Research On Religion » atheism

Leigh Eric Schmidt on Village Atheists

tonygill — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 09:00:28 +0000

In an era dominated by a Protestant ethos, how did atheists manage to make their presence known? Prof. Leigh Eric Schmidt, a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis and fellow at the Danforth Center on Religion & Politics, joins us to discuss his latest book Village Atheists: How America’s Unbelievers Made Their Way in a Godly Nation. We begin with Prof. Schmidt’s own intellectual journey from studying evangelicals to his latest work on unbelievers in the 19th century (give or take a few decades). We then talk about the religious landscape of the 1800s and the types of social pressure and legal penalties freethinkers faced in expressing their unbelief in Christianity. Noting that Thomas Paine was the first doubter to openly express his views in the public square, Prof. Leigh talks about how a number of other atheists began coming out of the closet by the mid-1800s. He explains that he chose the title Village Atheists as it recognizes the more localized and vernacular style of many of these unbelievers. We review a number of other names that these folks adopted, including freethinkers, liberals, humanists, and infidels – a name initially meant as a derogatory term, but one in which many of them embraced to the point of sponsoring Infidel Conventions. After pointing out a number of common themes that all these atheists shared — e.g., anticlericalism, separation of church & state, promotion of scientific inquiry — we move to a discussion of several of the more colorful characters that represented some of the diverse ways in which freethinkers interacted with their surrounding culture. Leigh covers the life and legacy of Samuel Porter Putnam (the secular pilgrim), Watson Heston (the cartoonist of the movement), and Elmina Drake Slenker (a feminist freethinker ). Prof. Schmidt shares his thoughts about what this history means for our society today as well as what he has learned over the course of his several decades of superb scholarship. Recorded: Nov. 4, 2016.

Village Atheists: How America’s Unbelievers Made Their Way in A Godly Nation, by Leigh Eric Schmidt.

Hearing Things: Religion, Illusion, and the American Enlightenment, by Leigh Eric Schmidt.

Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality, by Leigh Eric Schmidt.

Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays, by Leigh Eric Schmidt.

Holy Fairs: Scottish Communions and American Revivals in the Early Modern Period, by Leigh Eric Schmidt.

Heaven’s Bride: The Unprintable Life of Ida C. Craddock …, by Leigh Eric Schmidt.

Watson Heston’s cartoons on Flickr.

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Joseph O. Baker on American Secularism.

Hunter Baker on Secularism.

Joseph O. Baker on American Secularism

tonygill — Sun, 31 Jul 2016 08:00:36 +0000

The biggest trend in American religiosity in the past two decades has been the increase in “religious nones,” individuals who do not proclaim an affiliation with any particular denomination or faith tradition. We invite Prof. Joseph O. Baker, assistant professor of sociology at Eastern Tennessee State University, to talk about this phenomenon in light of his recent book (with Buster Smith) entitled American Secularism: Cultural Contours of Nonreligious Belief Systems. After a brief chat about his work on the paranormal and other fringe religious movements, we dive into the topic of secularism and Prof. Baker provides a nuanced definition of that term. He actually notes that there are secularisms (plural) and explains what that means. Four categories of individuals with a non-religious cosmic belief system are identified including atheists, agnostics, non-affiliated believers, and cultural religionists. Joseph reveals that you could break these down into more nuanced categories, but sticks with these four basic types for the purposes of our conversation. We then break down the demographics of American secularism. Joseph points out that non-theists tend to be found in the upper social classes and have higher levels of education. Younger individuals tend to fall into the four basic groups of secularists, more so than older generations. Racially, whites and Asians tend to be the most secular, with second generation Asians being the least religious, but 3rd generation Asians looking more religiously similar to whites. African-Americans are the least secular of the major racial categories. Prof. Baker also notes that individuals often shift between categories in a more fluid manner than one might predict, often moving between different identities even within one year’s time. We then review the history of American secularism dating back to Thomas Paine, through the Freethought period of the early 19th century, evolutionary agnosticism coming in the late 1800s, and then seeing a subsiding of secularism during the middle part of the 20th century, with the 1950s being the high-water mark of American religiousness. We then explore the origins of what Joseph calls the Great Abdicating (a term he and Buster Smith hopes sticks). We see a gradual decline in religiousness in the 1960s and ’70s and then becoming more pronounced in the ’90s and early part of the 21st century. Several explanations for this trend are advanced, including political polarization, changes in family structure (e.g., later marriages), and a change in the concept of what “religion” is. This is followed by some of the social and political implications that might arise from increasing secularism. We conclude with some of Prof. Baker’s surprises in this study, including how diverse the category of “secular Americans” really is. Recorded: June 24, 2016.

American Secularism: Cultural Contours of Nonreligious Belief Systems, by Joseph O. Baker and Buster G. Smith.

Paranormal America, by Christopher Bader, Joseph O. Baker, and Carson Mencken.

The American Religious Data Archives.

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Chris Bader on Ghosts, UFOs, and the Paranormal.

Hunter Baker on Secularism.

Hunter Baker on the Past and Future of the Religious Right.

Paul Froese on America’s Four Gods.

Rodney Stark on the Triumph of Faith.

Daniel Libenson on Present and Future Judaism.

Frank Newport on Survey Research and America’s Religiosity.

Barry Hankins on Jesus, Gin, and the Culture Wars.

Tony Carnes on a Journey Through NYC Religions.

David Buckley on the Demand for Clergy in Politics.

Nancy Ellen Abrams on Spirituality & Science

tonygill — Sun, 27 Mar 2016 08:00:05 +0000

Can modern science, particularly our knowledge of the quantum world and dark matter, be reconciled with a notion of God? Nancy Ellen Abrams, an independent scholar and author of A God that Could Be Real, discusses her personal journey from atheism to a unique view of the supernatural. We explore Nancy’s own history through her education as well as struggles with eating disorders, not to mention walking in the world of theoretical physics and cosmology. Ms. Abram’s then leads us through a definition of spirituality that she believes is more consistent with our contemporary understanding of the universe and how our changing scientific knowledge has led to an evolution in the way we envision God. Her theory of God and the universe revolves around a concept of emergent phenomena, and she explains what this means. Nancy also reviews the implications of her ideas for matters of prayer and the afterlife, finally revealing what this all means for humanity as we face new global challenges. Recorded: March 7, 2016.

[NOTE: We here at Research on Religion are trying out a new, condensed description of our podcasts, thus the format above is shorter than in the past. This is, hopefully, to save the editor a bit of time and to incentivize our visitors to give a listen to the guests in their own words.]

A God that Could Be Real: Spirituality, Science, and the Future of Our Planet, by Nancy Ellen Abrams.

The View from the Center of Our Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos, by Joel R. Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams.

The New Universe and the Human Future, by Nancy Ellen Abrams and Joel R. Primack.

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Stephen Barr on Quantum Physics, Religion, and the God Particle.

Rob Moll on Religion and the Brain.

J Warner Wallace on Cold-Case Christianity & Christmas

tonygill — Sun, 14 Dec 2014 09:00:54 +0000

What could a homicide detective, who was an ardent atheist early in his life, tell us about the historical veracity of The Bible? We invite J. Warner Wallace, a real-life detective and author of Cold-Case Christianity, to explain how he came to applying police forensics to the study of Christianity and how it affected his life.

Following a bit of chatter about college football,* as both Jim and Tony are alumni of UCLA, we dive into Jim’s personal history focusing initially on his career as a homicide detective. He talks about his family’s history of being police officers and how he gravitated to detective work and cold cases. A number of his investigations have been shown on shows such as Dateline. Jim talks about a few recent cases he investigated for all of you murder mystery fans (like Tony). Our conversation also covers Jim’s conversion to Christianity beginning around the age 35. While an atheist, he attended church with his wife every now and then, but he started to become curious about the historical nature of Jesus and began employing his investigative skills to look at the evidence not of whether Jesus ever existed (which he did accept), but about Christ’s divinity. Jim notes that his journey to Christianity was a gradual process and he notes some of the barriers he had to overcome to finally yield to belief and become a church planter. We share some general speculations on why some atheists become religious.

We then move into how Jim wrote his book Cold-Case Christianity and some of the contents therein. Jim mentions a few of his influences including Lee Stroebel, and Sean McDowell. This is the part of the interview where we go over what it takes to be a detective and the different kinds of evidence that are needed to convince a jury in a legal proceeding, with an emphasis on indirect (or circumstantial) evidence. We cover several of Jim’s ten important lessons for every detective and how they relate to Christianity. Jim discusses how conspiracies are difficult to maintain and how his examination of both the authors of the Gospel and the Church Fathers would have had a difficult time keeping their stories consistent. We talk about the pressure on individuals to recant their stories about Jesus and how their refusal factors into Jim’s overall body of evidence. He then applies this methodology to the “birth narrative” — i.e. the Christmas story. While noting that Jesus probably not born on December 25, he nonetheless says there is reasons to believe that many aspects of the story are true including an interesting rhetorical reference about the “son of Mary.”

Our interview concludes with what Jim has learned over the past two years following the writing of his book. He shares some thoughts on the importance of communication and challenging individuals to really interrogate their religious beliefs and not just accept them as true because of how you were raised. Recorded: November 10, 2014.

*Tony asks Jim for his prediction of the 2014 UCLA-USC game and he forecasts a Bruins win. He must be a good detective since the final score was 38-20 in favor of the team from Westwood!

Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels, by J. Warner Wallace.

Alive: A Cold-Case Approach to the Resurrection, by J. Warner Wallace (e-book).

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Jim Papandrea on the Early Church Fathers and Patristic Exegesis.

Russell Kleckley on Religion, Science, and Johannes Kepler.

Robert Barr on Quantum Physics, Religion, and the God Particle.

Jeremy Lott on Episcopalians, Ex-Atheists, Health Care, and German Circumcision

tonygill — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 08:00:31 +0000

What’s the news in the world of religion? We check in with author and blogger extraordinaire, Jeremy Lott of RealClearReligion (and other RealClear sites) to catch up with some of the more recent doings and happenings in the US and other parts of the world. We begin by talking about the most recent convention of the Episcopal Church of the USA. That conference produced a number of controversial actions on same-sex marriage, transgendered priests, and funeral rites for pets. We discuss this in the context of Ross Douthat’s New York Times’ column (see below) that Episcopalians are dropping in numbers rapidly and the trend looks gloomy for the future. Jeremy helps to put this in a larger context regarding liberal mainline denominations and the troubles they are facing in retaining members, while Tony wonders why these declining churches don’t adopt “best practices” from growing congregations just as many secular business do. Our continuing discussion on the supposed increase in “nones” (i.e., people declaring no religious affiliation in surveys) prompts Tony to reveal a new research project that he has been working on that deals with decreasing transportation costs. To figure out that link, you will have to listen closely in the podcast. Our conversation then transitions to the issue of atheists recently announcing their religious conversions, including Kaya Oakes who recently wrote a book about her conversion back to Catholicism. Jeremy gives his take on her recent book, pondering why she would go back to Catholicism when many of her ideological and philosophical views don’t match well with Church. All this discussion allows for Tony to help Jeremy with a recent moral quandry he found himself in. Readers of this passage will have to listen deep into the interview to find out what this issue was and the surprising solution your podcast host proposed. Speaking of moral quandries, the next issue to arise in our interview involves the struggle that the Catholic Church and Wheaton College are having with some of the mandates that have come down the pipeline from the Department of Health and Human Services via the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a topic we have addressed a few times previously on our show. Jeremy provides his insight into this matter and discuss what might become of the new lawsuit and what will happen in various election scenarios. We then pivot quickly to talk about the issue of Mormonism in the upcoming presidential election with Jeremy providing his thoughts on that topic, including how evangelicals including Robert Jeffers are coming around to the idea of supporting a Mormon candidate in Mitt Romney. We next deal with an issue that is on the cutting edge of the news — the German circumcision controversy that arose when a four-year old died during this procedure and prompted calls for legally ending the practice. That in turn prompted calls of religious discrimination and Jeremy explains how all of this played out. Finally, Tony poses Jeremy with a question that we presented to other scholars on an earlier podcast: Would you have, as a Christian, fought in US War of Independence? Hear Jeremy’s answer in our closing moments. Recorded: July 19, 2012.

RELATED LINKS

Real Clear Religion. (You can access Real Clear Politics, Real Clear Books, Real Clear Science and other portals at this website as well.)

Jeremy Lott’s Diary on Patheos.com (pithy and profound insights galore).

In Defense of Hypocrisy: Picking Sides in the War on Virtue, by Jeremy A. Lott.

The Warm Bucket Brigade: The Story of the American Vice Presidency, by Jeremy A. Lott.

William F. Buckley (Christian Encouter Series), by Jeremy A. Lott.

I’ll Never Forget It: Memoirs of a Political Accident from East Baltimore, by Marvin Mandel, Jeremy Lott, and Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.

“Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?” by Ross Douthat in The New York Times (July 14, 2012).

“The Church Vanishes,” by Philip Jenkins on Patheos.com.

“Perhaps Atheists Should Be Hitting the Panic Button,” by Timothy Dalrymple on Patheos.com.

Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church, by Kaya Oakes.

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Jeremy Lott on RealClearReligion.

Hunter Baker on the End of Secularism.

Philip Muñoz on Catholic Bishops, Religious Liberty, and Health Care Mandates.

Should Christians Have Fought in the US War of Independence?

Jason Jewell on John Locke & Religious Toleration

tonygill — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:00:16 +0000

John Locke is a name that comes up frequently on our podcast when discussing religious liberty and toleration. To find out more about this great philosopher and political economist, we invite Prof. Jason Jewell to our program to enlighten us as to the life, times, and philosophy of Locke. Jason is the chair of the Department of Humanities at Faulkner University (Alabama) and the creator of The Western Traditon, a blog that is devoted to all things Christian and Classical. We begin our chat by setting the historical table on which Locke was feasting, covering the important events occuring in England and Europe during the 17th century, including the English Civil War, Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the Glorious Revolution. We then discuss Locke’s general intellectual contributions to Western civilization and contrast him to another famed philosopher of the 1600s, Thomas Hobbes. Our discussion then leads to Locke’s (First) Letter Concerning Toleration, which Tony admits to being the longest “letter” he has ever read. Jason explains that since they didn’t have television or football back then, intellectuals usually spent their time writing. We look into Locke’s thoughts on whether or not individuals can be coerced into their faith and how this affects Locke’s view of church-state relations, followed by Locke’s views on religious toleration in an environment of increasing pluralism. Tony pushes Prof. Jewell on the issue of Locke’s toleration as it related to Catholics and how Locke may have viewed Mormons had he lived today. (Hat tip to Prof. Ruth Arnell, an avid listener, for suggesting that question on our Facebook page.) We wrap up by reviewing what Jason has been doing at Faulkner University and on his blog, The Western Tradition, as it pertains to the canonical readings of Western literature. Jason disappoints Tony by indicating that The Political Origins of Religious Liberty did not make the list of all-time classics. Listeners are encouarged to join Jason Jewell’s journey as he tackles several thousand pages of reading. Recorded: November 22, 2011.

RELATED LINKS

The Western Tradition, Jason Jewell’s blog where he is reading and reviewing the great works of Western literature.

Prof. Jewell’s specific post on John Locke on The Western Tradition.

Faulkner University.

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Allen Hertzke on Religious Liberty.

Mark David Hall on Roger Sherman, Puritan Patriot.

Roger Finke on Religious Persecution.

Paul Froese on America’s Four Gods

tonygill — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 09:00:38 +0000

Prof. Paul Froese — associate professor of sociology at Baylor University and research fellow at the Institute for Studies of Religion — discusses his critically-acclaimed book America’s Four Gods (co-authored with Chris Bader). Unlike many surveys of religion that simply ask if a person believes in God, these authors examine how different people conceptualize God and find four relatively distinct images that Americans have of God based upon two important dimensions — the level of engagment that people think God has with this world, and the extent they think God is judgmental of humanity. We cover the four principal images of God, including: Authoritative God (engaged and judgmental); Benevolent God (engaged, but less judgmental); Critical God (not engaged, but judgmental); and Distant God (not engaged and not judgmental). Paul details the socio-demographic and denominational characteristics associated with each of the four conceptualizations of God and discusses how different regions of the United States tend to favor different visions of God. We further talk about how these foundational images affect our beliefs in different areas of life including cultural issues such as abortion and adultery, the relationship between science and faith, support for social welfare policies, and how people view natural disasters and war. Your host took the authors’ online survey and reveals what those questions said about his image of God. Recorded: December 15, 2010.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Paul Froese’s website at Baylor University.

The America’s Four Gods website (including the God test and Images of God).

America’s Four Gods: What We Say about God & What that Says about Us by Paul Froese and Chris Bader.

The Plot to Kill God: Findings from the Soviet Experiment in Secularization by Paul Froese.

RELATED PODCASTS

James Wellman on Evangelical versus Liberal Christians.

Jay Hein on the Faith-Based and Community Iniative.

Chris Bader on Ghosts, UFOs, and the Paranormal.

Catherine Wanner on Religion in Russia

tonygill — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:00:58 +0000

How successful were the leaders of the Soviet Union in eradicating religion? Are the countries of the former Soviet Union experience a religious revival? Catherine Wanner, associate professor of history, anthropology, and religious studies at the Pennsylvania State University, recounts the history of religion in Russia and the Ukraine from the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 to present. The Soviet Union’s policies aimed at secularizing society are discussed — from suppression to educational efforts to atheist organizations. Despite the brutal repression of churches (particularly the Russian Orthodox Church), Prof. Wanner shows how rulers such as Stalin, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev pursued rather pragmatic policies toward religious groups at times. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the general policies toward religion changed, initially allowing a number of missionary groups to enter. However, in 1997 a new law in Russia restricted what various religious groups could do. Prof. Wanner shares her thoughts on the Ukraine throughout the podcast as well. Find out whether these two countries are experiencing a religious rennaissance and what factors may be affecting the growth of belief and the future of disbelief. Recorded: May 11, 2010.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Catherine Wanner’s website.

Communities of the Converted: Ukranians and Global Evangelism by Catherine Wanner.

Burden of Dreams: History and Identity in Post-Soviet Ukraine by Catherine Wanner.

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James Felak on John Paul II and Communism

Karrie Koesel on Religion and Politics in China