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Organized Secularism in the United States Religion and Its Others Organized Secularism in the United States Religion and Its Others Studies in Religion, Nonreligion, and Secularity Edited by Stacey Gutkowski, Lois Lee, and Johannes Quack Volume 6 Organized Secularism in the United States New Directions in Research Edited by Ryan T. Cragun, Christel Manning and Lori L. Fazzino An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libra- ries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access. More information about the initiative can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No-Derivatives 4.0 License. For details go to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. ISBN 978-3-11-045742-1 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-045865-7 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-044195-6 ISSN 2330-6262 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2017 Ryan T. Cragun, Christel Manning and Lori L. Fazzino, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston The book is published with open access at www.degruyter.com. Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Phil Zuckerman Preface On Nov.19–20,2014, forty-five scholars, from nine different countries,gathered at Pitzer CollegeinClaremont,California,for the third International Conference of the Nonreligion and Secularity ResearchNetwork (NSRN). The theme of the conference was “Explaining Nonreligion and Secularity in the U.S. and Beyond,” and the scope of the papers presented was impressively broad: from LoriBea- man’skeynote address on church-statebattles in Quebec, to CatherineCald- well-Harris’stalk on low levels of religiosity among collegestudentsinTurkey, and from PennyEdgell’slook at anti-atheist sentiment in the United States, to Kevin Lenehan’sanalysis of secularizationinAustralia – various aspects of non- religion and secularitywereexplored, both theoreticallyand empirically, and from amultiplicity of disciplinary lenses. But one topic at the conference definitelystood out: collective,organized nonreligion and secularism. Amidst the historicalnarratives, political analyses, sociological data, psychological models, and meta typologizing,therewas a clear prominence of papers at the conferencethat looked at how and whynon- religious, anti-religious, and/or secular people – of varyingshades and hues – come together collectively. The common concerns underlying these papers werealong the following lines of inquiry:what social movements and communal institutions are secular or nonreligious individuals comingtogether to create in order to servetheir social,communal, and/or political needs and interests?And just what exactlyare those needsand interests?How are they being met? Giventhe deep interest in organized secularism that was evident at the con- ference – and giventhe recent growth of social movementscreated by and for nonreligious people – it was clear to meeting participantsChristel Manning, Ryan Cragun, and LoriFazzino that abook bringingtogetherand publishing those papers presented at the conference addressingthese issues within the studyofsecularity, secularism, and nonreligion would be timely. Hence, this volume. Organized Secularism in the United States bringstogether thirteen papers looking at different aspects and angles of collective secularity.Itisawelcome addition to the burgeoning field of secular/nonreligious studies, an interdisciplinary en- deavorwhich seeks to understand the lives, worldviews, beliefs, opinions, val- ues, challenges, and activities of nonreligious people. The scholarlyfocus of sec- ular/nonreligious studies is placed upon the meanings, forms, relevance, and impact of political secularism, philosophical skepticism, and personal and cul- OpenAccess. ©2017 Phil Zuckerman, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the CreativeCommons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110458657-001 VI Phil Zuckerman tural secularity – and all of these matters,inone manifestation or another,and in varyingdegrees – are delvedinto in the chapters ahead. Since Barry Kosmin established the Institute for the StudyofSecularism in Society and Culture at Trinity Collegein2005,and Lois Leeand Stephen Bulli- vant founded the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network in 2008 while at Cambridge Universityand Oxford University respectively,scholarlyattention to the secular/nonreligious has been blossoming. Significant developments in- clude the following:in2011, the open-access, peer-reviewed academic journal Secularism and Nonreligion was launched; also in 2011, aSecular Studies depart- ment was established at PitzerCollege; in 2012,the Anthropology Department of the London School of Economics launched a “Programme for the StudyofReli- gion and Non-Religion;” also in 2012,New York University Press launched aSec- ular Studies book series and PalgraveMacmillan launched abook series on “His- tories of the Sacred and the Secular,1700 – 2000;” in 2014,DeGruyter launched a book series on “Religion and ItsOthers: Studies in Religion, Nonreligion, and Secularity” (of which this volume is apart); in 2016,the University of Miami en- dowed achair in the studyofatheism and secularism. Subsequent to the NSRNconference of 2014 at Pitzer College, from which this book springs, an abundance of academic conferences have been held with afocus on the secular,including: “ApproachingNonreligion: Conceptual, me- thodical,and empirical approaches in anew research field” (2016) at the Univer- sity of Zürich, Switzerland; “The End of Religion?” (2016) at the University of San Diego; “Secularisms and the Formations of Religion in Asia: Pluralism,Globali- zation, and Modernities” (2016) at Queen’sUniversity,Belfast; “Varieties of Sec- ular Society” (2015) at the Institut Francais de Londres, United Kingdom; “Secu- larism and Religion in Modern Europe” (2015) at the Escuela Espanola de Historia yArqueologia, Italy; “Women’sReligious Agency:Negotiating Secular- ism and Multiculturalism in EverydayLife” (2015) at Uppsala University,Sweden; “Old Religion and New Spirituality:Continuity and Changes in the Background of Secularization” (2015) at the University of Tartu, Estonia. In sum, the academic studyofsecularity,secularism, and non-religion is currentlyinfull swing, and this volume both reflects and bolsters this burgeon- ing scholarlyenterprise. TableofContents Ryan Cragun&Christel Manning Introduction 1 CharlesLouis Richter “IKnow It When ISee It:” Humanism, Secularism, and Religious Taxonomy 13 Michael Rectenwald Mid-Nineteenth-Century Secularism as Modern Secularity 31 Lori L. Fazzino and Ryan T. Cragun “Splitters!”:Lessons from Monty Python forSecular Organizations in the US 57 John R. Shook Recognizing and Categorizing the Secular: Polysecularity and Agendasof Polysecularism 87 Amanda Schutz Organizational Variation in the American Nonreligious Community 113 Aislinn Addington Building Bridges in the Shadows of Steeples: Atheist Community and Identity Online 135 Jesse M. Smith Communal Secularity:Congregational Work at the Sunday Assembly 151 Jacqui Frost Rejecting Rejection Identities: Negotiating Positive Non-religiosity at the Sunday Assembly 171 JosephLangston, JosephHammer,Ryan Cragun&MaryEllen Sikes Inside The Minds and Movement of America’sNonbelievers: Organizational Functions, (Non)Participation,and Attitudes TowardReligion 191 VIII TableofContents Björn Mastiaux ATypology of Organized Atheists and Secularists in Germany and the United States 221 Dusty Hoesly Your Wedding, Your Way: Personalized, Nonreligious Weddings through the Universal LifeChurch 253 Nicholas J. MacMurray &Lori L. Fazzino Doing Death Without Deity: Constructing Nonreligious Tools at the End of Life 279 BarryKosmin Old Questionsand New Issues forOrganizedSecularism in the United States 301 Index 319 Ryan Cragun &Christel Manning Introduction What would happen to ahighschool senior deep in the bible belt of the United States if they told theirhighschool administrators thatthey would contact the AmericanCivil LibertiesUnion (ACLU) if the school had aprayerathis high school graduation?This isn’tahypothetical scenario – it happened in 2011. Damon Fowler,asenior at Bastrop High School in Louisiana, informed the su- perintendent of the school district that he knew school-sponsored prayer was il- legal and that he would contact the ACLU if the school went ahead with aplan- ned, school-sponsored prayer at the graduation ceremony. Damon’sthreat was leaked to the public. What followed weredeath threats from community mem- bers and fellow students, weeks of harassment,and eventuallyhis parents dis- owning him and kicking him out of their home. One more thing happened, which is whywerecount this story at the begin- ning of this book on organized secularism: the secular community came together to support Damon. As his story made its wayinto the local, national, and even- tuallyinternational press,nonreligious¹ and/or secular individuals made offers of aplace to stay, protection,and transportation, and acollegefund was set up for Damon since his parents had cut him off financially. Various secular or- ganizations
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