Journal ArticleDOI
Research Note: Talking about a Revolution: Terminology for the New Field of Non-religion Studies
TLDR
The authors argue for using non-religion as the master concept for this new field of study, demoting "atheism" from its illogically central role in the current discussion, untangling "secularism" and "secularity" from both these concepts.Abstract:
The recognition of non-religion as a significant social, cultural, and psychological phenomenon represents a sea change—or revolution—in social scientific thinking about religion and modernity. The speedy expansion of the field has, however, left its terminology lagging behind, with most scholars drawing on concepts familiar to the disciplinary or other cultural settings within which they work. The result is a terminology that is used inconsistently, imprecisely, and often illogically. This research note aims to draw attention to this situation and to suggest a working terminology. Focusing on core terms, I argue for: using ‘non-religion’ as the master concept for this new field of study, demoting ‘atheism’ from its illogically central role in the current discussion, untangling ‘secularism’ and ‘secularity’ from both these concepts. This will allow social scientists to be more precise in how they use the four concepts and better equip them for analysing the relationship between them.read more
Citations
More filters
DissertationDOI
Schools, scripture and secularisation: a Christian theological argument for the incorporation of sacred texts within Australian public education
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the role of the Holy Texts in the Australian curriculum and argue for the inclusion of these texts in the curriculum. But, they do not consider the use of the Scriptures in the history curriculum.
MonographDOI
The Transition of Religion to Culture in Law and Public Discourse
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the recent trend toward the transformation of religious symbols and practices into culture in Western democracies, and analyze three legal cases involving religion in the public sphere to illuminate this trend: a municipal council chamber; a town hall; and town board meetings.
Journal ArticleDOI
Religion und Gesellschaft : Aktuelle Perspektiven
Matthias Koenig,Christof Wolf +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, aufmerksamkeitsgewinn, den das Thema Religion in der Offentlichkeit seit einigen Jahren erfahrt, kann auch die Religionssoziologie einen neuen Aufschwung verzeichnen.
Journal ArticleDOI
Outline of a Relational Approach to ‘Nonreligion’
TL;DR: In this article, a programmatic approach to study non-religion relationally is proposed, drawing on sociological field-theory to outline how different modes of nonreligiosity result from different configurations of the religious field they relate or are related to, influenced by the cultural and socio-political backgrounds of different societies.
References
More filters
Book
A Secular Age
TL;DR: In this paper, the Bulwarks of Belief and the Malaises of Modernity are discussed, and the Age of Authenticity is discussed. But the focus is on the past rather than the present.
BookDOI
Formations of the secular: Christianity, Islam, modernity
TL;DR: Asad as discussed by the authors explores the concepts, practices, and political formations of the secularism, with emphasis on the major historical shifts that have shaped secular sensibilities and attitudes in the modern West and the Middle East, and concludes that the secular cannot be viewed as a successor to religion, or be seen as on the side of the rational.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Rise and Fall of Fuzzy Fidelity in Europe
TL;DR: The European Social Survey (ESS) as discussed by the authors showed that each generation in every country surveyed is less religious than the last, although there are some minor differences in the speed of the decline (the most religious countries are changing more quickly than the least religious), the magnitude of the fall in religiosity during the last century has been remarkably constant across the continent.
Book
Social Theory and Religion
TL;DR: In this paper, a social constructionist approach for constructing religion, self-and society is presented, and the vagaries of religious pluralism are discussed, as well as social theory and religious movements.