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Exploring Atheism
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Exploring Atheism

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Humanities/Philosophies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2022) | Viewed by 33297

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. F. LeRon Shults

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Institute for Global Development and Social Planning, University of Agder, 4604 Kristiansand, Norway
2. NORCE Center for Modeling Social Systems, 4630 Kristiansand, Norway
Interests: cognitive science of religion; non-religion; atheism; philosophy of religion; social simulation
Mr. Joseph Langston

E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
College of Arts and Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA
Interests: religious change; cognitive science of religion; atheism; psychology of religion; sociology of religion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The expansion of atheism in the 21st century has led to increased scholarly interest in this phenomenon, and the literature on the topic is growing rapidly. However, compared to the study of theism (or religion, more broadly), atheism remains relatively unexplored, and more empirical research and theoretical analysis is needed. Moreover, much of our current knowledge about atheism is based on the study of monocultural (Western) populations utilizing monodimensional measures (e.g., non-belief or non-affiliation).

The purpose of this Special Issue “Exploring Atheism” is to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge and expand our understanding of atheism. We hope to include research from within and across multiple disciplines and represent multiple countries and cultures. We are open to all topics related to exploring atheism, but especially invite papers that:

  1. Involve cross-cultural and comparative research,
  2. Treat nonreligion in indigenous cultures or developing countries,
  3. Explore variation among atheists (including alternate spirituality, overlap with nones, etc.), and/or
  4. Provide creative theoretical frameworks for understanding atheism.
Prof. Dr. F. LeRon Shults
Mr. Joseph Langston
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • atheism
  • non-religion
  • cross-cultural
  • indigenous
  • multidisciplinary
  • WEIRD
  • within-group variation
  • developing countries

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 407 KiB  
Article
The Natural Pathways to Atheism: Cognitive Biases, Cultures, and Costs
by Brandon Daniel-Hughes
Religions 2021, 12(10), 867; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12100867 - 13 Oct 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2737
Abstract
Some recent scholarship in the bio-cultural sciences of religion has argued that atheism, like science and doctrinal theology, is less natural than religion. This scholarship, however, draws on problematic natural/unnatural and nature/culture binaries that denaturalize culture and reify a more basic essence/accident binary. [...] Read more.
Some recent scholarship in the bio-cultural sciences of religion has argued that atheism, like science and doctrinal theology, is less natural than religion. This scholarship, however, draws on problematic natural/unnatural and nature/culture binaries that denaturalize culture and reify a more basic essence/accident binary. Here, I argue that (1) while the suggestion that religion is more natural than atheism indicates something important, it reinforces assumptions about the naturalness of cognition and the unnaturalness of culture that confuse as much as they explain; (2) a clearer understanding of atheism requires the thorough naturalization of culture; (3) multiple pathways to atheism can then be understood as natural developments of both cognitive and cultural predispositions, and analyzed along continua of religion-reinforcing cultural scaffolding and religion-fostering cognitive intuitions; and (4) finally, I suggest an economic frame for better understanding atheist expressions that construes atheism, despite its relative costs and rarity, as a natural though expensive phenomenon. Because atheist expressions are differentiated by the mechanisms (cultural and cognitive) they utilize to pay the costs of overriding religion-fostering intuitions and religion-reinforcing cultural scaffolding, all atheist expressions are naturalized along with culture; however, the basic insight, indicated by the claim that religion is more natural than atheism, is preserved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Atheism)
13 pages, 711 KiB  
Article
Belief in God and Psychological Distress: Is It the Belief or Certainty of the Belief?
by Zachary E. Magin, Adam B. David, Lauren M. Carney, Crystal L. Park, Ian A. Gutierrez and Login S. George
Religions 2021, 12(9), 757; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12090757 - 13 Sep 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5523
Abstract
Research on the relationship between belief in God and mental health is scarce and often limited to comparing group differences in mental health across various self-reported religious identities (e.g., atheists, agnostics, believers). To advance this work, we focused on how the extent of [...] Read more.
Research on the relationship between belief in God and mental health is scarce and often limited to comparing group differences in mental health across various self-reported religious identities (e.g., atheists, agnostics, believers). To advance this work, we focused on how the extent of belief in God related to three indices of psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress) in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 632) with a variety of religious identities. We used a model comparison approach to evaluate both linear and curvilinear relationships between belief in God and psychological distress and tested potential mediating pathways for linear relationships. The findings revealed that belief in God was negatively linearly related to depression; this relationship was fully mediated by meaning in life, feeling comforted by God, positive religious coping, positive reappraisal, and substance use coping. In contrast, belief in God was curvilinearly related to anxiety but unrelated to stress. These results suggest that both strength and certainty of the belief in God may be important in understanding religion’s relationship with psychological distress. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Atheism)
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8 pages, 194 KiB  
Article
Psychedelic Drugs and Atheism: Debunking the Myths
by Wayne Glausser
Religions 2021, 12(8), 614; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080614 - 8 Aug 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 12593
Abstract
Two recent surveys of people who took psychedelic drugs and reported “God experience encounters”, along with successful clinical trials using psychedelic therapy for depression, have given rise to public misconceptions about psychedelics and atheism. Specifically, three inferences have been drawn: (1) that the [...] Read more.
Two recent surveys of people who took psychedelic drugs and reported “God experience encounters”, along with successful clinical trials using psychedelic therapy for depression, have given rise to public misconceptions about psychedelics and atheism. Specifically, three inferences have been drawn: (1) that the psychedelic experience tends to dissolve atheist convictions; (2) that atheist convictions, once dissolved, are replaced with traditional monotheist beliefs; and (3) that atheism and depression somehow correlate as afflictions for which psychedelic drugs offer relief. This paper argues, based on analysis of the studies and trials along with relevant supplemental evidence, that each of these popular inferences is substantially misleading. Survey data do not indicate that most psychedelic atheists have cleanly cut ties with their former convictions, and there is strong evidence that they have not traded atheism for traditional monotheism. Both personal testimony and the effectiveness of microdose clinical trials serve to complicate any notion that a psychedelic drug alleviates symptoms of depression by “curing” atheism. The paper then extends its focus to argue that the broader field of neurotheology includes elements that contribute to these popular misconceptions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Atheism)
20 pages, 2879 KiB  
Article
Religiously Disaffiliated, Religiously Indifferent, or Believers without Religion? Morphology of the Unaffiliated in Argentina
by Juan Cruz Esquivel
Religions 2021, 12(7), 472; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12070472 - 25 Jun 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 8318
Abstract
This article aims to characterize the socioeconomic and demographic profile of the population without religious affiliation in Argentina as well as their beliefs, practices, and attitudes toward a range of issues related to public and private life. This is a social conglomerate that [...] Read more.
This article aims to characterize the socioeconomic and demographic profile of the population without religious affiliation in Argentina as well as their beliefs, practices, and attitudes toward a range of issues related to public and private life. This is a social conglomerate that has grown exponentially in the region and worldwide, but it has been little explored by the social sciences of religion in Latin America. The research was based on the Second National Survey on Religious Beliefs and Attitudes in Argentina, which was carried out in 2019. The study universe was made up of the population of the Argentine Republic aged 18 years or more, living in localities or urban agglomerations with at least 5000 inhabitants. A total of 2421 cases were selected through a multistage sampling. The analysis of the data reveals that it would be inaccurate to say that the religiously unaffiliated do not convey religious beliefs. Almost three out of 10 (most of those who responded do not belong to any religion but neither defined themselves as agnostics or atheists) believe in God and in Jesus Christ. Given that they are the most numerous sub-group and with the highest growth rate within the religiously unaffiliated, it would be unwise to consider this fringe of the Argentine citizenry as a-religious. Nor can we unify them under the category of disaffiliates. Although six out of 10 have a history identified with some religion (and in those cases, it is indeed possible to observe a process of religious disaffiliation), the remaining 40% show paths defined by the alienation from the institutionalized religious spaces since their earliest age. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Atheism)
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