Organized Secularism in the United States: New Directions in Research (Religion and Its Others) (Religion and Its Others, 6)

Open Access There has been a dramatic increase in the percentage of the US population that is not religious. However, there is, to date, very little research on the social movement that is organizing to serve the needs of and advocate for the nonreligious in the US. This is a book about the rise and structure of organized secularism in the United States. By organized secularism we mean the efforts of nonreligious individuals to build institutions, networks, and ultimately a movement that serves their interests in a predominantly religious society. Researchers from various fields address questions such as: What secularist organizations exist? Who are the members of these organizations? What kinds of organizations do they create? What functions do these organizations provide for their members? How do the secularist organizations of today compare to those of the past? And what is their likely impact on the future of secularism? For anyone trying to understand the rise of the nonreligious in the US, this book will provide valuable insights into organized efforts to normalize their worldview and advocate for their equal treatment in society.

There has been a dramatic increase in the percentage of the US population that is not religious. However, there is, to date, very little research on the social movement that is organizing to serve the needs of and advocate for the nonreligious in the US.

This is a book about the rise and structure of organized secularism in the United States. By organized secularism we mean the efforts of nonreligious individuals to build institutions, networks, and ultimately a movement that serves their interests in a predominantly religious society. Researchers from various fields address questions such as: What secularist organizations exist? Who are the members of these organizations? What kinds of organizations do they create? What functions do these organizations provide for their members? How do the secularist organizations of today compare to those of the past? And what is their likely impact on the future of secularism?

For anyone trying to understand the rise of the nonreligious in the US, this book will provide valuable insights into organized efforts to normalize their worldview and advocate for their equal treatment in society.

Preface Table of Contents Introduction “I Know It When I See It:” Humanism, Secularism, and Religious Taxonomy Mid-Nineteenth-Century Secularism as Modern Secularity “Splitters!”: Lessons from Monty Python for Secular Organizations in the US Recognizing and Categorizing the Secular: Polysecularity and Agendas of Polysecularism Organizational Variation in the American Nonreligious Community Building Bridges in the Shadows of Steeples: Atheist Community and Identity Online Communal Secularity: Congregational Work at the Sunday Assembly Rejecting Rejection Identities: Negotiating Positive Non-religiosity at the Sunday Assembly A Typology of Organized Atheists and Secularists in Germany and the United States Your Wedding, Your Way: Personalized, Nonreligious Weddings through the Universal Life Church Doing Death Without Deity: Constructing Nonreligious Tools at the End of Life Old Questions and New Issues for Organized Secularism in the United States Index Recent decades have witnessed the dramatic growth of an organized secularist movement that serves the needs of and advocates for the nonreligious. This volume brings together the latest research on organized secularism in the US, including its history, institution building, activist and political strategies, and its social functions in the lives of secularist individuals and families.