This panel investigates the experiences and identities of the religiously unaffiliated using a variety of methods. The authors focus on the experiences of Black "Nones," secular Muslims, atheists, and long-distance runners. Using a mixed-methods approach, the first paper investigates the growth of Black individuals who disaffiliate from the Black Church yet who retain supernatural beliefs. The second paper employs multiple methods, including focus groups and surveys, to understand how identity can be separated from belief and practice for secular American Muslims. Using computational methods, the third paper examines the representation of scientific and religious authorities in the online discussion group alt.atheism. The fourth paper draws on autobiographical narratives to explore the role of long-distance running in developing a sense of transcendence. Overall, these papers demonstrate the potential of sociological methods to provide fresh insights into the multifaceted experiences of the religiously unaffiliated.
Quantitative research has revealed a recent increase in measures of Black individuals who identify under the category of ‘None’ meaning (in general) those individuals who find their identities and meaning making not attached to particular religious traditions. But what does this mean? The category of 'nones' has received significant criticism due to its inherent complexity. Furthering this critique, we add that the categorical 'none' has largely been spoken about through White Christianity. Combining our quantitative data with qualitative research, we found a pattern in which an increasing number of Black individuals find the Black Church to be irrelevant to their identities. Cognitive research into 'unbelief' has shown a pattern of retaining beliefs in souls, afterlife, and supernatural forces. While not deconverting nor espousing identities associated with atheism, the Black Church is increasingly less central to Black Identity. This research offers a more complex and descriptive view into understandings of Black secularism.
While theologians may proclaim that no one can be both an atheist and a Muslim at the same time, some American Muslims assert simultaneous claims to these identities. This paper examines results from focus groups and semi-structured one on one interviews to highlight the ways in which identity is separable from both belief and practice for some Muslims in the U.S. It also discusses the ways in which survey questions about religious identity often obscure the potential for this kind of separation. Finally, it will suggest some alternative approaches for scholars interested in quantifying the prevalence of this phenomenon.
Criticisms of religion from scientific perspectives gained further prominence in the 2000s and 2010s with the rise of the ‘new atheism’. Online discussion groups that focused on atheism were a significant site of such discourse at a popular level. They were important socially since (1) they connected isolated individuals who disavowed religion, (2) participants’ interactions fostered cohesion and sparked conflict in their online communities, and (3) interactions could influence participants' broader social lives.
Substantial archives of historical online interactions within these (and other) communities exist. However, technical barriers regarding the archives’ formats, heterogeneity and size must be overcome before using them. This paper presents a novel computational methodology which is used here to organise archived data and analyse engagement within historically influential online spaces set up to discuss atheism. This methodology is of wider relevance to the sociology of religion and the paper will discuss potential future uses and impact.
This paper explores how Hartmut Rosa's sociological theory of resonance (2019) may prove fruitful for understanding better the spiritual dimensions of long-distance running. The study focuses particularly on the material dimension of lived religion in long-distance running, and uses Rosa's theory to analyze stories about lived religion in written autobiographical narratives of long-distance runners. Rosa defines resonance as "a specific mode of relation – i.e., a specific way of being-related-to-the-world", where you experience a special connectedness, a vibrating and responsive relationship to something or someone (Rosa, 2019). This paper's analysis demonstrates how long-distance running can be a resonant space for different axes of resonance, albeit axes regarding the subject's relationship to the material is dominant.