=57%2C0%2C5332%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Above the Tennessee State Capitol, only skies. In it, any atheists?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TennesseeStateCapitol/8a60838a2c7842caa7fa3a4c94060f93/photo?Query=Tennessee%20state%20capitol&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=275&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo/Mark Humphrey</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tennessee’s Constitution <a href="https://www.capitol.tn.gov/about/docs/tn-constitution.pdf">includes a provision</a> that bars three groups from holding office: atheists, ministers and those engaging in duels. Efforts are under way in the state legislature to remove this exclusion for ministers, but not for duelists – or atheists.</p>
<p>In January 2021, Republican Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody proposed <a href="https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=SJR0055">Senate Joint Resolution 55</a> <a href="https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2021/apr/05/tennessee-lawmakers-want-voters-eliminate-sta/544540/">to amend</a> Article IX of the Constitution of Tennessee to rid it of a clause that states “no minister of the Gospel, or priest of any denomination whatever, shall be eligible to a seat in either House of the Legislature.” No mention is made in Pody’s resolution about <a href="https://www.capitol.tn.gov/about/docs/tn-constitution.pdf">Section 2 of the same article</a>: “No person who denies the being of God … shall hold any office in the civil department of this state.” Nor for that matter does the current bill mention Section 3’s objection to those who participate, aid or abet a duel.</p>
<p>When Pody was asked why his resolution removes only the ban on ministers, <a href="https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2021/04/07/tn-gop-will-fix-statewide-ban-on-priests-in-government-but-atheist-ban-remains/">his response</a> was that it is best to clean up the constitution “one simple step at a time.”</p>
<p>Tennessee is one of seven states that has an unconstitutional ban on atheists holding public office. Although superseded by <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/367/488/">Supreme Court rulings</a>, such bans are important. As a <a href="https://www.libarts.colostate.edu/people/klee27/">scholar of religious and political rhetoric</a> who focuses on the marginalization of U.S. atheists, I believe they reflect the normalization of anti-atheism that has yet to be truly dealt with, or rarely acknowledged, in the United States.</p>
<h2>Atheists ‘not to be tolerated’</h2>
<p>Numerous state constitutions established laws banning both ministers and atheists <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-vi/clauses/32">when they were ratified</a>.</p>
<p>The bans on ministers were framed as necessary to protect their “sacred calling.” The prohibitions on atheists were installed for a different reason. Atheists, it was claimed, could not be trusted to be good citizens in a democracy.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="An engraving of English philosopher John Locke" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404287/original/file-20210603-13-5053ec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404287/original/file-20210603-13-5053ec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=740&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404287/original/file-20210603-13-5053ec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=740&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404287/original/file-20210603-13-5053ec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=740&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404287/original/file-20210603-13-5053ec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=930&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404287/original/file-20210603-13-5053ec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=930&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404287/original/file-20210603-13-5053ec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=930&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Philosopher John Locke was no fan of atheists.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/engraving-of-english-philosopher-john-locke-author-of-news-photo/50784294?adppopup=true">Hulton Archive/Getty Images)</a></span>
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<p>This sentiment was expressed by early enlightenment thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke – both of whom influenced early American politicians. Locke argued in his 1689 “<a href="http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1651-1700/john-locke-letter-concerning-toleration-1689.php">Letter Concerning Toleration</a>” that “those are not at all to be tolerated who deny the being of a God. Promises, covenants, and oaths, which are the bonds of human society, can have no hold upon an atheist.”</p>
<p>Bans on atheists and ministers are now unconstitutional due to Supreme Court <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/367/488/">rulings in 1961</a> <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/435/618/">and 1978</a>. Tennessee is the last state to maintain an unenforceable ban on ministers <a href="https://www.mtsu.edu:8443/first-amendment/article/911/clergy-bans-on-holding-office-by">in their Constitutions</a>, while seven states still have their unconstitutional bans on atheists.</p>
<p>Although unenforceable, the bans periodically impede atheists wanting to hold public office. In 1992, Herb Silverman, an atheist activist and math professor, was denied a position as a <a href="https://www.nationalnotary.org/knowledge-center/about-notaries/what-is-a-notary-public">notary public</a> because of a ban in South Carolina. He had to <a href="https://www.sccourts.org/opinions/displayOpinion.cfm?caseNo=24622">sue the state</a> before he could hold the position. </p>
<p>Meanwhile in 2009, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-dec-20-la-na-hometown-asheville20-2009dec20-story.html">Cecil Bothwell</a>, a local Democratic candidate, won his city counsel race in Asheville, North Carolina – but had to fight critics who claimed he was ineligible on account of his atheism.</p>
<p>These attacks continued for years after Bothwell was elected. H.K. Edgerton, a Black Confederate activist and one of Bothwell’s staunchest critics, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/unenforceable-ban-on-atheists-holding-public-office-still-on-the-books-in-8-states">complained</a> in 2014 that the council had “placed itself above the law for two terms with Cecil Bothwell sitting there passing rules and regulations and dictating law unlawfully.”</p>
<p>David Morgan, editor of the Asheville Tribune, claimed his criticism of Bothwell was about upholding the state constitution, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-dec-20-la-na-hometown-asheville20-2009dec20-story.html">arguing</a> “If you don’t like it, amend it and take out that clause.” </p>
<p>Atheists have tried to do just that. But politicians show little interest in removing the bans on atheists that exist in state constitutions. As <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/us/in-seven-states-atheists-push-to-end-largely-forgotten-ban-.html">Todd Stiefel</a>, an atheist activist, notes: “If it was on the books that Jews couldn’t hold public office, or that African Americans or women couldn’t vote, that would be a no-brainer. You’d have politicians falling all over themselves to try to get it repealed. Even if it was still unenforceable, it would still be disgraceful and be removed. So why are we different?”</p>
<h2>Normalizing anti-atheism</h2>
<p>These anti-atheist clauses and the failure to remove them reflect a phenomenon I call “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.23.2.0255?seq=1">theistnormativity</a>,” which is the normalization of the belief in God as being tied to good and moral citizenship. </p>
<p>To many Americans, beliefs in God and Americanism has become synonymous. A <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/survey-americans-believe-protests-make-country-better-support-decreases-dramatically-protesters-identified-black/">2015 survey found that 69%</a> of respondents thought it was important to believe in God to be “truly American.” And Americans are expected to embrace national slogans such as “In God We Trust” and “one nation, under God.” Politicians are <a href="https://ffrf.org/component/k2/item/14015-prayers-at-government-meetings">regularly asked to participate in public prayers</a> to God before official meetings. And while they can request otherwise, the default assumption is that Americans will make an oath to God when taking public office or testifying in court.</p>
<p>While there is no ban on being an atheist in the United States, atheists have long been framed as <a href="https://www.agnostic-library.com/ma/tag/rev-ef-briggs/">un-American</a>. When Democratic Representative Louis Rabaut proposed adding “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1954-pt2/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1954-pt2-5.pdf">he argued</a> that an “atheistic American” is a “contradiction in terms.”</p>
<p>Even President Barack Obama <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2009/01/21/president-barack-obamas-inaugural-address">simply acknowledging the existence of “nonbelievers</a>” in his 2009 inaugural address led critics to question whether the acknowledgment was “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twoXZE9U0Io">offensive</a>” and could lead to dangerous misunderstandings about “<a href="https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/why-does-obama-tell-muslims-america-nation-non-believers">our true nature as a nation</a>.”</p>
<p>And it isn’t just the political right. When Bernie Sanders was running for president in 2016, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/288899-dnc-members-may-have-looked-to-challenge-sanders-on-atheism">leaked emails</a> from Democratic National Committee leadership revealed a plot to try to out him as an atheist to negatively influence perceptions of him. </p>
<h2>Impediment to power</h2>
<p>This political environment makes it difficult for open atheists to gain much political power. In a 2021 survey of Congress’ religious identity, only one person, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2021/01/04/faith-on-the-hill-2021/">identified</a> as “religiously unaffiliated.” Eighteen members replied “don’t know” or refused to answer the question.</p>
<p>Polling shows <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2021/01/14/measuring-religion-in-pew-research-centers-american-trends-panel/">4% of Americans identify as atheists</a>, and about <a href="https://religionnews.com/2019/03/21/nones-now-as-big-as-evangelicals-catholics-in-the-us/">23% identify more broadly as nonreligious</a>. While identifying as “nonreligious” does not necessarily mean not believing in God, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617707015">research suggests</a> that as many as 1 in 4 Americans is atheist, but that most are unwilling to reveal this, even in anonymous polls.</p>
<p>As such, there are likely more atheists in Congress – they’re just not open about their beliefs. In fact, in 2014, the American Humanist Association <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/atheist-congress-members_n_5701377">claimed that 24 members of Congress</a> privately stated they did not believe in God but would deny it if outed. </p>
<p>Political analysts have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/shortcuts/2017/aug/08/in-god-we-trust-why-americans-wont-vote-in-an-atheist-president">long wondered</a> if an atheist could become president. It would take a brave one to try, given that <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/254120/less-half-vote-socialist-president.aspx">polls indicate</a> that only 60% of Americans would be willing to contemplate voting for one.</p>
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<p>Even theist presidents get criticized if they fail to show proper homage to religion. Biden, a Catholic, was the <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-omit-god-national-day-of-prayer/">first president to not include “God” in his National Day of Prayer proclamation</a>, a move Evangelical leader Franklin Graham <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/rev-graham-reacts-to-biden-leaving-god-out-of-prayer-proclamation-there-is-no-one-else-to-pray-to">called “dangerous</a>.”</p>
<h2>Everyday anti-atheism</h2>
<p>This anti-atheism extends beyond politics. Atheists face discrimination in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000326">workplace</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2329496514524541">hiring practices</a>. Parents who are religious often have an advantage in <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=805467%20or%20http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.661599">custody cases</a>. Even though atheists are no more likely to commit crimes than theists, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2009.00247.x">stereotypes surrounding</a> atheist criminality and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025882">untrustworthiness</a> persist. In court, atheist rape victims are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000278">less likely to be believed</a> than Christian or religiously ambiguous victims.</p>
<p>It is in this context that the bans on atheists – although unenforceable under Supreme Court ruling – must, I believe, be examined. </p>
<p>While these bans may seem harmless, they represent anti-atheist prejudices that are ingrained in America. They remind atheists that, despite their beliefs being protected by the first amendment, being open about not believing in God has consequences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161069/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristina M. Lee is affiliated with Atheists United and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.</span></em></p>Anti-atheism is ingrained in American politics. A refusal to remove outdated language from state Constitutions perpetuates this prejudice.Kristina M. Lee, Ph.D. Student in Rhetoric, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1610672021-05-24T12:12:36Z2021-05-24T12:12:36ZFaith in numbers: Fox News is must-watch for white evangelicals, a turnoff for atheists…and Hindus, Muslims really like CNN<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402152/original/file-20210521-13-puxeqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C5742%2C3155&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fox News has a faithful audience.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Media-FoxNews-Virus/217f6c06ad154f98bd961e0d44fcabd4/photo?Query=Fox%20AND%20News&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=3935&currentItemNo=5">AP Photo/Richard Drew</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fox News possesses an “<a href="https://www.prri.org/buzz/prri-data-shines-light-on-fox-news-republicans/">outsized influence</a>” on the American public, especially among religious viewers.</p>
<p>That was the conclusion of the nonprofit <a href="https://www.prri.org/">Public Religion Research Institute</a> in <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/trumpism-after-trump-how-fox-news-structures-republican-attitudes/">a report</a> released just after the 2020 presidential election. It noted that 15% of Americans cited Fox News as the most trusted source – around the same as NBC, ABC and CBS combined, and four percentage points above rival network CNN. The survey of more than 2,500 American adults also suggested that Fox News viewers trend religious, especially among Republicans watching the show. Just 5% of Republican viewers of the channel identified as being “religiously unaffiliated” – compared to 15% of Republicans who do not watch Fox News and 25% of the wider American public.</p>
<p>To further explore the relationship between different faiths and the TV news they associate with as part of my research on religion data, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XnbzexUAAAAJ&hl=en">I analyzed</a> the result of another survey, the <a href="https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi%3A10.7910/DVN/E9N6PH">Cooperative Election Survey</a>.</p>
<p>The annual survey, which was fielded just before the November 2020 election, with the results released in March, polled a total of 61,000 Americans over a number of topics. One question was on their news consumption habits. It asked what television news networks respondents had watched in the prior 24 hours.</p>
<p><strong>Percentage of respondents who saw TV news in past 24 hours</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/ryanburge/status/1392100756547854336">Ryan Burge/CES</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some very interesting patterns emerged across religious traditions – and the nonreligious – and the type of media being consumed. For instance, of the the big three legacy news operations – ABC, CBS and NBC – there was no strong base of viewership in any tradition.</p>
<p>In most cases, about a third of people from each religious tradition said that they watched one of those legacy networks in the last 24 hours. PBS scored very low among every tradition. In most cases fewer than 15% of respondents reported watching PBS in the time frame.</p>
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<p>However, the numbers for the three major cable news networks – CNN, Fox News and MSNBC – were much higher across the board. In eight of the 16 religious and nonreligious traditions categorized in the poll, CNN viewership was at least 50% of the sample. This was led by 71% of Hindus who watched CNN and 63% of Muslims. </p>
<p>The least likely group to watch CNN was clearly white evangelicals, at just 23%. In comparison, MSNBC scored lower nearly across the board. In fact, in none of the 16 classification groups was viewership of MSNBC greater than it was for CNN. </p>
<p>Fox News viewership was higher than that of MSNBC, but was not as widely dispersed as it is for CNN. It’s no surprise, given its reputation as a conservative news outlet, that 61% of white evangelicals say that they watch Fox News – in the last election, around <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/11/09/exit-polls-show-white-evangelicals-voted-overwhelmingly-for-donald-trump/">80% of white evangelicals voted for Republican candidate Donald Trump</a>. The other three traditions where viewership was at least 50% are white Catholics, Mormons and members of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It should come as no surprise, as <a href="https://twitter.com/ryanburge/status/1394288790047543298?s=19">those are three groups</a> that <a href="https://religionnews.com/2020/10/07/how-did-mormons-become-so-republican/">consistently vote</a> for <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/religious-tradition/catholic/party-affiliation/">the Republican Party</a>. Just 14% of atheists watched Fox, which is just about in line with the share of white evangelicals who watch MSNBC.</p>
<h2>Fracturing right-wing media</h2>
<p>But with the fracturing of conservative media sources seeing more competitors vying for viewers among the right, Fox News could see a drop in viewership from the religious right.</p>
<p>In the wake of the 2020 presidential election, Fox News viewership <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/fox-news-ratings-trump-newsmax-b1798081.html">plunged</a> as many Trump supporters believed that the network was not being loyal to their standard-bearer of the GOP. </p>
<p>Given the vast number of news options that people of faith have and the increase in political polarization in the United States, the pressure for networks to deliver the news that people want to hear will only increase as time passes.</p>
<p>[<em>Explore the intersection of faith, politics, arts and culture.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-explore">Sign up for This Week in Religion.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161067/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Burge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fox News viewers sway religious. A dive into who exactly is watching shows that it is a favorite among white evangelicals, Mormons and members of the Eastern Orthodox Church.Ryan Burge, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Eastern Illinois UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1585132021-04-08T12:04:01Z2021-04-08T12:04:01ZFaith in numbers: Trump held steady among believers at the ballot – it was the nonreligious vote he lost in 2020<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393848/original/file-20210407-19-1mu1vfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3967%2C2430&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">White evangelicals continued to back Trump in 2020 in significant numbers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/voter-fills-out-his-ballot-with-christ-on-the-crucifix-news-photo/1229449053?adppopup=true">Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For all <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/10/trump-religious-voters-411248">the predictions</a> and talk of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-loss-support-biden-evangelicals-election-polls-religion-2020-11">slump in support among evangelicals</a>, it appears Donald Trump’s election loss was not at the hands of religious voters.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.eiu.edu/polisci/faculty.php/hendrickson.php?id=rpburge&subcat=">analyst of religious data</a>, I’ve been crunching <a href="https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/E9N6PH">data released in March 2021</a> that breaks down the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by faith. And by and large there was very little notable change in the vote choice of religious groups between 2016 and 2020 – in fact, for most faiths, support for Trump ticked up slightly. Instead, it was among those who do not identify with any religion that Trump saw a noticeable drop.</p>
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<p>Despite exit poll data initially pointing toward a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/exit-polls-president.html">drop in white evangelical support</a> for Trump in 2020, the latest data shows this not to be the case. The data is based on the <a href="https://cces.gov.harvard.edu/">Cooperative Election Study</a>, which has become the gold standard for assessing vote choice because of its sample size and its ability to accurately represent the voting population of the United States.</p>
<p>In fact, with 80% of white evangelicals backing Trump in 2020, support actually ticked up from the 78% who voted for him four years earlier.
Trump also saw two-point increases in the vote of nonwhite evangelicals, white Catholics, Black Protestants and Jews compared with four years ago.</p>
<p>These differences are not statistically significant, and as such it would be wrong to say it definitively shows Trump gained among religious groups. But it indicates that among the largest religious groups in the U.S., voting patterns in the November 2020 vote seemed to hold largely steady with four years earlier. Trump did not manage to win significantly larger shares, nor was winner Joe Biden able to peel away religious voters from the Trump coalition.</p>
<h2>Losing the nonreligious</h2>
<p>However, there are some interesting and statistically significant trends when you break down the data further. Nonwhite Catholics shifted four points toward Donald Trump. This fits with what we saw in places like the <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/miamidadecountyflorida/PST045219">heavily Hispanic</a> and <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/metro-area/miami-metro-area/">Catholic</a> Miami-Dade County, Florida, where Trump’s <a href="https://www.nwfdailynews.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/04/elections-compare-florida-vote-president-2016-2020/6156532002/">overall vote share improved</a> from 35% to 46% between 2016 and 2020.</p>
<p>Trump also managed to pick up 15 percentage points among the Mormon vote. On first glance this would appear a large jump. But it makes sense when you factor in that around <a href="https://religioninpublic.blog/2018/07/25/mormon-voting-patterns-in-the-2016-election-a-comprehensive-analysis/">15% of the Mormon vote</a> in 2016 <a href="https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/utah-mormon-vote-mcmullin">went to Utah native and fellow Mormon Evan McMullin</a>, who ran in that year’s election as a third-party candidate. Without McMullin in 2020, Trump picked up Mormon voters – as did Joe Biden, who did slightly better than Hillary Clinton had among Mormons.</p>
<p>There is also some weak evidence that the Republican candidate picked up some support among smaller religious groups in the U.S., like Hindus and Buddhists. Trump increased his share among these two groups by four percentage points each. But it is important to note that these two groups combined <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/">constitute only about 1.5% of the American population</a>. As such, a four-point increase translates to only a very small fraction of the overall popular vote.</p>
<p>What is clear is that Trump <a href="https://religioninpublic.blog/2021/04/06/the-2020-vote-for-president-by-religious-groups-the-nones/">lost a good amount of ground among the religious unaffiliated</a>. Trump’s share of the atheist vote declined from 14% in 2016 to just 11% in 2020; the decline among agnostics was slightly larger, from 23% to 18%. </p>
<p>Additionally, those who identify as “<a href="https://religionnews.com/2019/07/03/rise-of-the-nothing-in-particulars-may-be-sign-of-a-disjointed-disaffected-and-lonely-future/">nothing in particular</a>” – a group that represents 21% of the overall U.S. population – were not as supportive of Trump in his reelection bid. His vote share among this group dropped by three percentage points, while Biden’s rose by over seven points, with the Democrat managing to win over many of the “nothing in particulars” who had backed third-party candidates in the 2016 election.</p>
<p>Looked at broadly, Trump did slightly better among Christians and other smaller religious groups in the U.S. but lost ground among the religiously unaffiliated. What these results cannot account for, however, is record turnout. There were nearly <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/voter-turnout-in-presidential-elections">22 million more votes</a> cast in 2020 than in 2016. So while vote shares may not have changed that much, the number of votes cast helped swing the election for the Democratic candidate. A more detailed breakdown of voter turnout is due to be released in July 2021 by the team that administers the Cooperative Election Study; that will bring the picture of religion and the 2020 vote into clearer focus.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Burge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trump saw a decline in support among atheists, agnostics and voters not affiliated with any religion in the 2020 election.Ryan Burge, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Eastern Illinois UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1551832021-02-17T13:20:12Z2021-02-17T13:20:12ZFaith in numbers: Behind the gender difference of nonreligious Americans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384557/original/file-20210216-17-1dvydk6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5078%2C3380&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Woman are more likely to identify with a religion than men.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/colorful-background-girl-portrait-royalty-free-image/826756600?adppopup=true">Stock / Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the most consequential stories in American religion in recent years is the rapid and <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/pf_10-17-19_rdd_update-00-020/">seemingly unceasing rise of “nones</a>” – those who respond to questions about their religious affiliation by indicating that they are atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular.”</p>
<p>According to some <a href="https://religioninpublic.blog/2020/10/07/the-decline-of-religion-continues-nones-gain-3-percent-in-one-year/">recent estimates</a>, around 4 in 10 millennials and members of Gen Z, a group that comprises those born after 1980, do not identify with a religious tradition. In comparison, only about <a href="https://religioninpublic.blog/2020/10/07/the-decline-of-religion-continues-nones-gain-3-percent-in-one-year/">a quarter of baby boomers</a> indicate that they are religiously unaffiliated. </p>
<p>Social scientists are only beginning to explore the demographic factors that drive individuals who no longer feel attached to a religious tradition.</p>
<p>But as <a href="https://www.eiu.edu/polisci/faculty.php/hendrickson.php?id=rpburge&subcat=">someone who follows the data on religious trends</a>, I note one factor appears to stand out: gender.</p>
<p>Scholars <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004319301_006">have long noted</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2329496516686619">that atheism</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.30664/ar.67492">skews male</a>. Meanwhile, critics have pointed toward the apparent dominance of male authors in the “new atheism” movement as evidence of a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/26/new-atheism-boys-club">boys club</a>.” Indeed, a quick scan of the best-selling books on atheism on Amazon indicates that <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-Atheism/zgbs/digital-text/158554011">almost all of them are written by male authors</a>.</p>
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<p>According to data from the <a href="https://www.voterstudygroup.org/nationscape#">Nationscape survey</a>, which polled over 6,000 respondents every week for 18 months in the runup to the 2020 election, men are in general more likely than women to describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or nothing in particular. The survey, conducted by the independent Democracy Fund in partnership with the University of California, Los Angeles, was touted as one of the <a href="https://www.voterstudygroup.org/nationscape#">largest such opinion polls</a> ever conducted.</p>
<p>However, tracking the gender gap by age reveals that at one point the gap between men and women narrows. Between the ages of 30 and 45, men are no more likely to be religiously unaffliated than women of the same age. </p>
<p>But the gap appears again among older Americans. Over the age of 60, men are 5 to 8 percentage points more likely to express no religious affiliation.</p>
<p>Moreover, older Americans – both men and women – tend to be far less likely to identify as “nones” compared with younger Americans, according to respondents of the survey.</p>
<h2>The ‘life cycle’ effect</h2>
<p>What may be driving this pattern of young women and older women being less likely to identify as nones than their male counterparts? </p>
<p>One <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3511021">theory in social science</a> called the “<a href="https://religioninpublic.blog/2019/09/04/what-ist-the-life-cycle-effect-does-it-appear-in-the-data/">life cycle effect</a>” argues that when people begin to marry and have children, some are drawn back into religious circles to raise their kids in a religious environment or to lean on support structures that religion may provide.</p>
<p>But once kids grow up and leave the house this attachment fades for many. I make this point in my forthcoming book called “<a href="https://www.augsburgfortress.org/store/product/9781506465852/The-Nones">The Nones</a>.”</p>
<p>The data on gender and those with no religious affiliation could indicate that this drifting is especially acute for men. One explanation could be that men are more likely to be religious when they are part of a family unit, but when children grow up, that connection becomes weaker. Unfortunately, the survey does not offer a direct test of this hypothesis.</p>
<p>But it would fit with survey research <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/05/13/gender-gap-in-religious-service-attendance-has-narrowed-in-u-s/">over the past five decades</a> that has consistently found that Christian <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/06/christian-women-in-the-u-s-are-more-religious-than-their-male-counterparts/">women are more likely than men to attend church</a>. </p>
<p>One word of caution about the data is necessary. The survey is just a single snapshot of the public in 2019 and 2020. It’s possible that this same pattern would look different if data were collected 20 years ago or 20 years from now. Either way, it offers a small window into how age and gender interact with the religious lives of Americans. </p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155183/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Burge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Younger and older American men tend to identify more with being religious ‘nones’ than women of the same age, but between 35 and 45 the rates merge. A data and religion expert probes why.Ryan Burge, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Eastern Illinois UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.