Abstract
Contemporary growth in non-religious populations has given rise to novel communities with unique perspectives on social issues. We describe a study of diversity within speakers at conferences organised by and attended by the atheist community. We analyse trends in diversity of 630 speakers, corresponding to 1223 speaking slots at 48 conferences conducted for the purpose of discussing or espousing non-religious views over the period 2003–2014. Diversity among speakers (defined using multivariate statistics in terms of the representation of women and non-white people) increased significantly over time during the period studied. This broadening participation may have arisen from interventions to address issues of representation or may simply reflect a generational shift in the demographics of the community. However, on-going problems with data collection and the imbalance in the social cost of identifying as non-religious between different social groups continue to impede efforts to reduce barriers to equality within this growing movement.
Highlights
The number of people both not identifying as religious and actively identifying as nonreligious has increased over the past 10 years (WIN-Gallup International Poll 2012)
We propose that the current state of the atheist community can be better understood by drawing parallels with the better-studied case of academia
We show that the same is true for the atheist community, which has succeeded in significantly increasing the representation of women and non-white members of the community at prestigious conferences
Summary
The number of people both not identifying as religious (a passive non-religiosity) and actively identifying as nonreligious (an active non-religiosity) has increased over the past 10 years (WIN-Gallup International Poll 2012). Would you say they make a little difference, some difference, a great difference or no difference?” respond with “some” or “great difference” (Voas and Crockett 2005). Taken together, these two statistics suggest that while a large number of UK residents identify with a religion, their worldviews are not conventionally religious. There is a consistent generational decline in religiosity in some countries leading to ever-decreasing proportions of people adhering to religious beliefs (Voas and Crockett 2005)
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