The Diversity of Nonreligion: Meaning-Making, Activism and Towards a Theory of Nonreligious Identity and Group Formation

Abstract

AbstractThis article draws from interviews with 67 nonreligious millennials across six countries in 25 European towns and cities, part of a research programme Understanding Unbelief This research was made possible through a grant from the John Templeton Foundation (JTF grant ID#60624 based at the University of Kent). which aims at mapping the global diversity of nonreligion. We contribute to this by examining the diversity of beliefs amongst nonreligious millennials across a range of societies from North West to South Central Europe. We examine how they find and make meaning in their lives and how they deal with death and other existential issues. We further investigate how social and political context and the laws and practices regulating nonreligion shape emergent nonreligious forms, using the example of Poland, and build on the Polish case to examine nonreligious identity building, social activism and institution formation. Finally, we step back to our international comparisons to propose an explanation of the conditions shaping nonreligious identity and group formation.KeywordsNonreligionNonreligiousPolitics of religionIdentity politicsReligious diversityMulticulturalismPublicisation