Non+Religion Research Brief

This article explores the Participation-Importance-Belonging (P-I-B) sequence , a robust model that explains the consistent stages of secularization observed worldwide. It unpacks how modernization and the rise of secular institutions —such as biomedicine and welfare states—offer more efficient solutions to life’s problems, leading to an intergenerational breakdown of religious socialization. The...

This study utilizes structural topic modeling to analyze over 1,600 academic articles published between 2001 and 2022, seeking to organize the complex global debate surrounding secularization. The researchers identify thirteen distinct themes, categorizing them into four primary clusters: institutional differentiation, individual religious decline, critical theories, and specific religious traditi...

This scholarly article by Maria Vliek examines the personal narratives of individuals in the Netherlands and Britain who have transitioned out of Islam. Moving beyond a narrow focus on "loss of faith," Vliek identifies four distinct thematic trajectories—religious break, social break-away, the entrance, and unconscious secularization—to describe how participants negotiate their changing...

This article explores how debates about ghosts became a key battleground in China’s early twentieth-century struggle over modernity. Using a large dataset of historical newspapers and periodicals, the authors analyze how intellectuals argued for and against the existence of ghosts during the Republican era. Reformers often treated ghost belief as superstition and used scientific, psychological, an...

What do people who strongly value science think happens after we die? This article examines that question by analyzing open-ended responses from nearly 400 science-oriented Finns recruited through pro-science organizations. As expected, many respondents described death in secular terms—seeing consciousness as ending when the body stops functioning. But the story doesn’t end there. Even among highl...

This article tackles a provocative question: do scholars’ own religious beliefs influence the conclusions they reach about secularization? The authors build a large dataset of researchers who study religious change and link survey data on their personal religiosity to the findings reported in their publications. The results show a clear pattern: more religious scholars are less likely to believe i...

This article examines why Israeli Jewish atheists still circumcise their sons. Drawing on interviews with 30 self-identified atheists, the study finds that the decision is rarely about religious belief. Instead, parents frame circumcision as a cultural, social, and bodily marker of Jewish belonging. Many participants express emotional ambivalence—sometimes even regret—but still proceed because of...

This research article investigates whether declining religiosity in the United States leads to a decrease in charitable giving. By analyzing data from the 2023 Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the authors compare the philanthropic habits of religious individuals against atheists, agnostics, and "nones." The findings indicate that while nonreligious people are significantly less likely to...

This research article by Lucy Elizabeth Potter examines the intersection of apostasy and forced migration, focusing on the emotional journeys of individuals who leave religion in restrictive societies. Through interviews and policy analysis, the author highlights the psychological strain involved in renouncing a faith and the subsequent struggle to prove a non-religious identity during the UK’s as...