Secularity and Nonreligion in North America: An Introduction

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Description

This book surveys the growing field of secularity and non-religion, focussing on the North American context. The introductory overview article explains that the field encompasses a wide and disparate set of people and processes. These include the religious nones and unaffiliated, atheists and agnostics, secular humanists and secular activists, and many other kinds of the traditionally nonreligious along with novel forms of secular identities, organizations, and worldviews. Chapters highlight the key topics, findings, arguments, and controversies from the past 20 years of research, including issues of secular and nonreligious identity, health, organization, family, inequality, discrimination. The book is illustrated throughout with over 60 images and each chapter includes guidance on further reading. A glossary of key terms and concepts is included. This is a much-needed resource for teaching secularity and non-religion, as well as the sociology of religion.

Reviews

With accessible, wide-ranging summaries of the state of the field, this volume is a one-stop shop for scholars looking to orient themselves to fundamental questions in the study of nonreligion. * Evan Stewart, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA *
"This volume is an amazing resource filled with up-to-date research on the growing nonreligious population in North America, new insights into the theoretical and methodological debates driving the growing interdisciplinary field of nonreligious studies, and rich data on the intersections of nonreligion with health, politics, family, race, and inequality. * Jacqui Frost. Assistant Professor of Sociology, Purdue University, USA *

Author Bio

Jesse M. Smith is Associate Professor of Sociology at Western Michigan University, USA. Ryan T. Cragun is Professor of Sociology at the University of Tampa, USA.