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Posted on by editornsrn News and Events

NSRN 2025 conference CfP – Extended

Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network Conference

8-10 September 2025

Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia

Extended deadline for session and paper proposals: 31 March 2025

Scholarly discussions on nonreligion often begin by noting that nonreligion and its related phenomena are primarily studied within Western, particularly Anglophone contexts, with recent efforts to expand global perspectives. However, these broad categorizations – “Western,” “Anglophone,” or “global North or South” – oversimplify the notable diversity of nonreligion within those demarcations. Various phenomena that are considered nonreligious emerge from complex intersections of national histories, political contexts, and religious influences – or the absence thereof – while simultaneously being shaped by global media and generational dynamics.

The Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network (NSRN) invites paper and session proposals for its 2025 conference, Nonreligion and Secularity at Cultural Crossroads. We aim to explore how secularity and nonreligion function and are manifested in various contexts, social and cultural interconnections, and power relations. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Theoretical and methodological challenges of studying nonreligion and secularity – (alternative) conceptualizations of nonreligion; liminalities and ambiguous forms of nonreligion; nonreligion and language
  • Nonreligion among minority and majority populations – how its reach affects the perceived boundaries of nonreligion and its “important others”
  • Virtual secularities and nonreligion – how nonreligion is shaped within social networks on the internet
  • Secularity and state – different aspects of the position of non-religion in different states; regional and global forms and manifestations of nonreligion
  • Nonreligion and values – nonreligion in changing cultural landscapes and how the cultural context influences what is considered nonreligion
  • Nonreligion and demographics – the aspects of age, gender, and generations, socialization into nonreligion

We welcome scholars at any career stage (we especially encourage PhD-students) from sociology, anthropology, religious studies, demography, and other fields to apply and bring interdisciplinary approaches and methodologies.

The 2025 NSRN conference will take place as a face-to-face conference that will be held in partnership with the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia, and Comenius University in Bratislava.

We expect the participants who present their papers, to join us in person in Bratislava, Slovakia from 8-10 September 2025. However, there will be an opportunity to listen to the presentations and ask questions via Zoom throughout the conference. There will be no fee to attend the 2025 NSRN conference either in person or virtually.

Instructions for submitting session and paper proposals:

Each individual may only present one paper at the 2025 conference, on top of being a co-author on other papers, chairing/organizing a session, and/or being part of an author-meets-critics session. Each session will be allocated a 1h30min time slot during the conference.

To submit a paper proposal:

  • Title of the paper
  • Abstract of the paper (max. 150 words)
  • First and last name, institutional affiliation, title/position, and contact e-mail address of the primary author
  • First and last name(s), institutional affiliation(s), title(s)/position(s), and contact e-mail address(es) of the co-author(s) (if applicable)

To submit a session proposal (with 3-4 papers and a chair):

  • Title of the session
  • Abstract of the session (max. 150 words)
  • First and last name(s), institutional affiliation(s), title(s)/position(s), and contact e-mail address(es) of the session chair and organizer
  • Titles of each of the (3-4) papers
  • Abstracts of each of the (3-4) papers (150 words max. each)
  • First and last names, institutional affiliations, titles/positions, and contact e-mail addresses for each paper’s primary author and co-author(s)

To submit an author-meets-critics session:

  • Book title, publication year, and press
  • Book abstract (150 words max.)
  • First and last name, institutional affiliation, title/position, and contact e-mail address of the session organizer
  • First and last name(s), institutional affiliation(s), title(s)/position(s), and contact

e-mail address(es) of the book’s author(s)

  • First and last names, institutional affiliations, titles/positions, and contact e-mail addresses for each of the (2-4) critics

All paper and session proposals must be e-mailed to nsrnconference2025@gmail.com by the end of the day on 31 March 2025. Notifications of acceptance will be e-mailed to conference participants by April 15, 2025. Preliminary program will be sent out by the end of May 2025, registration date is June 30, 2025 at the latest.

For any questions, please contact us by e-mail at nsrnconference2025@gmail.com.

Leave a comment Posted on by espengilsvik News and Events

NSRN 2025 Conference – CfP

Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network Conference

8-10 September 2025

Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia

Scholarly discussions on nonreligion often begin by noting that nonreligion and its related phenomena are primarily studied within Western, particularly Anglophone contexts, with recent efforts to expand global perspectives. However, these broad categorizations – “Western,” “Anglophone,” or “global North or South” – oversimplify the notable diversity of nonreligion within those demarcations. Various phenomena that are considered nonreligious emerge from complex intersections of national histories, political contexts, and religious influences – or the absence thereof – while simultaneously being shaped by global media and generational dynamics.

The Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network (NSRN) invites paper and session proposals for its 2025 conference, Nonreligion and Secularity at Cultural Crossroads. We aim to explore how secularity and nonreligion function and are manifested in various contexts, social and cultural interconnections, and power relations. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Theoretical and methodological challenges of studying nonreligion and secularity – (alternative) conceptualizations of nonreligion; liminalities and ambiguous forms of nonreligion; nonreligion and language
  • Nonreligion among minority and majority populations – how its reach affects the perceived boundaries of nonreligion and its “important others”
  • Virtual secularities and nonreligion – how nonreligion is shaped within social networks on the internet
  • Secularity and state – different aspects of the position of non-religion in different states; regional and global forms and manifestations of nonreligion
  • Nonreligion and values – nonreligion in changing cultural landscapes and how the cultural context influences what is considered nonreligion
  • Nonreligion and demographics – the aspects of age, gender, and generations, socialization into nonreligion

We welcome scholars at any career stage (we especially encourage PhD-students) from sociology, anthropology, religious studies, demography, and other fields to apply and bring interdisciplinary approaches and methodologies.

The 2025 NSRN conference will take place as a face-to-face conference that will be held in partnership with the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia, and Comenius University in Bratislava.

We expect the participants who present their papers, to join us in person in Bratislava, Slovakia from 8-10 September 2025. However, there will be an opportunity to listen to the presentations and ask questions via Zoom throughout the conference. There will be no fee to attend the 2025 NSRN conference either in person or virtually.

Instructions for submitting session and paper proposals:

Each individual may only present one paper at the 2025 conference, on top of being a co-author on other papers, chairing/organizing a session, and/or being part of an author-meets-critics session. Each session will be allocated a 1h30min time slot during the conference.

To submit a paper proposal:

  • Title of the paper
  • Abstract of the paper (max. 150 words)
  • First and last name, institutional affiliation, title/position, and contact e-mail address of the primary author
  • First and last name(s), institutional affiliation(s), title(s)/position(s), and contact e-mail address(es) of the co-author(s) (if applicable)

To submit a session proposal (with 3-4 papers and a chair):

  • Title of the session
  • Abstract of the session (max. 150 words)
  • First and last name(s), institutional affiliation(s), title(s)/position(s), and contact e-mail address(es) of the session chair and organizer
  • Titles of each of the (3-4) papers
  • Abstracts of each of the (3-4) papers (150 words max. each)
  • First and last names, institutional affiliations, titles/positions, and contact e-mail addresses for each paper’s primary author and co-author(s)

To submit an author-meets-critics session:

  • Book title, publication year, and press
  • Book abstract (150 words max.)
  • First and last name, institutional affiliation, title/position, and contact e-mail address of the session organizer
  • First and last name(s), institutional affiliation(s), title(s)/position(s), and contact

e-mail address(es) of the book’s author(s)

  • First and last names, institutional affiliations, titles/positions, and contact e-mail addresses for each of the (2-4) critics

All paper and session proposals must be e-mailed to nsrnconference2025@gmail.com by the end of the day on March 14, 2025. Notifications of acceptance will be e-mailed to conference participants by April 15, 2025. Preliminary program will be sent out by the end of May 2025, registration date is June 30, 2025 at the latest.

For any questions, please contact us by e-mail at nsrnconference2025@gmail.com.

1 Comment Posted on by Josh News, News and Events

Workshop for PhD candidates at the University of Zurich

The Emmy Noether-project “The Diversity of Nonreligion” is organizing a workshop for PhD candidates at the Department of Social Anthropology & Cultural Studies (ISEK) at the University of Zurich. The Workshop will take place on the 13th and 14th of November, right after the NSRN lecture of Jörg Stolz, ‘Outline of a Theory of Religious-Secular Competition‘, on the 12th of November.
The participants of the workshop are PhD students in the fields of social anthropology, sociology, and religious studies, who all study nonreligious, secular and religious phenomena and their entanglements. The PhD projects include studies with a regional focus on China, Germany, India, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Sweden, and the United States.

Posted on by Chris News

58 New Additions to the NSRN Bibliography

It may be Christmas Eve, but we have just added 58 new items to our ever-growing bibliography. They are pasted in below for your perusal.

If you notice any omissions or errors in the bibliography, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Chris.

  • Alicino, F. “Western Secularism in an Age of Religious Diversity.” International Review of Sociology 22, no. 2 (2012): 305–322.
  • Ardagh, D. “Secular, Theistic and Religious Ethical Rationales for the Relief of Extreme Poverty.” Australian Journal of Professional and Applied Ethics 12, no. 1; /2 (2010): 40–54.
  • Bekke-Hansen, S., C.G. Pedersen, K. Thygesen, S. Christensen, L.C. Waelde, and R. Zachariae. “Faith and Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Among Heart Attack Patients in a Secular Society.” Complementary Therapies in Medicine 20, no. 5 (2012): 306–315.
  • Billig, Michael. Banal Nationalism. London: SAGE, 1995.
  • Boeve, L. “Religious Education in a Post-secular and post-Christian Context.” Journal of Beliefs and Values 33, no. 2 (2012): 143–156.
  • Bowie, B. “Human Rights Education and the Post Secular Turn.” Journal of Beliefs and Values 33, no. 2 (2012): 195–205.
  • Bowie, B., A. Peterson, and L. Revell. “Editorial : Post-secular Trends: Issues in Education and Faith.” Journal of Beliefs and Values 33, no. 2 (2012): 139–141.
  • Bronk, A. “Secular, Secularization, and Secularism. A Review Article.” Anthropos 107, no. 2 (2012): 578–582.
  • Brown, Callum G. “Podcast: The People of No Religion.” The Religious Studies Project, December 19, 2012. http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/brown/.
  • Bryan, H. “Reconstructing the Teacher as a Post Secular Pedagogue : a Consideration of the New Teachers’ Standards.” Journal of Beliefs and Values 33, no. 2 (2012): 217–228.
  • Burley, M. “Atheism and the Gift of Death.” Religious Studies 48, no. 4 (2012): 533–546.
  • Cahaner, L., and Y. Mansfield. “A Voyage from Religiousness to Secularity and Back : a Glimpse into `Haredi’ Tourists.” Journal of Heritage Tourism 7, no. 4 (2012): 301–321.
  • Carr, D. “Post-secularism, Religious Knowledge and Religious Education.” Journal of Beliefs and Values 33, no. 2 (2012): 157–168.
  • Castelli, M. “Faith Dialogue as a Pedagogy for a Post Secular Religious Education.” Journal of Beliefs and Values 33, no. 2 (2012): 207–216.
  • Connelly, Louise, Christopher R. Cotter, Frans Jespers, Ethan Gjerset Quillen, Steven J. Sutcliffe, and Teemu Taira. “Podcast: Studying Nonreligion Within Religious Studies.” The Religious Studies Project, December 17, 2012. http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/2012/12/17/podcast-studying-nonreligion-within-religious-studies/.
  • Cornelissen, T., and U. Jirjahn. “Religion and Earnings : Is It Good to Be an Atheist with Religious Parental Background?” Economics Letters 117, no. 3 (2012): 905–908.
  • Cotter, Christopher R. “Secular Sacreds and the Sacred Secular.” The Religious Studies Project (November 7, 2012). http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/2012/11/07/christopher-r-cotter-secular-sacreds/.
  • La Cour, P., and P. Gotke. “Understanding of the Word “Spirituality’’ by Theologians Compared to Lay People : An Empirical Study from a Secular Region.” Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy 18, no. 3–4 (2012): 97–109.
  • Daly, E. “The Ambiguous Reach of Constitutional Secularism in Republican France : Revisiting the Idea of Laicite and Political Liberalism as Alternatives.” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 32, no. 3 (2012): 583–608.
  • Davie, Grace. “Podcast: Belief and Unbelief: Two Sides of a Coin.” The Religious Studies Project, December 19, 2012. http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/davie/.
  • Van Die, M. “Secularism and Freedom of Conscience.” Journal of Church and State 54, no. 4 (2012): 648–650.
  • Eccles, Janet. “The Religious and Non-Religious Commitments of Older Women in the UK: Towards a New Typology.” Journal of Contemporary Religion 27, no. 3 (2012): 469–484. doi:10.1080/13537903.2012.722296.
  • Forbes, K.F., and E.M. Zampelli. “The Impacts of Religion, Political Ideology, and Social Capital on Religious and Secular Giving : Evidence from the 2006 Social Capital Community Survey.” Applied Economics 45, no. 17 (2013): 2481–2490.
  • Fox, J. “The Last Bastion of Secularism? Government Religion Policy in Western Democracies, 1990 to 2008.” Journal of Contemporary European Studies 20, no. 2 (2012): 161–180.
  • Francis, L.J., G. Penny, and S. Baker. “Defining and Assessing Spiritual Health : A Comparative Study Among 13- to 15-Year-Old Pupils Attending Secular Schools, Anglican Schools, and Private Christian Schools in England and Wales.” Peabody Journal of Education 87, no. 3 (2012): 351–367.
  • Garral, M.D. “The Possibility of Agnosticism : Russell’s Retreat from Atheism.” International Philosophical Quarterly 52, no. 3(207) (2012): 355–372.
  • Georgellis, Y., and T. Lange. “Traditional Versus Secular Values and the Job-Life Satisfaction Relationship Across Europe.” British Journal of Management 23, no. 4 (2012): 437–454.
  • Gul, A. “Egyptian Muslims Should Embrace Secularism.” New Perspectives Quarterly 29, no. 3 (2012): 48–51.
  • Gutkowski, Stacey. “Secularism and the Politics of Risk: Britain’s Prevent Agenda, 2005-8.” International Relations 25, no. 3 (2011): 346–362.
  • Haldane, J. “Scientism and Its Challenge to Humanism.” New Blackfriars 93, no. 1048 (2012): 671–686.
  • Hunter, I. “Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age and Secularization in Early Modern Germany.” Modern Intellectual History 8, no. 3 (2011): 621–646.
  • Iqtidar, Humeira. “Podcast: Secularization and Non-religion in Non-Western Contexts.” The Religious Studies Project, December 19, 2012. http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/iqtidar/.
  • ———. “Secularism and Secularisation : Untying the Knots.” Economic and Political Weekly 47, no. 35 (2012): 50–58.
  • Joukovsky, N.A. “Robert Parker’s `Letters on Atheism’ : An Early Response to Shelley’s The Necessity of Atheism.” Review of English Studies 63, no. 261 (2012): 608–633.
  • Kim, D., D. McCalman, and D. Fisher. “The Sacred/Secular Divide and the Christian Worldview.” Journal of Business Ethics 109, no. 2 (2012): 203–208.
  • Kim, Y.I., and W.B. Wilcox. “Bonding Alone : Familism, Religion, and Secular Civic Participation.” Social Science Research 42, no. 1 (2013): 31–45.
  • Lanman, Jonathan. “Podcast: Atheism Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Atheistic Thought.” The Religious Studies Project, December 19, 2012. http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/lanman/.
  • Lee, Lois. “Being Secular: Toward Separate Sociologies of Secularity, Nonreligion and Epistemological Culture.” Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2012.
  • ———. “Podcast: Lois Lee on Nonreligion.” The Religious Studies Project, October 8, 2012. http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/2012/10/08/podcast-lois-lee-on-non-religion/.
  • Leurs, R. “Are Faith-based Organisations Distinctive? Comparing Religious and Secular NGOs in Nigeria.” Development in Practice 22, no. 5; /6 (2012): 704–720.
  • Lust, E., G. Soltan, and J. Wichmann. “After the Arab Spring : Islamism, Secularism, and Democracy.” CURRENT HISTORY -NEW YORK THEN PHILADELPHIA- 111, no. 749 (2012): 362–364.
  • Majeed, J. “THE CRISIS OF SECULARISM IN INDIA.” Modern Intellectual History 7, no. 3 (2010): 653–666.
  • Martinez-Taboas, A., N. Varas-Diaz, D. Lopez-Garay, and L. Hernandez-Pereiera. “What Every Psychologists Practitioner Should Know About Atheist People and Atheism.” Interamerican Journal of Psychology 45, no. 2 (2011): 203–210.
  • Mirman, M.C. “An Atheist’s Guide to the Divine : Throwing Out the Bathwater but Keeping the Baby.” Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion 23 (2012): 171–190.
  • Moser, P.K. “Undermining the Case for Evidential Atheism.” Religious Studies 48, no. 1 (2012): 83–93.
  • Osuri, G. “Secular Interventions/Hinduized Sovereignty : (Anti) Conversion and Religious Pluralism in Jodhaa Akbar.” Cultural Critique no. 81 (2012): 70–102.
  • Petersen, J.A. “Religion and Popular Music in Europe : New Expressions of Sacred and Secular Identity.” Culture and Religion 13, no. 3 (2012): 393–395.
  • Pingle, M., and T. Melkonyan. “To Believe or Not Believe…or Not Decide : A Decision-theoretic Model of Agnosticism.” Rationality and Society 24, no. 4 (2012): 408–441.
  • Quack, Johannes. “Is to Ignore to Deny? Säkularisierung, Säkularität Und Säkularismus in Indien.” In Religionspolitik, Öffentlichkeit, Wissenschaft: Studien Zur Neuformierung Von Religion in Der Gegenwart, edited by Martin Bauman and Frank Neubert, 291–317. Zürich: PANO-Verlag, 2010.
  • Radford, M. “Faith and Reason in a Post Secular Age.” Journal of Beliefs and Values 33, no. 2 (2012): 229–240.
  • Rectenwald, Michael. “Secularism and the Cultures of Nineteenth-century Scientific Naturalism.” The British Journal for the History of Science FirstView (2012): 1–24. doi:10.1017/S0007087412000738.
  • Shneer, D., and B. Springer. “Russian Jewish Intellectual History and the Making of Secular Jewish Culture.” Modern Intellectual History 9, no. 2 (2012): 435–449.
  • Siegler, E. “David Cronenberg : The Secular Auteur as Critic of Religion.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 80, no. 4 (2012): 1098–1112.
  • Tonti-Filippini, N. “Religious and Secular Death: A Parting of the Ways.” Bioethics 26, no. 8 (2012): 410–421.
  • West, J.A. “The Post-Secular in Question : Religion in Contemporary Society.” Sociology of Religion 73, no. 3 (2012): 352–354.
  • Wilcox, M.M. ““Spiritual Sluts’’ : Uncovering Gender, Ethnicity, and Sexuality in the Post-Secular.” Womens Studies 41, no. 6 (2012): 639–659.
  • Wohlrab-Sahr, Monika. “Podcast: Multiple Secularities: Toward a Cultural Sociology of Secular-Religious Distinctions.” The Religious Studies Project, December 19, 2012. http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/iqtidar/.
  • Woodhead, Linda. “Podcast: The Secularization Thesis.” The Religious Studies Project, April 16, 2012. http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/2012/04/16/podcast-linda-woodhead-on-the-secularisation-thesis/.
Posted on by Chris News

New ‘NSRN in the News’ Page

Just in time for the NSRN Conference, Lorna Mumford – one of the new members of the NSRN Online Team – has added a new page to the website which provides links to press articles relating to the NSRN or the work of network members. It is available here: http://nsrn.net/news/nsrn-in-the-news-2/

We hope that you enjoy have the opportunity to check out the latest ‘splashes’ that the NSRN has been making in the popular press, and that you will join us in thanking Lorna very much for her hard work.

1 Comment Posted on by katieaston News, Publications

Publication: An ethnography of the British Humanist Association, Dr Matthew Engelke

The ESRC has produced a report and press release on Humanist Funerals,  announcing the work of Dr Matthew Engelke, which explores early outcomes from his year researching with and within the British Humanist Association.

For more details about the research please contact

Dr Mathhew Engelke
Email: m.engelke@lse.ac.uk
Telephone: 020 7995 6494 or 07800 835403
ESRC Press Office:

Danielle Moore-Chick
Email: danielle.moore-chick@esrc.ac.uk
Telephone 01793 413122
Jeanine Woolley
Email: jeanine.woolley@esrc.ac.uk
Telephone 01793 413119

Posted on by katieaston News and Events, Publications

The Religious Studies Project Launches Today

Today saw the launch of the Religious Studies Project, directed by Christopher R. Cotter and David G. Robertson in association with the British Association for the Study of Religions.

The project will allow some great dialogue between scholars, researchers, in fact anyone with an interest in contemporary issues in Religious Studies. Every Monday, they’ll be putting out a new podcast featuring an interview with a  leading international scholar, presenting a key idea in  the contemporary socio-scientific study of religion in a concise and accessible way. You can find the podcast and accompanying notes here, or you can also subscribe on iTunes to make sure you always get the latest episode.

Each Wednesday, they will also feature a resource to help postgraduate students and aspiring academics. And on Fridays  a response to each of the podcast will be put up, reflecting on, expanding upon or disagreeing with the Monday podcast. Plus much more, including conference reports, opinion, publishing opportunities, book reviews.

Please take some time today to have a look at the Religious Studies Project site, follow them on Twitter, “Like” them on Facebook or rate them on iTunes. Feel free to share this with friends, on you facebook wall or  post to interested networks.

Leave a comment Posted on by Chris News

NSRN Annual Lecture 2011

Speaking in the room where Pope Benedict XVI gave his recent address, Dr Jonathan Lanman delivered the first NSRN Annual Lecture at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham. His lecture gave a introduction to his path-breaking cognitive anthropological approach to atheism.

A NSRN Events Report is available for this event…

© 2011 St Mary's University College, Twickenham