Table Of ContentOrganized Secularism in the United States
Religion and Its Others
Studies in Religion, Nonreligion, and Secularity
Edited by
Stacey Gutkowski, Lois Lee, and Johannes Quack
Volume 6
Organized Secularism
in the United States
New Directions in Research
Edited by
Ryan T. Cragun, Christel Manning
and Lori L. Fazzino
An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libra-
ries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to
make high quality books Open Access. More information about the initiative can be
found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No-Derivatives 4.0
License. For details go to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
ISBN 978-3-11-045742-1
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-045865-7
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-044195-6
ISSN 2330-6262
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress.
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2017 Ryan T. Cragun, Christel Manning and Lori L. Fazzino, published by Walter de Gruyter
GmbH, Berlin/Boston
The book is published with open access at www.degruyter.com.
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
♾ Printed on acid-free paper
Printed in Germany
www.degruyter.com
Phil Zuckerman
Preface
OnNov.19–20,2014,forty-fivescholars,fromninedifferentcountries,gathered
atPitzerCollegeinClaremont,California,forthethirdInternationalConference
of the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network (NSRN).The theme of the
conferencewas“ExplainingNonreligionandSecularityintheU.S.andBeyond,”
and the scope of the papers presented was impressively broad: from Lori Bea-
man’s keynote address on church-state battles in Quebec, to Catherine Cald-
well-Harris’s talk on low levels of religiosity among college students in Turkey,
and from Penny Edgell’s look at anti-atheist sentiment in the United States, to
KevinLenehan’sanalysisofsecularizationinAustralia–variousaspectsofnon-
religion and secularity were explored, both theoretically and empirically, and
from a multiplicityof disciplinary lenses.
But one topic at the conference definitely stood out: collective, organized
nonreligion and secularism. Amidst the historical narratives,political analyses,
sociological data, psychological models, and meta typologizing, there was a
clear prominenceof papersat the conference that lookedat how andwhy non-
religious, anti-religious, and/or secular people – of varying shades and hues –
come together collectively. The common concerns underlying these papers
werealongthefollowinglinesofinquiry:whatsocialmovementsandcommunal
institutions are secular or nonreligious individuals coming together to create in
ordertoservetheirsocial,communal,and/orpoliticalneedsandinterests?And
just what exactly are those needs and interests? How are they being met?
Giventhedeepinterestinorganizedsecularismthatwasevidentatthecon-
ference – and given the recent growth of social movements created by and for
nonreligious people – it was clear to meeting participants Christel Manning,
Ryan Cragun, and Lori Fazzino that a book bringing together and publishing
those papers presented at the conference addressing these issues within the
studyof secularity, secularism, and nonreligion would be timely.
Hence,this volume.
OrganizedSecularismintheUnitedStatesbringstogetherthirteenpaperslooking
atdifferentaspectsandanglesofcollectivesecularity.Itisawelcomeadditionto
the burgeoning field of secular/nonreligious studies, an interdisciplinary en-
deavor which seeks to understand the lives,worldviews, beliefs, opinions,val-
ues,challenges,andactivitiesofnonreligiouspeople.Thescholarlyfocusofsec-
ular/nonreligious studies is placed upon the meanings, forms, relevance, and
impact of political secularism, philosophical skepticism, and personal and cul-
OpenAccess.©2017PhilZuckerman,publishedbyDeGruyter. Thisworkislicensedunder
theCreativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives4.0License.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110458657-001
VI PhilZuckerman
turalsecularity–andallofthesematters,inonemanifestationoranother,and
invaryingdegrees – are delved into in the chapters ahead.
Since Barry Kosmin established the Institute for the Studyof Secularism in
Society and Culture at Trinity College in 2005, and Lois Lee and Stephen Bulli-
vant founded the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network in 2008 while
at Cambridge University and Oxford University respectively, scholarly attention
to the secular/nonreligious has been blossoming. Significant developments in-
clude the following: in 2011, the open-access, peer-reviewed academic journal
SecularismandNonreligionwaslaunched;alsoin2011,aSecularStudiesdepart-
mentwasestablishedatPitzerCollege;in2012,theAnthropologyDepartmentof
the London School ofEconomics launched a“Programme for the Studyof Reli-
gionandNon-Religion;”alsoin2012,NewYorkUniversityPresslaunchedaSec-
ularStudiesbookseriesandPalgraveMacmillanlaunchedabookserieson“His-
toriesoftheSacredandtheSecular,1700–2000;”in2014,DeGruyterlauncheda
book series on “Religion and Its Others: Studies in Religion, Nonreligion, and
Secularity”(ofwhichthisvolumeisapart);in2016,theUniversityofMiamien-
dowed a chair in the studyof atheism and secularism.
Subsequent to the NSRN conference of 2014 at Pitzer College, from which
this book springs, an abundance of academic conferences have been held with
a focus on the secular, including: “Approaching Nonreligion: Conceptual, me-
thodical,andempiricalapproachesinanewresearchfield”(2016)attheUniver-
sityofZürich,Switzerland;“TheEndofReligion?”(2016)attheUniversityofSan
Diego;“Secularisms andthe Formations of Religionin Asia:Pluralism,Globali-
zation,andModernities”(2016)atQueen’sUniversity,Belfast;“VarietiesofSec-
ularSociety”(2015)attheInstitutFrancaisdeLondres,UnitedKingdom;“Secu-
larism and Religion in Modern Europe” (2015) at the Escuela Espanola de
Historia y Arqueologia, Italy; “Women’s Religious Agency: Negotiating Secular-
ismandMulticulturalisminEverydayLife”(2015)atUppsalaUniversity,Sweden;
“Old Religion and New Spirituality: Continuity and Changes in the Background
of Secularization” (2015) at the University of Tartu, Estonia.
In sum, the academic study of secularity, secularism, and non-religion is
currentlyinfullswing,andthisvolumebothreflectsandbolstersthisburgeon-
ing scholarlyenterprise.
Table of Contents
Ryan Cragun & Christel Manning
Introduction 1
Charles Louis Richter
“I Know It When I See It:” Humanism, Secularism, and Religious
Taxonomy 13
Michael Rectenwald
Mid-Nineteenth-Century Secularism as Modern Secularity 31
Lori L. Fazzino and Ryan T. Cragun
“Splitters!”: Lessons from Monty Python for Secular Organizations in the
US 57
John R. Shook
Recognizing and Categorizing the Secular: Polysecularity and Agendas of
Polysecularism 87
Amanda Schutz
Organizational Variation in the American Nonreligious Community 113
Aislinn Addington
Building Bridges in the Shadows of Steeples: Atheist Community and Identity
Online 135
Jesse M. Smith
Communal Secularity: Congregational Work at the Sunday Assembly 151
Jacqui Frost
Rejecting Rejection Identities: Negotiating Positive Non-religiosity at the
Sunday Assembly 171
Joseph Langston, Joseph Hammer, Ryan Cragun & Mary Ellen Sikes
Inside The Minds and Movement of America’s Nonbelievers: Organizational
Functions, (Non)Participation, and Attitudes Toward Religion 191
VIII TableofContents
Björn Mastiaux
ATypology of Organized Atheists and Secularists in Germany and the United
States 221
Dusty Hoesly
Your Wedding, Your Way: Personalized, Nonreligious Weddings through the
Universal Life Church 253
Nicholas J. MacMurray & Lori L. Fazzino
Doing Death Without Deity: Constructing Nonreligious Tools at the End of
Life 279
Barry Kosmin
Old Questions and New Issues for Organized Secularism in the United
States 301
Index 319
Ryan Cragun & Christel Manning
Introduction
WhatwouldhappentoahighschoolseniordeepinthebiblebeltoftheUnited
States if they told their high school administrators that they would contact the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) if the school had a prayer at his high
school graduation? This isn’t a hypothetical scenario – it happened in 2011.
Damon Fowler, a senior at Bastrop High School in Louisiana, informed the su-
perintendentoftheschooldistrictthatheknewschool-sponsoredprayerwasil-
legalandthathewouldcontacttheACLUiftheschoolwentaheadwithaplan-
ned, school-sponsored prayer at the graduation ceremony. Damon’s threat was
leaked to the public.What followed were death threats from community mem-
bers and fellow students,weeks of harassment, and eventually his parents dis-
owning him and kicking him out of their home.
Onemorethinghappened,whichiswhywerecountthisstoryatthebegin-
ningofthisbookonorganizedsecularism:thesecularcommunitycametogether
tosupportDamon.Ashisstorymadeitswayintothelocal,national,andeven-
tually international press, nonreligious¹ and/or secular individuals made offers
of a place to stay, protection, and transportation, and a college fund was set
up for Damon since his parents had cut him off financially.Various secular or-
ganizationsexplicitlyofferedDamon help.TheFreedomFromReligionFounda-
tiongavehima$1,000collegescholarshipandotherorganizationsvolunteered
to help him legally.
Damon’sstoryshouldbesurprisinginacountrythatpridesitselfasamelt-
ing pot of races,ethnicities,cultures, and religions.Yet, it is also a not entirely
uncommonscenariointheUnitedStates,whereatheists’moralityisesteemedat
about the same level as is rapists’ (Gervais, Shariff, and Norenzayan 2011) and
only about 50% of Americans would vote for an atheist for President (Edgell,
Gerteis,andHartmann2006).Damon’sstoryalsoservestohighlightseveralim-
portantcharacteristicsoftheorganized,secularcommunityintheUS.First,per-
haps to the surprise of many Americans,there actually is an organized secular
communityintheUS.Whilethenumbersarestillquitesmall(seebelow)relative
tothetotalproportionoftheUSpopulationthatisnonreligious,those involved
in the community are not insignificant. Second, the response of the organized
secular community to Damon’s situation also illustrates thatorganized secular-
Manypeopleusethetermsnon-religiousandsecularinterchangeably,butscholarscontinue
todebatetheirprecisemeaning.
OpenAccess.©2017RyanCragun&ChristelManning,publishedbyDeGruyter. Thisworkis
licensedundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives4.0License.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110458657-002
2 RyanCragun&ChristelManning
ismintheUSisoftenreactive.Manyoftheformalorganizationsexistspecifically
because theyare reacting tothe privilegingof religion in American culture and
thelaw(Blumenfeld,Joshi,andFairchild2008;Schlosser2003).Likewise,many
of these organizations spring into action precisely when religious privilege
moves from the abstract or implicit into the concrete and blatant,undermining
the rights of secular individuals.Third, secular organizations in the US share a
common goal: to normalize nonreligiosity. In other words, the aim of many of
these organizations is to make it so people who are not religious, whether
they are atheists,² agnostics,³ or those who are unaffiliated with any religion,
can live ordinary lives without fear of unequal and discriminatory treatment.
While in many ways Damon Fowler’s story is a tragedy – a failure of public
schools tofollow the law and protect minorities and a tragicfailure of parental
support–hisstoryalsohelpsdelineatethecharacteristicsoforganizedsecular-
ism.
Beforewegomuchfurther,weshouldbeclearinwhatwemeanby“organ-
ized secularism.” The term“secular” originatedtodistinguish thethingsof this
world (e.g., work, food, sex) from religious things (e.g., prayer, heaven, god).
Secularcanmostsimplybedefinedas“notreligious”(thoughhowwedetermine
whatisreligiousandwhatisn’tremainsamatterofdebate).“Secularism,”inits
primarymeaning,isatheory,philosophy,orideologythatdistinguishesthesec-
ular from other (usually religious) phenomena.⁴ In its most common use, secu-
larismreferstoapoliticalphilosophythatthereshouldbeaseparationbetween
religions and government (Berlinerblau 2013).The logic behind such a separa-
tionisthat,whengovernmentandreligionareintertwined,typicallythereisfa-
voritismtowardcertainreligionsandthereforeimplicitorexplicitdiscrimination
againstotherreligionsandthosewithnoreligion.Secularismcananddoesman-
ifestitselfinmanywaysaroundtheworld,fromFrenchlaïcité(Bowen2013),to
Turkey’s unique restrictions on Islam despite being a predominantly Muslim
country (Hurd 2013), to the supposed “wall of separation” that exists in the
US (Smith 2013). Regardless of the particular manifestation of secularism, the
idea remains that the safest way to manage religiously pluralistic populations
is with a government that is separate and distinct from religion.
Secularism in the sense described above is a neutral term.Over time, how-
ever,partlyinreactiontoculturaland/orstateresistancetosuchneutrality,sec-
By“atheist”wemeanthosewhodonothaveabeliefinagod.
By“agnostic”wemeanthosewhodonotbelievethereisanywaytogainknowledgeabouta
god.
SeetheOxfordDictionaryofAtheismformoredetaileddiscussionoftheseandrelateddefi-
nitions.
