Atheists in America

by Edited by Melanie E. Brewster

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Pub Date Jun 10 2014 | Archive Date Jul 15 2014

Description

This collection features more than two dozen narratives by atheists hailing from different backgrounds across the United States. Ranging in age, race, sexual orientation, and firmness in their irreligiosity, these individuals address religious deconversion, community building, parenting, and romantic relationships, providing a nuanced look at living without God in a predominantly Christian nation.

These narratives illuminate the complexities and consequences for nonbelievers in the United States. Stepping away from religious belief can have serious social and existential ramifications, forcing atheists to discover new ways to live meaningfully without the guidance of a religious community. Yet shedding the constraints of a formal belief system can also be a freeing experience. Ultimately, this volume shows that claiming an atheist identity is anything but an act isolated from the other dimensions of the self. Upending common social, political, and psychological assumptions about atheists, this collection helps carve out a more accepted space for this minority to live within American society.

This collection features more than two dozen narratives by atheists hailing from different backgrounds across the United States. Ranging in age, race, sexual orientation, and firmness in their...

Advance Praise

"A unique contribution to the literature on atheism touching on topics rarely discussed or researched. I don't know of any other book on the market that seeks to bring together individual narratives of de-conversion and the challenges faced afterwards"

—Amarnath Amarasingam, York University

"According to a 2012 Pew Forum survey, the fastest growing religious cohort in America are the “Nones”—those with no religious affiliation—at 20 percent, or 48 million people. Of these, 14.4 million are atheists. Who are these people and how did they lose their religion? Atheists in America—a vital new contribution to the growing literature on nonbelievers—reveals in their own words how a wide diversity of people learned to live lives of integrity and meaning without God. The book also grants readers ready to hear it the message that not only is it okay not to believe, being an atheist can be both enlightening and liberating."

—Michael Shermer, Editor of Skeptic

Marketing Plan

Melanie E. Brewster is assistant professor of psychology and education at Columbia University. Her research focuses on marginalized groups and examines how experiences of discrimination and stigma may shape the mental health of minority group members, such as LGBTQ individuals, atheists, and people of color.

Melanie E. Brewster is assistant professor of psychology and education at Columbia University. Her research focuses on marginalized groups and examines how experiences of discrimination and stigma...