Atheism in religious clothing? Accounting for atheist interventions in the public sphere

Dick, Hannah

doi:10.1080/14755610.2015.1090466

Cited by 11 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…However, the common thread of the studies of religious polarization is the shrinking of the middle, compensated by the growth of the extremities, especially the secularized segment. With the growth in number of secular individuals and their organization in formal groups (Smith, 2013), the hostilities between those strictly committed to secular values, especially the atheists, and the religious are on the rise (Dick, 2015; Lundmark and LeDrew, 2019). These new developments underscore the need for further study of religious polarization in Western societies and a consistency in the measurement approach.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regarding the strictly seculars as defined in the above, a considerable number likely self-identify as atheist (Dilmaghani, 2017). Previous scholarship indicates that the level of atheist activism and ‘evangelization’ is rising in North America (Smith and Cimino, 2012, 2015), and a significant portion of secular activists are overtly hostile towards religion and religious people (Cotter et al, 2017; Dick, 2015; Lundmark and LeDrew, 2019). This growing hostility further underscores the scholarly importance of having a quantitative measure for the degree of religious polarization.…”

Section: Application To American and Canadian Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measuring religious polarization: Application with American and Canadian data

Dilmaghani

2020

Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses

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Numerous studies suggest that polarization best describes the religious landscape of a growing number of Western countries. While a consensus is gradually emerging regarding the definition of religious polarization, no quantitative measure has been proposed to capture the concept. The present research note proposes two indices for the concept of religious polarization so that its degree can be compared across populations and its evolution can be traced over time. The proposed approach is applied to the US data of 2008–2016 and the Canadian data of 2008–2015. The relative ranking of the degree of polarization emerging from the computation of these indices accords with the previous literature, which has relied on the interpretation of distinct trends. These applications demonstrate the aptness of these indices for measuring religious polarization, as defined in the recent religious scholarship.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Application To American and Canadian Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring religious polarization: Application with American and Canadian data

Dilmaghani

2020

Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses

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“…To date, in the religious context, it remains an open question whether or not public figures promoting a set of religious or secular ideas are able to gain a following outside of their own community. For instance, it is not known whether influential atheists, active in socalled "atheist evangelization" (Dick, 2015;Cimino, 2012, 2015;Lundmark and LeDrew, 2019), can effectively reach out to the non-atheist seculars as well as the religious through their online presence, and instigate an interest. Combining Google search indices for Richard Dawkins, the late Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris, with the Canadian General Social Survey data of 2005 to 2016, the present article examines this question.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who is Not Afraid of Richard Dawkins? Using Google Trends to Assess the Reach of Influential Atheists across Canadian Secular Groups

Dilmaghani

2019

Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses

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Google Trends data on search volumes of high profile atheist public figures are used to assess their relative reach among different types of seculars in Canada. The user query data mined from Google Trends are complemented with an extensive set of information extracted from the Canadian General Social Surveys of 2005 to 2016. The analysis shows that the reach of high profile atheists is positively correlated with the presence of strictly-seculars, a proxy for the atheists. The investigation produces no statistically significant correlation between the presence of other types of seculars, namely the unchurched believers and the nominal affiliates, and the search volumes for high profile atheists. This exploratory finding suggests that the influential atheists likely “preach to the choir,” catering to like-minded individuals, at the exclusion of those with relatively close but differing views on religion and spirituality.

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“…Although a few rhetoricians and sociologists have studied atheist coming out, they have not explored the ways in which atheists have adapted coming out discourse. Furthermore, despite rapid demographic growth, 2 rhetoricians have paid almost no attention to the rhetorical practices of atheists (but see Dick, 2015; Hart, 1978; Rhodes, 2014). The near absence of research on the rhetoric of atheists is rather startling considering that, according to the Pew Research Center (2015), atheists now outnumber both Jews and Muslims in the United States.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rewriting a Discursive Practice: Atheist Adaptation of Coming Out Discourse

Cloud

2017

Written Communication

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Coming out is a powerful way for individuals to disclose, constitute, and perform membership in stigmatized identity categories. The practice has now spread far beyond its LGBTQ origins. In this essay, I examine how atheists and other secularists have taken up and adapted coming out discourse to meet their situational and rhetorical needs. Through an analysis of 50 narratives about coming out atheist, I show that atheist writers use coming out discourse to claim both high and low agency over their identities. They both follow and resist a low-agency approach that has sometimes characterized LGBTQ uses of coming out discourse. Furthermore, I argue that the attribution of high personal agency in coming out discourse and other discourses of identity can introduce themes of deliberation, choice, and uncertainty, leading to a richer public discussion of identity category membership.

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Atheism in religious clothing? Accounting for atheist interventions in the public sphere

Cited by 11 publications

References 4 publications

Measuring religious polarization: Application with American and Canadian data

Measuring religious polarization: Application with American and Canadian data

Who is Not Afraid of Richard Dawkins? Using Google Trends to Assess the Reach of Influential Atheists across Canadian Secular Groups

Rewriting a Discursive Practice: Atheist Adaptation of Coming Out Discourse

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