Becoming Atheist: Humanism and the Secular West

by Callum G. Brown

Overview

The Western World is becoming atheist. In the space of three generations churchgoing and religious belief have become alien to millions. We are in the midst of one of humankind's great cultural changes. How has this happened?

Becoming Atheist explores how people of the sixties' generation have come to live their lives as if there is no God. It tells the life narratives of those from Britain, Western Europe, the United States and Canada who came from Christian, Jewish and other backgrounds to be without faith. Based on interviews with 85 people born in 18 countries, Callum Brown shows how gender, ethnicity and childhood shape how individuals lose religion.

This book moves from statistical and broad cultural analysis to use frank, humorous and sometimes harrowing personal testimony. Becoming Atheist exposes people's role in renegotiating their own identities, and fashioning a secular and humanist culture for the Western world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474224529
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/12/2017
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Callum G. Brown is Professor of Late Modern European History at the University of Glasgow, UK. He is author of The Death of Christian Britain: Understanding Secularisation 1800-2000 (2nd edition 2009) and Religion and the Demographic Revolution: Women and Secularisation in Canada, UK, Ireland and USA since the 1960s (2012).

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Narratives of Belief and Unbelief
3. The Atheist Child
4. The Silent and Indifferent Atheist
5. Women, Feminism and Becoming Faithless
6. Men, Reason and Radicalism
7. Atheism and Ethnicity
8. The Humanist Condition
Sources
Index

Editorial Reviews

"This will be a useful resource for those interested in secularism and humanism." - CHOICE

"A social and cultural historian, Brown (a specialist in late modern European history, Univ. of Glasgow, UK) has written extensively on secularism, humanism, and atheism. Part of a project that includes Religion and the Demographic Revolution: Women and Secularisation in Canada, Ireland, UK and USA since the 1960s (CH, Jun'13, 50-5537), the present book analyzes individual narratives of loss of religion and identifies patterns based on the narratives. Those studied reflect a wide range of positions about religion, from those who are anti-religion to those who are simply not concerned with religion. Brown provides a framework for understanding the positive impact of secularism in human development based on interviews with people from the US, Canada, and the UK and born between the 1920s and 1960s. The larger patterns diverge secondary to gender and ethnicity, but the whole is considered in Western Christian context. This will be a useful resource for those interested in secularism and humanism. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty." - V. M. Ehret, Mercyhurst University

From the Publisher