The category of the 'non-religious' has been subject to increasing academic attention in recent years, but questions about the political mobilisation of non-religious actors remain substantially under-researched. This article addresses this issue through a comparative analysis of non-religion in the United States and Britain. Drawing on theoretical insights from Social Movement Theory, it argues that political mobilisation is shaped by varying patterns of conflict between religious and non-religious actors, as well as within and between non-religious groups themselves.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
Archbishops’ Council. “Statistics for Mission 2013” (London: Research and Statistics Department, 2013).
Aronson Ronald . Living Without God: New Directions for Atheists, Agnostics, Secularists, and the Undecided (Berkeley, ca: Counterpoint, 2008).
Baggini Julian . “Heathens Progress, Part One: Stalemate.” The Guardian, 30 September 2011. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/sep/30/heathens-progress-part-one-stalemate.
bbc News. “Scores Assemble at Atheist ‘Church’.” 4 February 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21325805.
Bekiempis Victoria . “The Unbelievers: New Atheism and the Old Boy’s Club.” BitchMagazine.org, 18 May 2011. http://bitchmagazine.org/article/the-unbelievers.
Benson Ophelia . “Dawkins on the ‘pompous idiots whining about a Rosetta scientist’s shirt’.” Free Thought Blogs, 15 November 2014. http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2014/11/dawkins-on-the-pompous-idiots-whining-about-a-rosetta-scientists-shirt/.
Bevington Douglas , and Dixon Chris . “Movement-relevant Theory: Rethinking Social Movement Scholarship and Activism.’ Social Movement Studies 4/3 (2005), 185–208.
Bloom Paul . “Religion, Morality, Evolution.” Annual Review of Psychology 63 (2012), 179-99.
Bruce Steve . “Motive and Opportunity: British Christian Parties 1997–2011.” Politics and Religion 6/1 (2013), 3-24.
Cameron David . “Prime Minister's King James Bible Speech.” Gov uk, 16 December 2011. http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/king-james-bible/.
Caputo, John D. “Atheism, A/theology, and the Postmodern Condition.” In The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, edited Michael Martin (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007).
Christina Greta . Why are you Atheists so Angry? 99 Things that Piss off the Godless (San Francisco, ca: Greta Christina/Dirty Heathen Publishing, 2012).
Cimino Richard , and Smith Christopher . “Secular Humanism and Atheism Beyond Progressive Secularism.” Sociology of Religion 68/4 (2007).
Cragun Ryan T. , et al. “On the Receiving End: Discrimination toward the Non-Religious in the United States.” Journal of Contemporary Religion 27/1 (2012), 105-127.
Crossley Nick . Making Sense of Social Movements (Buckingham, uk: Open University Press, 2002).
Dawkins Richard . The God Delusion (New York: First Mariner Books, 2006).
Botton De , Alain. Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion (London: Penguin, 2012).
Porta Della , Donatella and Mario Diani. Social Movements: An Introduction (London: Blackwell, 1999).
Porta Della , Donatella, Hanspeter Kriesi and Dieter Rucht (eds.). Social Movements in a Globalizing World (London: Palgrave, 2009).
Dennett Daniel . Breaking the Spell (New York: Viking, 2006).
Downey Dennis J. , , and Rohlinger Deanna A. , . “Linking Strategic Choice with Macro-Organizational Dynamics: Strategy and Social Movement Articulation.” In Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change , Vol. 28, edited Coy Patrick G. (Bingley, uk: Emerald Group Publishing, 2008), 3-38.
Edgell Penny , , Gerteis Joseph , and Hartmann Douglas . “Atheists As ‘Other’: Moral Boundaries and Cultural Membership in American Society.”American Sociological Review 71 (2006), 211–234.
Faircloth Sean . Attack of the Theocrats! How the Religious Right Harms Us All – And What We Can Do About It (Charlottesville, va: Pitchstone, 2012).
Grayling A. C. “The ‘New Atheists’ are Responding to Provocation, Not Mounting an Arbitrary Attack.” Rationalist Association, 12 December 2007. http://rationalist.org.uk/articles/1667/the-new-atheists-are-responding-to-provocation-not-mounting-an-arbitrary-attack.
Harris Sam . The End of Faith (New York: W.W. Norton, 2004).
———. “The Problem with Atheism.” Washington Post, 2 October 2007.
Hitchens Christopher . God is Not Great (New York: Twelve Books, 2007)
Hjelm, Titus (ed.). Is God Back? (London: Bloomsbury, 2015).
Hunsberger Bruce , and Altmeyer Bob . Atheists: A Groundbreaking Study of America’s Nonbelievers (New York: Prometheus, 2006).
Hyman Gavin . A Short History of Atheism (London: I.B. Tauris, 2010).
Johnston Lucas . “The Religious Dimensions of Sustainability: Institutional Religions, Civil Society, and International Politics since the Turn of the Twentieth Century.” Religion Compass 4/3 (2010), 176–189.
Kettell Steven . “Divided we Stand: The Politics of the Atheist Movement in the United States.” Journal of Contemporary Religion 29/3 (2014).
Kosmin Barry A. , and Ariela Keysar (eds.). Secularism and Secularity: Contemporary International Perspectives (Hartford ct: Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture, 2009).
LeDrew Stephen . “Discovering Atheism: Heterogeneity in Trajectories to Atheist Identity and Activism.” Sociology of Religion 74/4 (2013), 431–453.
Lee Adam . “Atheism’s Growing Pains.” Salon.com, 6 October 2012, http://www.salon.com/2012/10/06/atheisms_growing_pains/.
Lee Lois . “Talking about a Revolution: Terminology for the New Field of Non-religious Studies.” Journal of Contemporary Religion 27/1 (2012), 129–139.
Lindsay Ron . “Divisiveness Within the Secular Movement.” Center for Inquiry, 12 September 2012. http://www.centerforinquiry.net/blogs/entry/divisiveness_within_the_secular_movement/.
Marcotte Amanda . “Atheism and the Art of Persuasion.” Pandagon Net, 8 September 2011. http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/atheism_and_the_art_of_persuasion.
McAnulla Stuart . “Secular Fundamentalists? Characterising the New Atheist Approach to Secularism, Religion and Politics.” British Politics 9/1 (2014).
McCreight Jen . “How I Unwittingly Infiltrated the Boy’s Club and Why it’s Time for a New Wave of Atheism.” Free Thought Blogs, August 18, 2012. http://freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag/2012/08/how-i-unwittingly-infiltrated-the-boys-club-why-its-time-for-a-new-wave-of-atheism/012.
Meyer David , S. “Protest and Political Opportunities.” Annual Review of Sociology 30 (2004), 125–45.
Meyer David S. , , and Minkoff Debra . “Conceptualizing Political Opportunity.” Social Forces 82/4 (2004), 1457–1492.
Micklethwait John , and Wooldridge Adrian . God is Back (London: Penguin, 2009).
Mooney Chris . “Civility and the New Atheist.” Discover Magazine, 31 May 2009. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/05/31/civility-and-the-new-atheists/.
Myers, Paul Zachary. “Letter to a Non-atheist New Atheist.” Pharyngula, 5 October 2007. http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/10/letter_to_a_nonatheist_new_ath.php.
———. “Atheism ≠ fascism.” Pharyngula, 12 June 2011, http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/06/12/atheism-fascism;
Park Alison , Caroline Bryson and John Curtice. British Social Attitudes, 31st Report (London: NatCen Social Research, 2014).
Pew Research Center. “u.s Religious Landscape Survey.” Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, February 2008.
———. “‘Nones’ on the Rise.” Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (2012). http://www.pewforum.org/2012/10/09/nones-on-the-rise/.
———. ‘The Global Religious Landscape: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Major Religious Groups as of 2010.” Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (2014). http://www.pewforum.org/files/2014/01/global-religion-full.pdf.
Polletta Francesca , and Jasper James . “Collective Identity and Social Movements.” Annual Review of Sociology 27 (2001).
Shweder, Richard A. “Atheists Agonistes.” New York Times, 27 November 2006.
Snow David A. , Sarah A. Soule and Hanspeter Kriesi. The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements (Malden, ma: Blackwell, 2004).
Stedman Chris . “The Problem with ‘Atheist Activism’.” Huffington Post, 22 December 2011.
Taylor Bron . “Diggers, Wolves, Ents, Elves and Expanding Universes: Global Bricolage and the Question of Violence within the Subcultures of Radical Environmentalism.” In The Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization, edited J. Kaplan and H. Lööw (Walnut Creek, ca: AltaMira Press, 2002).
Thrower James . Western Atheism: A Short History (New York: Prometheus, 2000).
Touraine Alaine . “The Importance of Social Movements.” Social Movement Studies 1/1 (2002).
Stekelenburg Van , Jacquelien and Bert Klandermans. “Social Movement Theory: Past, Present and Prospects.” In Movers and Shakers: Social Movements in Africa, edited S. Ellis and I. van Kessel (Boston, ma: Brill, 2009).
Zuckerman Phil . “Atheism: Contemporary Numbers and Patterns.” In The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, edited Michael Martin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
———. “Contrasting Irreligious Orientation: Atheism and Secularity in the usa and Scandinavia.” Approaching Religion 2/1 (2012), 8-20.
For example, see Gavin Hyman, A Short History of Atheism (London: I.B. Tauris, 2010); and James Thrower, Western Atheism: A Short History (New York: Prometheus, 2000).
Alain de Botton, Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion (London: Penguin, 2012).
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 518 | 66 | 7 |
Full Text Views | 200 | 0 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 35 | 2 | 0 |
The category of the 'non-religious' has been subject to increasing academic attention in recent years, but questions about the political mobilisation of non-religious actors remain substantially under-researched. This article addresses this issue through a comparative analysis of non-religion in the United States and Britain. Drawing on theoretical insights from Social Movement Theory, it argues that political mobilisation is shaped by varying patterns of conflict between religious and non-religious actors, as well as within and between non-religious groups themselves.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 518 | 66 | 7 |
Full Text Views | 200 | 0 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 35 | 2 | 0 |