Alexis de Tocqueville, in his 1835 classic: Tocqueville (1969), 544.
O’Reilly made the traditional argument: “Bill O’Reilly Confronts Richard Dawkins,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=qVWxo3fspew.
he’s written similar sentiments: O’Reilly (2006).
Pundit Tammy Bruce concurs: Bruce (2003), 58.
In a prominently placed op-ed: Larry Alex Taunton, “My Take: When Bedford Falls Becomes Pottersville, Belief blog, CNN.com, December 24, 2011, religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/24/my-take-when-bedford-falls-becomes-pottersville.
furthermore, the obvious case could be made: Norris and Inglehart (2004).
Drawing on numerous international surveys: Drawn from Ingelhart’s (2004) international survey analyses; Inglehart and Norris’s (2003) multivariate “Strength of Religiosity Scale”; as well as Steve Crabtree and Brett Pelham, “What Alabamians and Iranians Have in Common,” Gallup, February 9, 2009, gallup.com/poll/114211/alabamians-iranians-common.aspx. See also Diener, Tay, and Myers (2001); Keysar and Navarro-Rivera (2013); and my own calculations of rates of theism worldwide based on numerous national and international surveys (Zuckerman, 2007).
Additional research by sociologists and criminologists: Jensen (2006); Paul (2005); Fajnzylber, Lederman, and Loayza (2002); Fox and Levin (2000).
Robert Brenneman is a sociologist: Brenneman (2012), 158.
various studies that measure subjective happiness: Georgia McCafferty, “World’s Happiest Nations Are … ,” CNN.com, September 9, 2013.
One scholar who has researched this: Paul (2010, 2009, 2005).
The ten states that report: Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, religions.pewforum.org.
Forbes magazine recently ranked: Rebecca Ruiz, “America’s Best States to Live,” Forbes.com, March 11, 2009, forbes.com/2009/03/11/united-states-healthy-lifestyle-health-healthy-living.html.
child-abuse fatality rate in Mississippi: “U.S. Rates of Child Abuse Fatalities,” NPR, March 2, 2010, npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123891714.
There are many, many factors: Rees (2009b).
it is quite likely that when societies become wealthy: See, for example, Solt, Habel, and Grant (2012).
secularity does not necessarily cause societal goodness: This is the position of Norris and Inglehart (2004).
Independent researcher R. Georges Delamontagne’s studies: Delamontagne (2010).
major historical-political improvement in the West: Schulman (2011).
divorcing of religious authorities: Berlinerblau (2012).
Women’s rights is another obvious societal improvement: See Keysar (2013); Quack (2012).
fight against caste in India: Quack (2012).
sane, effective sex education: Sanger (1971).
the enviably successful welfare state in Scandinavia: Nordstrom (2000).
Adolf Hitler, a Catholic: Hitler repeatedly declared himself a Christian, believed in Jesus as his savior, couched his genocidal goals in distinctly religious/theistic terms, and wrote explicitly in Mein Kampf that he felt that he was acting in accordance with the will of God. In fact, the very oath of loyalty to Hitler, sworn by all Nazi officers, soldiers, and civil servants, began with the words “I swear by God.” See Steigmann-Gall (2003); Mannheim (1999); Baynes (1969); see also Jim Walker, “Hitler’s Religious Beliefs and Fanaticism,” November 28, 1996, nobeliefs.com/hitler.htm.
In the totalitarian situation, religion is demonized: Froese (2008).
It may not be because they are religious: For one last example of how high degrees of religion do not guarantee societal well-being, just think of Rwanda in 1994—the most thoroughly Catholic nation in all of Africa, with nary an atheist to be found. And yet in the span of a hundred days, some 800,000 men, women, and children were butchered, an unimaginably horrific genocide. The widespread, fervent, and deep religiosity of Rwandan society certainly did not cause the genocide—but it most definitely didn’t prevent it either. And on the other side of the planet, at the same time that the Hutus of Rwanda were slaughtering their countrymen with machetes, with clergy often facilitating the slaughter, the Japanese—a people who exhibit some of the lowest rates of religious belief in the world—were enjoying all the benefits of a safe, sane social order, with one of the lowest rates of murder ever seen in history.
Chapter 3: Irreligion Rising
The views and teachings of the Carvaka: I am especially indebted to the work of Jennifer Michael Hecht (2003) for this entire section; see also Bremmer (2007); Thrower (2000).
“Only the perceived exists”: Hecht (2003), 96, 98; see also Quack (2012), chapter 5.
the unknown author of the book of Job: Malkin (2007).
Lucretius argued that the gods did not exist: Hecht (2003); Lucretius (1995).
Democritus rejected the existence: Thrower (2000).
Protagoras articulated a proto-agnosticism: Hecht (2003).
Carneades, a true skeptic: Hecht (2003); Thrower (2000).
Anaximander sought to understand: Couprie, Hahn, and Naddaf (2003).
the critical rationalism of Muhammad al-Warraq: Warraq (2003).
“Men talk of heaven”: Quote in Hitchens, ed. (2007), 8.
evidence of various nascent forms: Hecht (2003), Thrower (2000).
hundreds of millions of people: Keysar and Navarro-Rivera (2013).
there are now more people leaving: Skirbekk, Kaufmann, and Goujon (2010).
while secularization is in no way inevitable: Bruce (2011).
in Canada one hundred years ago: Bruce (2011), 14; see also Ron Csillag, “‘No Religion’ Is Increasingly Popular for Canadians: Report,” Huffington Post, May 15, 2013, huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/no-religion-is-increasingly-popular-for-canadians-report_n_3283268.html.
approximately one in five Canadians: Altemeyer (2009); see also Bibby (2002).
consider Australia: Bruce (2011), 14. As for Gillard being an atheist, see “Gillard Won’t Play Religion Card,” ABC News (Australia), June 29, 2010, abc.net.au/news/2010-06-29/gillard-wont-play-religion-card/885142.
even more dramatic in Europe: Bruce (2011, 2002).
A century ago in Holland: Bruce (2011), 10; see also Halman (2010).
In contemporary Great Britain: Bagg and Voas (2010), 97; see also Voas and Day (2007); Crockett and Voas (2006); Gil, Hadaway, and Marler (1998).
British historian Callum Brown: Brown (2001), 1.
a similar situation in Sweden: Ahlin (2005), 94.
Furthermore, 61 percent of Czechs: Inglehart et al. (2004).
Thirty-three percent of the French: Eurobarometer report, Social Values, Science, and Technology (2005), ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf; see also Shand (1998).
survey information from Japan: Reader (2012).
Uruguay: Jenkins (2013).
Chile: Rossi and Rossi (2009).
South Korea: Eungi (2003).
Israel: See “Israel 2010: 42% of Jews Are Secular,” Ynetnews, May 18, 2010, ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3890330,00.html; also Dashefsky, Lazerwitz, and Tabory (2003).
Azerbaijan: Cornell (2006).
For many years, the United States: Berger, Davie, and Fokas (2008).
secularity has nonetheless increased significantly: Chaves (2011); Laurie Goodstein, “Percentage of Protestant Americans Is in Steep Decline, Study Finds.” New York Times, October 9, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/us/study-finds-that-percentage-of-protestant-americans-is-declining.html.
Harvard professor Robert Putnam: Putnam and Campbell (2010), 3.
The percentage of Americans who claim “none”: For the figure of 30 percent, see Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism, WIN–Gallup International, 2012, wingia.com/web/files/news/14/file/14.pdf. For the figure of 20 percent, see “More Americans Have No Religious preference: Key Finding from the 2012 General Social Survey,” sociology.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/faculty/fischer/Hout%20et%20al_No%20Relig%20Pref%202
012_Release%20Mar%202013.pdf. For the figure of nearly 19 percent, see “‘Nones’ on the Rise,” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, October 9, 2012, pewforum.org/2012/10/09/nones-on-the-rise. For the 18 percent figure, see Merino (2012); see also Putnam and Campbell (2010). See also Cathy Lynn Grossman, “Survey Finds 19% Without Religious Affiliation,” USA Today, July 20, 2012; and the American Religious Identification Survey (2008), commons.trincoll.edu/aris/publications/2008-2.
the number of “nones” in America has increased: Kosmin et al. (2009).
In absolute numbers: see Kosmin (2013); Kosmin et al. (2009).
nonreligious Americans are now the second largest: Goodstein, “Number of Protestants Is in Steep Decline”; see also Putnam and Campbell (2010), 17.
the only “religious” group growing: Abrams, Yaple, and Wiener (2011).
Between one-third and one-half of all “nones”: Cragun et al. (2012); see also Baker and Smith (2009b); Kosmin et al. (2009); see also Public Religion Research Institute, “2012 Pre-election American Values Survey,” October 22, 2012, publicreligion.org/research/2012/10/american-values-survey-2012.
between 9 percent and 21 percent: Kosmin et al. (2009). See also Hout, Fischer, and Chaves (2013); Humphrey Taylor, “While Most Americans Believe in God, Only 36% Attend a Religious Service Once a Month or More Often,” Harris Poll #59, October 15, 2003, harrisinteractive.com/vault/HarrisInteractive-Poll-Research-While-Most-Americans-Believe-in-God-Only-36-pct-A-2003-10.pdf.
Twenty-seven percent of Americans: “Spirituality in America,” Parade, October 4, 2009, parade.com/news/2009/10/04-spirituality-poll-results.
Rates of secularity are markedly stronger: See “‘Nones’ on the Rise,” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, October 9, 2012, pewforum.org/2012/10/09/nones-on-the-rise/. See also Nona Willis Aronowitz, “The Rise of the Atheists: 1 in 4 Millennials Don’t Identify with Any Religion,” Good, November 7, 2011, magazine.good.is/post/the-rise-of-the-atheists-1-in-4-millennials-don-t-identify-with-any-religion. See also Kosmin et al. (2009).
This is a significant change: Putnam and Campbell (2010), 125.
The vast majority of nonreligious Americans: “‘Nones’ on the Rise,” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, October 9, 2012, pewforum.org/2012/10/09/nones-on-the-rise.
“fuzzy fidelists”: Voas (2009).
“liminals”: Lim, MacGregor, and Putnam (2010).
“believing without belonging”: Davie (1990); Winter and Short (1993).
“belong without believing”: Riis (1994).
folks who are active in religious congregational life: Kelly (1997).
I even personally know some actual pastors: Dennett and LaScola (2010).
And closely related to this last type: Demerath (2000).
“apatheists”: Shook (2010).
various types of apostates: Zuckerman (2011); Bromley (1988).
the simple binary of religious/secular: See Zuckerman, Galen, and Pasquale (2015).
social psychologists Bruce Hunsberger and Bob Altemeyer: Hunsberegr and Altemeyer (2006), 12.
What all of this this has done is alienate: Hout and Fischer (2002).
sociologist Mark Chaves: Chaves (2011), 21.
A second factor that helps account: Michael D’Antonio, “What Went Wrong in the Catholic Church?,” Los Angeles Times, February 10, 2013, A32.
After the extent of the crimes: Barry Kosmin, “One Nation, Losing God,” Point of Inquiry radio interview, December 31, 2010, http://www.pointofinquiry.org/barry_kosmin_one_nation_losing_god.
The result has been clear: G. Jeffrey MacDonald, “Who’s Filling America’s Church Pews?,” Christian Science Monitor, December 23, 2012, 26–31.
In 1990, 54 percent of Massachusetts residents: Barton (2012).
And according to an “American Values” survey: Public Religion Research Institute, “2012 Pre-election American Values Survey,” October 22, 2012, publicreligion.org/research/2012/10/american-values-survey-2012.
But a very important third possible factor: Brown (2001).
as women grew less religious: See Hertel (1998) and Riis (1994).
We’ve seen a similar pattern: De Vaus and McAllister (1987) and Dubach (2009).
Today, more than 40 percent of American families: Emily Alpert, “More U.S. Women Than Ever Are Breadwinners, Pew Study Finds,” Los Angeles Times, May 28, 2013.
Since the days of Stonewall and Harvey Milk: Zuckerman (2011).
Next, the Internet has had a secularizing: For further discussion, see Armfield and Holbert (2003).
Debunking on the Internet abounds: Laurie Goodstein, “Some Mormons Search the Web and Find Doubt,” New York Times, July 20, 2013, nytimes.com/2013/07/21/us/some-mormons-search-the-web-and-find-doubt.html.
For example, in her ongoing research: See Dennett and LaScola (2010).
In another study: Winston (2005).
the Internet allows people: See, for example, Cimino and Smith (2011) and Smith and Cimino (2012).
Dr. Barry Kosmin is the founding director: Personal communication (telephone interview).
But it is a line of human culture: Pasquale (2007b).
Consider Christian Smith: Smith (2012).
And Professor Smith is far from alone: Wilson (2002); Barrett (2004); Bering (2010); Murray (2009).
Sociologist Paul Froese characterizes religiosity: Froese (2008).
Psychology professor Justin Barrett further: Barrett (2012, 2004).
For example, 42 percent of the Dutch: Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism, WIN–Gallup International, 2012, wingia.com/web/files/news/14/file/14.pdf; see also Grotenhuis and Scheepers (2001).
anthropologists such as Daniel L. Everett: Everett (2008).
As nineteenth-century abolitionist and feminist: Quoted in Hecht (2003), 388.
approximately 450 to 700 million nonbelievers: Keysar and Navarro-Rivera (2013); Zuckerman (2007).
sociologists Marta Trzebiatowska and Steve Bruce: Trzebiatowska and Bruce (2012), 171.
Third, even if we can recognize that: Boyer (2011).
skeptical, agnostic, atheist, religiously indifferent, or affirmatively secular: See, for example, Thomson and Aukofer (2011).
So while the author Nicholas Wade writes: Wade (2009).
As cognitive psychologists Armin Geertz: Geertz and Markusson (2010).
The truth is that many societies today: Amanda Marcotte, “Eight Countries Where Atheism Is Accepted, Even Celebrated, Instead of Demonized,” Alternet.com, August 28, 2012, alternet.org/8-countries-where-atheism-accepted-even-celebrated-instead-demonized; Bruce (2011).
Some societies are very religious for centuries: Brown (2001).
Some societies are relatively secular: For example, the situation in modern Israel: Assaf Inbari, “The End of the Secular Majority,” Haaretz.com, February 3, 2012. See also Efron (2003).
Many individuals are strongly religious: Altemeyer and Hunsberger (1997).
Chapter 4: Raising Kids
41 percent of atheists have experienced discrimination: Hammer et al. (2012).
it is intrinsically less stable: For instance, Oliner and Oliner (1992) found that secular people were more likely than religious people to help Jews during the Holocaust.
Deborah’s reflections on the moral instruction: Kohlberg, Levine, and Hewer (1983).
Kohlberg outlined six stages: See also Mercer (2007) and Cottone, Drucker, and Javier (2007).
And what many people think: Nunn (1964); Nelsen and Kroliczak (1984).
But what else do we know about secular parenting: Merino (2012), 13.
However, it does look like: Baker and Smith (2009a); Bruce (2011), 204.
The data backs this up: Merino (2012), 12.
According to Professor Nelsen’s analysis: Nelson (1990).
This research was confirmed: Bruce and Glendinning (2003).
in his impressive study of sex and religion: Regnerus (2007), 66–81.
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p; Vern Bengtson, a professor: Bengtson (2013), 163–64.
And what are some of their values: Starks and Robsinson (2007).
according to various national surveys: Cragun (2013), 87.
The secular emphasis on cultivating autonomy: Pearce and Denton (2010), 67.
And sociologists Christopher Ellison: Ellison and Sherkat (1993b).
social psychologists Bruce Hunsberger and Bob Altemeyer: Hunsberger and Altemeyer (2006).
Finally, confirming Professor Bengtson’s research: Manning (2010).
For many nonreligious parents: Merino (2012).
Americans born between the years 1925 to 1943: Ibid.
As sociologist Lynn Davidman argues: Davidman (1993).
Danièle Hervieu-Léger’s apt phrase: Hervieu-Legér (2000).
Chapter 5: Creating Community
But then one day I happened upon: For more on Camp Quest, see Metskas and Brunsman (2007).
Such communities are springing up everywhere: Cimino and Smith (2007).
From Seattle Atheists: “AHA Reaches 100,000 on Facebook,” Free Mind 57, no. 1 (2013).
The U.S. military has a reputation: Chris Rodda, “Mandatory U.S. Army Survey Says Nonbelievers Unfit to Serve,” Huffington Post, January 1, 2011.
A couple of years before that: Patrick O’Driscoll, “Plaintiffs Say Air Force Recruiters Told to Use Religion as Tool,” USA Today, March 10, 2006.
And while serving in Iraq: Neela Banerjee, “Soldier Sues Army, Saying His Atheism Led to Threats,” New York Times, April 26, 2008.
And although there are hundreds of thousands: Zucchino (2013).
While there have certainly been many: Allen (1991).
most African Americans are very religious: Taylor (1988); Taylor et al. (1996); Baker and Smith (2009a).
For example, according to recent findings: “A Religious Portrait of African-Americans,” Section II: Religious Beliefs and Practices, Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project,” January 30, 2009, pewforum.org/A-Religious-Portrait-of-African-Americans.aspx.
Furthermore, only 8 percent: Kosmin et al. (2009).
Whatever the disparate reasons: Smith (2010).
but being secular is also high on their list: For further discussion of irreligious identity construction, see the work of Smith (2010).
Living the Secular Life_New Answers to Old Questions Page 24
