Secular Humanism and Atheism beyond Progressive Secularism*

Cimino, Richard; Smith, Christopher J.

doi:10.1093/socrel/68.4.407

Cited by 79 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 8 publications

(3 reference statements)

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“…Thus, it is important to investigate the ways that people who exist at the intersections of transgender and nonreligious identity experience, make sense of, and participate the cissexist and highly religious world around them. The insights from the present literature on both nonreligious and transgender experience show that the U.S. is a society dominated by religious norms (Barton 2012;Hammer et al 2012), and that nonreligious people (both those affiliated with nonreligious groups and not) work against this marginalization through various identity construction tactics (Cimino and Smith 2007;. Since religious institutions (Stack 2015;) -and religious (Urquhart 2015) and nonreligious leaders (Walker 2015) -have started to reproduce cissexism in their discussions of transgender people, it may be time for scholars of nonreligion to pay close attention to the ways that transgender existence intersects with nonreligious identity.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…point out that the nonreligious people in their study demoralize religion and construct nonreligious "moral identities", or identities that position them as revered and respected (Katz 1975). As both Cimino and Smith (2007), and illustrate, nonreligious people exist as a marginalized group in contemporary society, as such they cultivate adaptive strategies to lend meaning to themselves and others like them to resist marginalization.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In their 2007 study of "freethinkers", a collective label for atheists and secular humanists, Cimino and Smith outline the ways in which these groups construct their collective and individual identities in response to existing in a social context where religious norms and mores still govern much of society. Specifically, Cimino and Smith (2007) point to the ways freethinkers began to draw on the language of other minority groups in the US in order to position themselves as an oppressed group rather than an intellectual "vanguard" (Cimino and Smith 2007).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Expanding on the Experiences of Transgender Nonreligious People: An Exploratory Analysis

Mathers

2017

Secularism and Nonreligion

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Building on research that points out the specific forms of marginalization that transgender and nonreligious people face in contemporary U.S. society, this exploratory analysis focuses on the experiences of transgender nonreligious people who were raised in religious households. Utilizing interviews with eleven formerly religious, now nonreligious, transgender people I draw out some of the future pathways scholars of nonreligion should take to better account for the lives of transgender nonreligious people in scholarship on nonreligion. Specifically, scholars of nonreligion should begin analyzing transgender nonreligious people's experiences in religious settings, with family, and with organizations and networks outside of religion. I conclude by discussing the ways this study can shed light on the broader processes by which inequality is reproduced and make suggestions for nonreligious leaders to make room for and listen to transgender people in nonreligious spaces.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Expanding on the Experiences of Transgender Nonreligious People: An Exploratory Analysis

Mathers

2017

Secularism and Nonreligion

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“…Of the 535 members of US Congress currently, there are no admitted Atheists or Agnostics. What's more, there are still laws in several states barring atheists from holding public office (Cimino & Smith, 2007). Atheists and Agnostics are still barred from participating as Scouts or Scout Leaders, though the Boy Scouts of America dropped its longstanding ban on homosexuals in May 2013 (www.scouting.org).…”

Section: Public Perception Of Atheists/agnosticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of Atheist Pre-Service Elementary Teachers

Anderson

2015

Secularism and Nonreligion

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“…It is plausible, then, that those who subscribe to some version of atheism, literalism, or non-literalism will wish to neutralize the stigma associated with their belief or lack thereof. It is well established that certain people define atheism and theism in relation to each other (Borer 2010;Cimino and Smith 2007;Taira 2012). For many, the conflict over how to teach evolutionary theory presents an opportunity to mitigate stigma by associating atheism with the prestige of science (e.g., Borer 2010;Guenther, Mulligan, and Papp 2013;Guenther 2014;Kettell 2013;Smith 2013;Taira 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Stigmatization and Validation of Atheism, Literalism, and Non-Literalism in the Discourse over Evolutionary Theory

Silva

2018

Secularism and Nonreligion

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This article explores how atheism, literalism, and non-literalism are validated and stigmatized in public discourse over evolutionary theory. Through an ethnographic content analysis of 1,028 letters to the editor, I examine how authors frame the relationship between acceptance of evolutionary theory and religious faith. I find there are four ways of doing so: 1) implicit polarization, obliquely denies any compatibility between religion and evolution; 2) distancing, separates one's position from that of another; 3) articulation, weaves evolution and faith together; and 4) combinations of polarization, distancing, and articulation. Each framing results in some mixture of stigmatization and validation of atheism, literalism, and non-literalism. Implicit polarization stigmatizes and validates atheism and literalism. Implicit polarization stigmatizes non-literalism through unacknowledgment. Distancing can validate and stigmatize literalism and non-literalism, while it also results in literalism and atheism being stigmatized by putative allies. Articulation validates non-literalism by representing it in the public sphere and it stigmatizes atheism and literalism through unacknowledgment. IntroductionMuch scholarship demonstrates the stigma experienced by unbelievers (Cragun et al. 2012;Edgell, Gerteis, and Hartmann 2006; Hammer et al. 2012). The American conflict over how to teach biological evolution is one place where this stigma is constructed and contested. The discourse on evolution serves to, perhaps inadvertently, define the relationship between science and religion. For example, Elsdon-Baker (2015) has demonstrated how the wording of survey questionnaires elides the diversity of perspectives and, thus, unintentionally categorizes certain respondents as opponents of evolutionary theory. This study will show how pro-evolution and anti-evolution statements 1 support and undermine atheism, literalism, and non-literalism.2 Analyzing the controversy over evolution allows us to pick up on the implicit and oblique framings of faith and faithlessness that occur when the existence of God is not the only topic of conversation.In what follows, I contextualize the conflict over teaching evolution and argue that examining it can uncover stigmatization processes. I then outline how I drew on the concept of framing to analyze 1,028 letters to the editor before presenting the results of this analysis. I find that there are four processes for framing the compatibility between faith and evolution. Finally, I conclude with a discussion of specific ways that atheism, literalism, and non-literalism are both stigmatized and validated by the discourse on evolutionary theory.

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Secular Humanism and Atheism beyond Progressive Secularism*

Cited by 79 publications

References 8 publications

Expanding on the Experiences of Transgender Nonreligious People: An Exploratory Analysis

Expanding on the Experiences of Transgender Nonreligious People: An Exploratory Analysis

Characteristics of Atheist Pre-Service Elementary Teachers

Stigmatization and Validation of Atheism, Literalism, and Non-Literalism in the Discourse over Evolutionary Theory

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