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.
The chapters in this book were first published in the digital collection Bloomsbury Religion in North America. Covering North America's diverse religious traditions, this digital collection provides reliable and peer-reviewed articles and ebooks for students and instructors. Learn more and get access for your library at www.theologyandreligiononline.com/bloomsbury-religion-in-north-america
1. Secularity and Nonreligion: An Introduction, Jesse M. Smith (Western Michigan University, USA) and Ryan T. Cragun (University of Tampa, USA) 2. Demographics of the Nonreligious in the United States, Ariela Keysar (Trinity College, USA) 3. Being Nonreligious in the United States, Caitlin Trombley (New York University, USA) 4. Nice, Tolerant, Indifferent Canadians: Religious Nones North of the 49th, Joel Thiessen (Ambrose University, Canada) and Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme (University of Waterloo, Canada) 5. Nonreligious Organizations in North America, Mathieu Colin (University of Montreal, Canada) 6. The Organizational Dynamics of Local Secular Communities, Amanda Schutz (University of Michigan, USA) 7. Minority Nonreligion in North America, Daniel Swann (Goucher College, USA) 8. Morality, Prosociality, and Nonreligion, Luke Galen (Grand Valley State University, USA) 9. The Politics of Non-religion, Jonathan Simmons (University of Alberta, Canada) 10. Nonreligion and Health, David Speed (University of New Brunswick, Canada) 11. Secular Parenting, Christel Manning (Sacred Heart University, USA) Index
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.
Reviews for Secularity and Nonreligion in North America: An Introduction
"“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 *"
