Africana Religions beyond Belief

Abstract

Abstract The authors attend to understudied Africana nonbeliever postures—including humanist, atheist, freethought, and nontheist—calling the field of Africana religions to study this quantitatively small, yet significant life orientation. The article includes a survey of Africana nonbeliever organizations and voices in the West, an overview of atheism and irreligious affiliation in certain African countries, and an argument that a critical methodological approach, augmented by a concern for hermeneutical variation, provides a platform for further research into Africana nonbelief.