The Social Context of Organized Nonbelief: County‐Level Predictors of Nonbeliever Organizations in the United States

García, Alfredo; Blankholm, Joseph

doi:10.1111/jssr.12250

Cited by 32 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The director informed me that they also organized volunteer opportunities in the community. These activities are typical of activities documented by similar studies of atheist groups (Garcia & Blankholm 2016;Mann 2015).…”

Section: Participant Selectionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Cohesiveness of Group Identity and Characterizations of the Out-Group among Atheist and Christian Student Clubs

Doyle

2019

Secul Nonrel

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Do social groups that have a strong ideological basis tend to form a cohesive group identity among group members? This paper investigates how negatively defining an out-group is important, if not integral, for creating a shared identity among members of ideologically based social groups. To explore this connection, I interviewed undergraduate student members of a Christian club and an atheist club at a Midwestern research university. I examined the strength of group identification, how members revealed shared identity, and patterns regarding how participants characterize out-group members. My findings suggest that atheists characterized Christians as less rational and in need of external comfort more than themselves, whereas Christians described atheists as disturbed by suffering and the behavior of some self-identified Christians. Defining one's in-group and reaffirming the correctness and inherent social benefit of the in-group's views were essential components of out-group characterizations.

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Section: Participant Selectionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Cohesiveness of Group Identity and Characterizations of the Out-Group among Atheist and Christian Student Clubs

Doyle

2019

Secul Nonrel

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“…As one of our reviewers pointed out, our sample was largely acquired via organizational channels, and thus likely does not represent the growing collection of nonbelievers in Western societies more generally. In other words, they would be highly atypical outside of contexts and countries where "religion" is not (or is no longer) a salient part of history and culture (Zuckerman, 2010;Garcia & Blankholm, 2016). As a result, our sample is likely mostly constituted by persons for whom religious nonbelief is an important component of their social identities, as they were ultimately self-selected into a study targeted at a specific subcultural group within the broader atheist milieu.…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting age of atheism: credibility enhancing displays and religious importance, choice, and conflict in family of upbringing

Langston

Speed

Coleman

2018

Religion, Brain & Behavior

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The cultural learning concept of Credibility Enhancing Displays (CREDs) concerns the extent to which behavioral models consistently live out their professed ideals. While researchers have suggested that past CRED exposure is an important variable for predicting who does and does not become a religious believer, it is unclear how CREDs relate to when a person rejects the religious beliefs modelled to them during their upbringing. Using a large sample of formerly believing atheists, two analyses assessed the ability of CREDs to predict the age at which an individual became an atheist. In the first analysis (n = 5,153), CREDs were positively associated with a delay in Age of Atheism, with family-level religious variables (Religious Importance, Religious Choice, and Religious Conflict) moderating this relationship. In the second analysis (n = 3,210), CREDs remained a stable predictor of Age of Atheism while controlling for demographics, parental quality, religious variables, relational variables, and institutional variables. Overall, while findings support a robust relation of CREDs to atheistic outcomes even when controlling for many other variables that influence religious transmission processes, they also highlight the importance of considering how such other variables modify the impact of CREDs on (non)religious outcomes.

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“…Organized nonbelievers are those who organize into communities based on these shared beliefs (or the ostensible lack of belief). As of 2012, there were around 1,400 local nonbeliever groups in the United States and well over a dozen national organizations (García and Blankholm 2016). No one term describes all of those who comprise America's network of secular activists, and most identify with several labels.…”

Section: Finding and Naming Secular Peoplementioning

confidence: 99%

Secularism and Secular People

Blankholm¹

2018

Public Culture

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The Social Context of Organized Nonbelief: County‐Level Predictors of Nonbeliever Organizations in the United States

Cited by 32 publications

References 49 publications

Cohesiveness of Group Identity and Characterizations of the Out-Group among Atheist and Christian Student Clubs

Cohesiveness of Group Identity and Characterizations of the Out-Group among Atheist and Christian Student Clubs

Predicting age of atheism: credibility enhancing displays and religious importance, choice, and conflict in family of upbringing

Secularism and Secular People

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