Please see below details of a report released by Juhem Navarro-Rivera, who has worked on a number of reports about the nonreligious, in conjunction with the Public Religion Research Institute on the connections between religion and politics in the US. The report focuses on the nonreligious (a.k.a. religiously unaffiliated):
http://publicreligion.org/research/2012/10/american-values-survey-2012/
Please note the change of deadline for abstracts is now 15th October especially of interest to those researching Secularism and secularisation
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.
The PBS television program, Religion and Ethics Newsweekly is airing a three part miniseries on the rise of the “nones” in the United States. The first episode starts on Oct. 12. I believe they partnered with Pew to create it. Read more here
“WASHINGTON DC (October 9, 2012) — Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, the national PBS television program produced by Thirteen/WNET, is launching a three-part mini-series, “None of the Above: The Rise of the Religiously Unaffiliated,” based largely on a new survey about the views of the 46 million Americans who say they are not affiliated with any particular religion.
…
The first segment, None of the Above: Who Are They, will begin airing on public television stations nationwide on October 12, 2012. It provides an overview of who these religiously unaffiliated people are and what they believe. The story will be reported by R&E Host Bob Abernethy and produced by Marcia Henning.
The second segment, None of the Above: Political Implications, which begins airing on October 19, 2012, focuses on how the growing number of religiously unaffiliated citizens could affect elections and the role of religion in politics. The segment will be reported by R&E Managing Editor Kim Lawton and produced by Patti Jette Hanley.
The third segment None of the Above: Religious Implications, which begins airing October 26, 2012, looks at the possible influence of this trend on religious congregations and institutions. This segment will be reported by R&E Contributing Correspondent Deborah Potter and produced by Susan Goldstein.”
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:
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
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
Socrel / HEA Teaching and Studying Religion, 2nd Annual Symposium
The 2012 Socrel / HEA Teaching and Studying Religion symposium will explore the theme: Religion and Citizenship: Re-Thinking the Boundaries of Religion and the Secular.
The symposium is organised by Socrel, the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group, with funding from the Higher Education Academy, Philosophy, and Religious Studies Subject Centre. Last year’s inaugural symposium was over-subscribed and therefore early submissions are encouraged.
Keynote speaker: Dr Nasar Meer, Northumbria University
Venue: BSA Meeting Room, Imperial Wharf, London
Date: 13 December 2012
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Religions today are implicated in a wide variety of publics. From contests over the environment and democracy to protests against capitalism, religions remain important factors in political and public life across diverse, and interconnected, global contexts. A variety of diverse responses have been articulated to the so-called ‘return of religion’ in the public sphere, drawing into question relations between the religious, the non-religious and the secular. As scholars have developed new theoretical understandings of the terms of these debates and questioned how these are bound up with cultural conceptualizations of citizenship, education – in schools, universities and less formal educational contexts – has often been a site where contestations of the religious and the secular have been acutely felt.
The aim of this symposium is to consider the interrelation between conceptions of the religious, the secular, citizenship and education, and to explore how these issues affect the study of religion in higher education. We hope to attract presentations of sufficient quality to lead to an edited publication.
The day will be highly participative and engaged. The symposium will be organised as a single stream so that the day is as much about discussion as it is about presentation, and therefore the number of formal papers will be limited.
Papers are invited from students, teachers, and researchers in the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, geography, theology, history, psychology, political science, religious studies and others where religion is taught and studied. Empirical, methodological, and theoretical papers are welcomed.
Presenters will circulate a five-page summary of their paper before the day so that all participants can come prepared for discussion. Presentations will last 10 minutes and will be structured into three sessions, each followed by a discussant drawing out key points. The day will conclude with a discussant-led, focused panel discussion.
Key questions to be addressed may include, but are not limited to:
Abstracts of 200 words are invited by September 15 2012. Please send these to: Dr Paul-François Tremlett p.f.tremlett@open.ac.uk
Costs: £36.00 for BSA/SocRel members; £45.00 for non-members; £20.00 for SocRel/BSA Postgraduate members; £25.00 for Postgraduate non-members.
International Congress: Rethinking Europe with(out) religion. Deadline for abstracts 30 September 2012
Full details as PDF can be found here CFP_Rethinking Europe with(out) Religion
Sehr geehrte Interessierte an der Forschungsplattform RaT! Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen!
Die Forschungsplattform „Religion and Transformation in Contemporary European Society“ (RaT) möchte Sie hiermit auf den im Februar 2013 stattfindenden Kongress „Rethinking Europe with(out) Religion“ aufmerksam machen.
Details sowie ein Anmeldeformular finden Sie auf der Kongress-Homepage: http://www.rethinkingeurope.at
Die Kolleginnen und Kollegen an Universitäten und Bildungseinrichtungen bitte ich, diese Information im Rahmen der Ihnen zur Verfügung stehenden Möglichkeiten weiterzuleiten. Bitte machen Sie Studierende auf diesen Kongress aufmerksam! Für alle Fälle hänge ich den CfP an.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen und allen guten Wünschen für einen erholsamen Sommer!
Angelika Walser
Dr. Angelika Walser
Plattformmanagerin
RaT (Religion and Transformation
In Contemporary European Society)
Schenkenstr. 8-10
1010 Wien
T.: 0664-60277-23803
Socrel / HEA Teaching and Studying Religion, 2nd Annual Symposium
Call for Papers Deadline 15 September 2012
The 2012 Socrel / HEA Teaching and Studying Religion symposium will explore the theme: Religion and Citizenship: Re-Thinking the Boundaries of Religion and the Secular.
The symposium is organised by Socrel, the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group, with funding from the Higher Education Academy, Philosophy, and Religious Studies Subject Centre. Last year’s inaugural symposium was over-subscribed and therefore early submissions are encouraged.
Keynote speaker: Dr Nasar Meer, Northumbria University
Venue: BSA Meeting Room, Imperial Wharf, London
Date: 13 December 2012
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Religions today are implicated in a wide variety of publics. From contests over the environment and democracy to protests against capitalism, religions remain important factors in political and public life across diverse, and interconnected, global contexts. A variety of diverse responses have been articulated to the so-called ‘return of religion’ in the public sphere, drawing into question relations between the religious, the non-religious and the secular. As scholars have developed new theoretical understandings of the terms of these debates and questioned how these are bound up with cultural conceptualizations of citizenship, education – in schools, universities and less formal educational contexts – has often been a site where contestations of the religious and the secular have been acutely felt.
The aim of this symposium is to consider the interrelation between conceptions of the religious, the secular, citizenship and education, and to explore how these issues affect the study of religion in higher education. We hope to attract presentations of sufficient quality to lead to an edited publication.
The day will be highly participative and engaged. The symposium will be organised as a single stream so that the day is as much about discussion as it is about presentation, and therefore the number of formal papers will be limited.
Papers are invited from students, teachers, and researchers in the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, geography, theology, history, psychology, political science, religious studies and others where religion is taught and studied. Empirical, methodological, and theoretical papers are welcomed.
Presenters will circulate a five-page summary of their paper before the day so that all participants can come prepared for discussion. Presentations will last 10 minutes and will be structured into three sessions, each followed by a discussant drawing out key points. The day will conclude with a discussant-led, focused panel discussion.
Key questions to be addressed may include, but are not limited to:
Abstracts of 200 words are invited by September 15 2012. Please send these to: Dr Paul-François Tremlett p.f.tremlett@open.ac.uk
Costs: £36.00 for BSA/SocRel members; £45.00 for non-members; £20.00 for SocRel/BSA Postgraduate members; £25.00 for Postgraduate non-members.
Workshop on 14 September 2012 by Dr. Britta Ohm
Institut für Sozialanthropologie, Bern University, Länggassstrasse 49a, CH-3000 Bern 9
A workshop of interest to the network, including input speakers on Secularism – Dr. Nanna Heidenreich, innstitute for Media Research, Academy of Fine Arts,Braunschweig and Antje Glück (PhD candidate), Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence, University of Bielefeld
The call for papers inlcudes four key themes, (In)Visibility, Practise, Secularism and Democracy
For more details please see the the website or read the call for papers.
From the EDITORIAL “The scientific study of atheism”
“This issue of Religion, Brain & Behavior focuses on the scientific study of atheism.
With a pair of target articles from Catherine Caldwell-Harris and Dominic Johnson,
a large collection of expert commentaries on those articles, and two responses from
the authors, this is one of the richest discussions of the scientific study of atheism in
print. Johnson reviews the various ways of conceiving of atheism in evolutionary
terms, while Caldwell-Harris analyzes the evidence for atheism as a matter of
individual differences. These two essays represent fundamentally contrasting
strategies for making sense of atheism and it is likely that future scientific study
will have to navigate between the two perspectives.”
Read more of this open access edition Religion, Brain & Behavior, Volume 2 Issue 1
NSRN Online 