Posted on by katieaston News

Publication: “Who are the nones?”

The Washington post have asked today “Who are the nones?” Surely a question pertinent to the network and a worthy subject for the WP.

Who are the ‘Nones’?

More than 13 million atheists and agnostics and nearly 33 million claim no particular affiliation. About 20 percent of U.S. adults say they had no religious affiliation, an increase from two decades ago when about 8 percent of people were deemed so-called “nones,” according to a new study released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life. The group will be the subject of an upcoming PBS miniseries this month….read more in the WP website or join in discussion about the article on twitter of facebook #nonreligion #thensrn

 

Posted on by katieaston News, Publications

Podcast: Lois Lee on Nonreligion

Lois Lee talks to the members of the Religious Studies Project team about her views on researching nonreligion, more details and the podcast can be found on the RSP website: 

“It is fast becoming a tradition in ‘nonreligion’ research to acknowledge that Colin Campbell’s seminal call in Toward a Sociology of Irreligion (1971) for a widespread sociological analysis’ of ‘nonreligion’ had until very recently been ignored (Bullivant and Lee 2012). Although there has been a steady stream of output on secularisation, and more recently on atheism, these publications rarely dealt with ‘nonreligion’ as it is ‘actually lived, expressed, or experienced […]in the here and now’ (Zuckerman 2010, viii). One scholar who has been leading the way in theorising and empirically populating this emerging field is Lois Lee, the founding director of the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network, who joins Chris and Ethan in this podcast, recorded in May 2012 in Edinburgh.

Posted on by Per Smith News

Conference Guides: Nonreligion at AAR 2012 (1st guide)

The NSRN is pleased to announce an additional service for scholars attending conferences not specifically focused on nonreligion, but still covering the field to some extent or another — the publication of conference guides. These guides will contain a distillation of all the sessions/panels and individual papers relating to the field of nonreligion scheduled for the upcoming conference. We will announce the publication of new guides in our news feed (like we are now) but we will also archive them on the new Conference Guides page. If you have any questions or suggestions about the conference guides please direct them to Per Smith.

Without further ado, here is the very first conference guide:

American Academy of Religion (AAR) 2012

Posted on by katieaston News and Events

Event: “Postsecular Stirrings? Geographies of hope in amongst neoliberalism

The School of Geography at Queen Mary University of London invites you to Postsecular stirrings

The NINTH DAVID M SMITH LECTURE to be held on 15 November 2012, 6:00 – 7:00pm at David Sizer Lecture Theatre, Bancroft Building, Mile End Campus.

The public lecture “Postsecular Stirrings? Geographies of hope in amongst neoliberalism” will be presented by Professor Paul Cloke, Professor of Human Geography, University of Exeter.

A wine reception will follow the lecture.

We hope you will be able to join us at this FREE event.
(http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/docs/84389.pdf)

Please feel free to forward this invitation widely in your department and to your contacts.

RSVP: a.tan@qmul.ac.uk

 

Dr Amy Tan
Research and Teaching Officer
School of Geography
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS

Posted on by katieaston News and Events

‘As an atheist I feel like a second class citizen’ Lorna Mumford: doctoral student, University College London

Lorna Mumford is presenting her research on nonreligious communities at the Leicester Speaks event, more details of the event can be found on the site and a programme is below:

Leicester Speaks Week
8-14th October, 2012
Contributions from Leicester Secular Society (LSS) and Leicester Sea of Faith (SoF)
For more information please contact allan-hayes@ntlworld.com, 0116 241 8747

In Secular Hall, Humberstone Gate, LE1 1WB

Monday 8th October 7.30pm (LSS)
Why people of faith should embrace secularism not fear it
Terry Sanderson, President National Secular Society (http://goo.gl/UECDe)

Tuesday 9th October 7.30pm (LSS)
‘As an atheist I feel like a second class citizen’
Lorna Mumford: doctoral student, University College London
researching non-religious value systems and notions of “the good” (http://goo.gl/qbCqj)

Thursday 11th October 7.30pm(LSS)
Multiculturalism ‘past its sell-by date’(http://goo.gl/7Mvf0)
Professor Ted Cantle CBE
The Cantle report into the northern riots of 2001 drew attention to the “segregated” communities living ‘parallel’ lives. His new book, Interculturalism: The New Era of Cohesion and Diversity(http://goo.gl/i0zk), confronts the failures of multiculturalism and establishes a new concept for managing community relations in a world defined by globalization and super-diversity.

Friday 12th October 7.30pm(LSS)
Is the Welfare State an impossible Dream?
Stephen Lloyd: leading solicitor in charity law (http://goo.gl/uk32E) ;
Stephen made a forceful contribution to a recent St Paul’s Institute seminar (http://goo.gl/mX21g).

Sunday 14th October 6.30pm for a 7pm start (LSS)
Woody Guthrie: Hard Times and Hard Travellin’
Will Kaufman (http://goo.gl/F3mDC)
Tickets £8 guests / £6 members and concessions, from Mike 07722 782727


 in Leicester Adult Education College 2 Wellington Street, Leicester LE1 6HL

Saturday 13th October 10.30am (LSS)
One Humanity – making a better future together
Dr Allan Hayes FRSA (board member and past president, Leicester Secular Society; trustee, British Humanist Association; trustee, Sea of Faith Network; humanist representative on Leicester Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education; humanist on St Philips Religion and Belief Roadshow; life member, National Secular Society)

Saturday 13th October 2 pm (SoF)
The Church is for Sceptics too!
A conversation with audience participation between
Rev David Jennings (Rector of Burbage with Aston Flamville, Canon Theologian at Leicester Cathedral) and
Rev Tony Windross (Vicar of Hythe, Kent, author of ‘The Thoughtful Guide to Faith’ )
Recent writings: http://goo.gl/e9u77 and http://goo.gl/gD1Uq

Posted on by amhennessey News

New Events Report – 2012 NSRN Conference: ‘Non-Religion and the Secular: New Horizons for Multidisciplinary Research’

The NSRN announces the publication of a new Events Report by Simeon Wallis (University of Warwick) on the 2012 NSRN Conference: ‘Non-Religion and the Secular: New Horizons for Multidisciplinary Research’ (July 4-6, 2012).

Please see the details and link to the document below:

A Report on the 2012 NSRN Conference: ‘Non-Religion and the Secular: New Horizons for Multidisciplinary Research’
Goldsmiths, University of London, 4-6 July 2012
Report by Simeon Wallis, University of Warwick
Published by the NSRN, 22 September 2012

Posted on by katieaston Publications

Publication: The Secular Studies series, Phil Zuckerman

“The launch  of the NYUP’s book series on Secular Studies has just been announced – details attached. An exciting development in the rising fortunes of our research into nonreligiosity – the hundreds of millions in the world who aren’t religious but who nevertheless interact with religious people and engage in ‘religious-like’ practices every day. Will be of interest to lots of you, as readers and contributors.” Lois Lee

The Secular Studies series is meant to provide a home for works in the emerging field of secular studies. Rooted in a social science perspective, it will explore and illuminate various aspects of secular life, ranging from how secular people live their lives and how they construct their identities to the activities of secular social movements, from the demographics of secularism to the ways in which secularity intersects with other social processes, identities, patterns, and issues.

Secular_series

Posted on by katieaston News and Events

Events: IWM events in the period September 17 – October 7, 2012

 

 

 

Below you will find information on the IWM events in the period September 17 – October 7, 2012 for which some of you may be interested in attending. Please, let them know if you would like to attend an event by emailing upcomingevents@iwm-list.at and indicating the title or date of the selected event(s). Alternatively, you could call them at 01/313 58-0.

 

Tuesday, September 18, 6:00pm

Monthly Lecture

Nicolas de Warren

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Leuven, Belgium and IWM guest

THE ELDER ZOSIMA’S SECRET.

Patočka and Monotheism

[ more information… ]

 

Tuesday, October 2, 6:00pm

Vortrag Reihe “Beyond Myth and Enlightenment. Re-thinking Religion in the Modern World”

Jean Greisch

Philosoph und Theologe, Guardini Stiftung, Berlin

ÜBERDENKEN UND EINGEDENKEN.

Zu Jacques Derridas Religionsbegriff

Mit Unterstützung des Österreichischen Wissenschaftsfonds FWF

 

Friday, October 5, 4:30pm

Series “Colloquia on Secularism”

Andreas Andreopolous

Reader in Orthodox Christianity and Programme Leader of the MTh in Orthodox Studies, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Winchester

SACRED AND SECULAR GEOGRAPHY.

The Depiction of Space in 14th Century Maps and Icons

[ more information… ]

____________________________________

All events take place in the IWM library if not stated otherwise.

Please register via phone: 0043 (1) 313580, or e-mail: mailto:events@iwm.at

For further details on all IWM events please see the Calendar of Events.

You can also join us on Facebook.

Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen

Institute for Human Sciences

Spittelauer Lände 3

A – 1090 Wien

tel.: (+43 1) 313 58 – 0

fax: (+43 1) 313 58 – 60

 

 

 

 

Posted on by katieaston Calls for Papers, News and Events

Call for Papers: Engaging Sociology of Religion

BSA Sociology of Religion conference stream, Annual Conference of the British Sociological Association

Grand Connaught Rooms, London, 3-5 April 2013

How does sociology of religion engage with topical issues affecting contemporary society? How can field-specific theories and models help in understanding religion’s role in recent global and local social movements (the Occupy movement, transitions in the Arab world, London riots in 2011), the economic crisis and austerity, social mobility, the ‘Big Society’, cultural pluralisation, climate change, and so on? How have – and how should – sociologists of religion engage broader public arenas? What could be the specific contribution of sociology of religion to public discussion? We invite papers that address topical issues such as the above, but also papers on core issues in the sociology of religion, including – but not limited to – the following:

* ‘Public’ Sociology of Religion

* Religion, Social Movements and Protest

* Religion and Welfare (including Faith-Based Organisations)

* Religion and inequalities (gender, ethnicity, class)

* Religion and media

* Religion and State in the 21st Century

* Social Theory and Religion

* Secularism and secularisation

Abstract submission to be completed at: www.britsoc.co.uk/events/Conference

Deadline for abstract submission: 5 October 2012.

E-mail: bsaconference@britsoc.org.uk for conference enquiries; t.hjelm@ucl.ac.uk  or j.m.mckenzie@durham.ac.uk for stream enquiries. Please DO NOT send abstracts to these addresses.

 

Posted on by katieaston Publications

Publication: Proportional Prayers in the Scottish Parliament

Publication from one of the network members, Norman Bonney, whcih also provided the basis for his recent presentation at the Religion and Society conference New Forms of Public Religion for those who missed it.

In an article in Parliamentary Affairs, Norman Bonney reports an analysis of the first 12 years (1999-2011) of the Scottish Parliament’s Time for Reflection which was intended to replace the Anglican daily prayers of the Westminster UK Parliament with weekly prayer or meditation time for religions, denominations and others in proportion to the pattern of belief in Scotland. Even though Christian contributions are statistically over-represented contributions from pentecostal churches tend to be substantially under-represented. The desire to be manifestly inclusive towards the several small non-Christian religions on a near annual basis means that they are considerably over-represented. The substantial non-religious population which is currently estimated at 43% is markedly under-represented and humanists appear far less than small non-Christian denominations. Analysing Time for Reflection as an outcome of the role of churches and faiths in the movement to establish the Parliament the article also explores the rules which were developed to limit and shape religious and belief expression according to dominant political norms in this parliamentary context as a new form of UK state and civil religion.

 

Advance online access is available on the Oxford journal site  (11 April 2012)