“Religious Nones” in the United Kingdom: How Atheists and Agnostics Think about Religion and Politics

Abstract

Abstract:The decline in religious identification and corresponding increase in the unaffiliated has been one of the most important religious changes in the United Kingdom (UK). The emergence of the "religious nones" is the most obvious sign of continuing secularization and the declining social and cultural relevance of religion. Yet while the religiously-unaffiliated often form the plurality -if not sometimes the majority -in many surveys, there has been little scholarly investigation into atheists, agnostics, and others who do not 'Religious Nones' in the UK 2 identify with a particular religion. This article uses a 2014 survey of UK adults to examine how those who identify as atheist or agnostic differ from the religiously-affiliated in terms of religiosity, ideology, and policy preferences.Findings reveal secular groups in the UK to be more to the ideological left than the religiously affiliated, and that atheists and agnostics differ from each other and especially the religiously affiliated on policy.

Presidential Address: Religion and Power—A Return to the Roots of Social Scientific Scholarship

“…There is a lot of attention paid to religious affiliation-understanding change in people's religious affiliation, their disaffiliation, those who never affiliate and the factors that are related to these outcomes (e.g., Crockett and Voas 2006;Glen 1987;Greeley 1989;Hout and Fischer 2002;Hout, Greeley, and Wilde 2001;Sherkat 2001;Wallace 1975). The scholarship on religious affiliation has of late paid particular attention to an increase in a category vaguely and somewhat dismissively conceptualized as "the nones" (e.g., Baker and Smith 2009;Clements and Gries 2017;Condron and Tamney 1985;Hadaway and Roof 1979;Lim, MacGregor, and Putnam 2010;Vernon 1968;Wilkins-Laflamme 2015). What this means exactly is hard to say.…”

“…For example, Clements and Gries (), Beaman, Steele, and Pringnitz (), Thiessen and Wilkens‐Laflamme (), and Bengston et al. (2018).…”

“…For example,Clements and Gries (2017),Beaman, Steele, and Pringnitz (2018),Thiessen and Wilkens-Laflamme (2017), and Bengston et al (2018).11 For example, seeNorris and Inglehart (2011),Bruce (2002),Lim, MacGregor, and Putnam (2010), andMarwell and Demerath III (2003).12 "Why People of No Religion Are Projected to Decline as a Share of the World's Population" by Michael Lipja and David McClendon. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/07/why-people-with-no-religion-are-projectedto-decline-as-a-share-of-the-worlds-population/.…”

Feeling Rational: Affinity and Affinity Narratives in British Science–Non-religion Relations

“…Social scientists frequently make a distinction between those who reject theist claims outright and those who take the view that humans cannot know anything for certain about the existence of God/sconventionally (though problematically) referred to as 'atheists' and 'agnostics' respectively (e.g. Clements & Gries 2017). One reason that this traditional nomenclature is problematic is that both groups largely fall within the 'negative' category of atheism in the sense that both atheists and agnostics 'live their lives as though God does not exist' (Brown 2017: 439).…”

“…There is some evidence to back up the idea that these survey distinctions tell us something meaningful about the outlooks of those choosing them. These survey categories are, for example, bound up with different kinds of identity positions and politics: those who have positive atheist beliefs and those who have strong agnostic beliefs are different along a number of lines (Clements & Gries 2017). Differentiating positive atheists and agnostics also complicates many of the established demographic correlations with atheism and nonreligion.…”