Björn Mastiaux ATypologyofOrganized Atheists and Secularists in Germany and the United States

1Introduction

The typologyproposed in this chapter is the resultofatransnationalstudythat was carriedout in the years from 2006 to 2013.Ithad been motivated by media reports on atheist activism in Germany, in particularthe stagingofso-called “re- ligion-freezones” during the Catholic WorldYouth Day festivalinCologne in 2005.Itwas reported that this activism was carried out by secularist organiza- tions, some of which had been in existencefor many years. Initial research made it clear that little was known about these organizations, their networks, ac- tivities, and supporters,despite the fact thatthey might qualify as asocial move- ment.Furthermore, the earlystages of the conception of this project coincided with the popularization of the term “new atheism” by Gary Wolf (2006) and the ensuing reports and debate on the authorsand books labeled as such. This, too, pointed to the existenceofasecularist movement,aninternational one at that,which seemed to be experiencing awaveofmobilization at the time. The aim of this research project,asitwas conceptualizedbackthen, was twofold. On the one hand,itwas conceivedtomap and delineatethe field of sec- ularist,humanist,atheist,and freethought (what the previous chapter called SHAF) organizations in parts of the Western world, and to arguefor its classifi- cation as asocial movement.Germanyand the United States, with their marked differences regarding private religiosity and church-state separation, werechos- en as representative cases from both sides of the secular/religious divide within the West.Onthe other hand, the aim was to investigate the motivesand biogra- phies of the members of acertain type of those organizations in both countries. Who are those people who, despite having grown up and living under very dif- ferent socio-religious conditions, feature the commonality of not onlybeing non- religious, but of beingamemberoforganized atheism? Over the years duringwhich this particularstudywas carried out,the re- search landscape on nonreligion, secularity, and organized atheism has changed dramatically. While at the study’sinception such an academic field wasalmost nonexistent,the phenomenon of “new atheism” prompted an explosion of re- search activity in this area within anumber of different scientific disciplines

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(for an earlyreport on this developmentsee Bullivantand Lee 2012). Besides studies on the “new atheist” writingsand campaigns themselves(e.g. Amara- singham 2010;Zenk 2010;Tairaand Illman 2012), research so far has dealt with the terminologyfor nonreligion and secularity(e.g. Cragun and Hammer 2011, Lee2012), the nonreligious’ biographies,demographics,and opinions on social issues (e.g. Hunsbergerand Altemeyer 2006), their deconversion stories (e.g. Zuckerman 2012), their identity construction as atheists (e.g. Foust 2009; Smith 2011;Beaman and Tomlins 2015), as well as their participation in various forms of organized secularity(e.g. Pasquale 2010;Cimino and Smith 2011). Meanwhile, the field of atheist,secularist,freethought,and humanist organiza- tions and its adherents is more routinelyconceivedofasasocial movement (see e.g. Cimino and Smith 2007,2014; LeDrew 2016), as evidenced also by this vol- ume. At least,ithas been treated as such within the fields of religious studies and the sociologyofreligion, while curiously the sociologyofsocial movements is onlybeginning to take note (see e.g. Guenther,Radojcic and Mulligan 2015). Also, the movement’sideological roots as well as conflicting ideological currents that run within it have been detailed (see e.g. LeDrew 2012,2016). Accordingly, these aspects of the study at hand will not be focused on in this chapter. While several of these and otherstudies have begun to explore who organ- ized atheists are, the research presented here has followed some new paths and is able to offer additional insight in this respect. One important contribution of this studyisthat it extends its perspective to continental Europe. The study of nonreligion and secularityhas, up to this point,largely concentrated on the Eng- lish speaking world. This is alsotrue of the existent member studies of atheist organizations,most of which were conducted in the United States of America and Canada – afew in Great Britainand Australia (e.g. Black 1983; Mumford 2015). The secularist movement(s) in continental Europe has (have)hardly been explored so far.For the case of Germany, the studyathand is afirst foray to remedythis situation. Yet, as mentioned before, the typologyaims to be inclusive and is basedon organized atheists from Germany as well as the United States.Inaddition to a first insight into the German secularist movement,the transnationalcomparison this approach allows for is the second innovation of this research. Thirdly,much of the prior research on the motivesofnonbelievers to join atheistic or freethought-secularist organizations has concentratedoninformal meet-up groups or freethought organizations which, through socializing and lec- tures,mainlyservethe identity construction and the treatment of a “nonnorma- tive identity” (Fitzgerald 2003) of atheists who are viewed as “other” in ahighly religious society (e.g. McTaggart 1997; Heiner 2008;Foust 2009;LeDrew 2013). Even though there are studies on the political activism of the secularist move-

Brought to you by | Sacred Heart University Authenticated Download Date | 1/11/18 4:20 PM ATypologyofOrganized Atheists and Secularists in Germany and the US 223 ment (see e.g. Cimino and Smith 2007,2014; Kettell 2013), the protagonists of this kind of activism, their biographies and motives, have been explored much less. The research presented here is based on the exploration of organizations which offer their members bothcommunity and education as well as political activism and protest. Finally,the material from which the typologywas constructed represents a new approach in the exploration of organized atheismand allows for anovel or additional waytoperceive and structure the movement’smembership. The ty- pologyisbasedonthe identificationofnarrativepatterns (Kruse 2011, 2014), meaning the leading motivesortopics that emergedinthe open-style interviews that wereconducted with members.These,incombination with the reported styles of participation, served to identifyeight ideal types of members, which have been named:the “political fighter”,the “indignant”,the “collectivist”, the “alienated”,the “intellectual enlightener”,the “silentintellectual”,the “dis- sociate”,and the “euphoric”.These types of members are going to be portrayed in some detail further down in this chapter. Beforethat,the following section will introduce the sampling and methodologyofthe study.

2Sample and Methodology

As at the time of the study’sinitiation the field of nonreligion and secularity had hardlybeen explored, aqualitativeapproach was chosen.Also, semi-structured in-depth interviews wereconsidered the optimal method for the exploration of organized atheists’ personal views on their activism, their ways into the organi- zations, as well as their worldviews and religious /nonreligious biographies – questions which stood at the heart of the study.

Sampling

Afirst step towardthatgoal consisted in the sampling of potentiallyrelevant cases on two levels: the level of organizations, and the level of members. In order to capturethe variety of cases “out there”,regardingmembers, the aspira- tion wastofind maximallydifferent cases. Yet, in order to allow for comparabil- ity,onthe level of organizations it was necessary to limit variation to acertain type of groups.Accordingly, organizations that would qualify for the sample had to meet the following criteria: With respect to the intended variety of members’ socio-religious back- grounds,they had to be located in substantiallydifferent regions, particularly

Brought to you by | Sacred Heart University Authenticated Download Date | 1/11/18 4:20 PM 224 BjörnMastiaux as relates to the role of religion – though my interestwas exclusively on Western countries.Besides practical reasons of accessibility,this was the major reason for choosing Germany and the United Statesascountries for consideration. Both offer considerable internal plurality regarding socio-religious landscapes,with the predominantlyCatholic Bavaria, the Lutheran North, and the largely secular East in Germany, as well as the religiously mixed and relatively liberal West Coast,the mainlineProtestant Midwest,and the evangelical Baptist South or “Bible Belt” in the United States.Inaddition to this intended variation in loca- tion, on the othercriteria the chosen organizations weresupposedtobesimilar to one another. One important demand wasthat the targeted organizations shared similar goals. As outlined above, one aim of the studywas to find organizations which offered their adherents not onlyaplace for socializing and identity forma- tion via community and education, but also the chance for political activism, e.g. via participation in protest,work on press releases, or in otherpublic rela- tions or outreach projects. Another demand was for the organizations to take amediumorcenter posi- tion regardingtheir topicalscope and targeted population. Some groups follow onlyadefined narrow goal within the realm of atheism and secularism or are open onlytoasubset of nonbelievers, such as Camp Quest (that organizes sec- ular summer retreats), or the Secular StudentAlliance. Organizations at the other end of the spectrum, while being critical of religion and church at times, address much wider issues and, accordingly, attract amore general audience. Examples for this includecivil rights organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)and the Humanistische Union (HU), or rationalist and skeptics groups.In contrast to both of these “extremes”,the organizations thatweretobesampled needed to be open to all the nonreligious and to be concerned with issues relat- ing to atheism and secularism exclusively. In the United States these criteria wereeasilymet by alarge number of lo- callyactive atheist groups thatwereeither affiliated with or chapters of the Athe- ist AllianceInternational (today: Atheist Alliance of America)orAmerican Atheists (compareFazzino &Craguninthis volume). These groups typicallyhold a monthlymeeting,wherethey will often have aguest speaker – such as ascien- tist,political activist,orauthor – as well as otherregular meetings, for example book clubs,discussion groups,orcharitable activities. But they also act out,ei- ther in the form of protests against (usuallylocallyrelevant) infringementson the separation of church and state, in the form of writing letters to the editor, or in the form of regular radioorTVprograms that they produce for freeaccess cable channels. U.S. organizations which found their wayinto the sample were San Francisco Atheists and Atheists and Other Freethinkers of Sacramento from

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California, Minnesota Atheists from Minneapolis /SaintPaul, and the Atlanta FreethoughtSociety from Georgia. In Germany, it turned out to be abit more difficult to find matchingorgan- izations. My criteria weremet best by the Munich chapter of the Bund fürGeist- esfreiheit Bayern (BfG, FreethoughtAssociationofBavaria). Even though the BfG is officiallyrecognizedbythe Bavarian state as a “worldview congregation” with roots in the 19th century free-religious movement,the Munich basedgroup in par- ticular had become known for its political activism in opposition to the pro- nounced influenceofreligion – particularlyCatholicism – on the operations of the state at the time of my research. The other group from Germanythat was included has adecidedlypolitical orientation. As its name suggests, IBKA (Internationaler Bund der Konfessionslosen und Atheisten, International League of the Non-Affiliated and Atheists)commits itself to fighting for the political rights of citizens without religious affiliation or religious belief – contrary to its name, though,its activism is not international, but focused mainlyinGermany. As for socializing,some of its regional chapters, at the time of this study, offered meet- ups, movie nights,orsporadic guest lectures as well. Therefore, IBKA members from different parts of Germanywereselected for the sample, too. Individual members of these organizations were sampled with the idea of maximumvariation in mind. While the shortresearch time of onlytwo months in the United States did not allow for the interplaybetween sampling,interview- ing,analyzing, and onlythen further sampling and interviewing thatischarac- teristic of the strategyof“theoretical sampling” (seee.g.Ritchie and Lewis 2003, 80 –81), the large number of interviews conducted with very diverse members nonetheless afforded the opportunity to contrast very different cases ex post facto,which is in line with this researchstrategyaswell. Members werecontact- ed via various paths. In the caseofmostofthe American organizations,myvisit to the area and my call for interviewees was announced well in advanceinthe organizations’ newsletters. Also, this researchjourney involved avisit to the re- spective organizations’ monthlymeetings, which allowed for the introduction of the research project as well as on-the-spotrecruitment of interviewing subjects. In the case of the German organizations, the Munich based BfG group and nationallyactive IBKA,theirannual main assemblies served the same purpose. Another occasion for recruitinginterviewees was amonthlymeet-up of the Co- logne-based IBKA group. In order to find members more spread out over the country,who did not regularlyparticipate in group activities, acall for interview- ees wasplaced in IBKA’sonline forum. This as well as the announcements in the U.S. organizations’ newsletters ensuredthe participation not onlyofhighlyac- tive,but also of more or less passive members. In order to counter apotential bias due to self-recruitment or recruitment onlyvia “gatekeepers” (such as the

Brought to you by | Sacred Heart University Authenticated Download Date | 1/11/18 4:20 PM 226 Björn Mastiaux organizations’ presidents), who sometimes helped to find interviewees,several members wereapproachedbymyself and asked for participation in interviews. This also helped to increase the socio-demographic variety of participants. All in all, 63 interviews wereconducted, 58 of which wereusedfor the anal- ysis.Ofthese 58 interviews,36werewith members of Americanorganizations, and 22 with members of German organizations. The ratio of men to women was 39 to 19.Regarding age, seven interviewees fell into the rangeof21–30 years, 11 each into thoseof31–40 and 41– 50 years, nine members werebetween 51 and 60 years old, 16 between 61 and 70,and finallyfour were71years old or older.Eventhough the sample was not drawnfor statistical, but rather theoret- ical representativeness, the genderand ageratios are somewhat typical of secu- larist organizations,which are known for apredominantlymale and older mem- bership(Hunsbergerand Altemeyer 2006,106;Pasquale 2007,47). Also, the educational level in these groups is usually aboveaverage,and Pasquale reports apredominanceofeducational occupations for the members of asecular-hu- manist group in the AmericanPacificNorthwest (Pasquale 2010,50). Both of these patterns wereobservedinthis study’ssample as well. Aside from teachers and university educators, there wassome diversity regardingthe interviewees’ (former)occupations:they ranged from scientists, lawyers, and physicians,toar- chitects and IT specialists, to paramedics, secretaries,and booksellers. While some of the younger participants werestill attendingcollege, most of the older respondents had alreadyretired from their jobs. Afew of the interviewees wereunemployed, with one living in an alternativecommune. Apeculiarity of the Americansample was that two of the members used to be priests in their ear- lier careers.Ethnically,most participantswereNorthernEuropean or of Northern European descent,with the exceptions of an Italian, aGreek, aBrazilian, and one Iranian. Onlyone interviewee was African-Americanand another one of Asian descent.

Datacollection and analysis

The interviewingtechnique used was semi-structured interviews in the tradition of the “problem-centered interview” (Witzel 2000). In contrast to totallyopen, narrativeinterviews,the purpose of this interviewing tradition is the exploration and collaborative reconstruction of afixed “social problem” or “issue” that the researcher has alreadyacquired some familiarity or “theoretical sensitivity” with. This familiarity pairedwith the desire to learn about different dimensions of the problem at hand structuresthe interviewingguidelinebyprovidinga number of topical fields thatare to be addressed. The interviews for this study

Brought to you by | Sacred Heart University Authenticated Download Date | 1/11/18 4:20 PM ATypology of Organized Atheists and Secularists in Germany and the US 227 started out with awarming-up phase, in which respondents wereasked to intro- ducethemselvesand to talk about their general biographies.After this, the main topical fields that wereexplored were(1) the interviewees’ ways into their organ- izations, (2)their worldview or religious /nonreligious biographies,and (3) their experiences, activities, and opinionsasmembers of theirorganizations. These three fields of interest also structured the first step of the analysis: the use of the “qualitative case contrasting method”,asdetailed by Kelle and Kluge (2010). Building upon the practice of open codingingrounded theory (e.g. Strauss and Corbin 1998), in this approach categories and subcategories are de- vised deductively from the pre-structure of the interviews as well as inductively from the text and contrasted, refined, and restructured systematicallybycom- parisonofarangeofcases, until the variation within the field is sufficientlyde- lineated. The aim of the second stepofthe analysis was to reduce the overwhelming variety found – regarding organized atheists’ ways into the movement, their worldview formation, as well as theirviews on and experiencesofactivism – with the construction of atypologyofvery basic, exemplary,orideal types of members. This typologywas constructed using an analytical method delineated by JanKruse(2011, 2014). It builds on the identification of certain “narrativepat- terns” thatare deemed to be characteristic of the individual respondents, which are made up of central motivesand discursive habits that occur consistently throughout the interview – especiallyinso-called “rich” or “dense” passages as well as in the opening monologues (Kruse 2011, 176). The identification of four such narrative patterns in combination with the reported activism, behavior, and ambitions of the interviewees led to the construction of eight ideal types of organized atheists.

3The Diversity of Organized Atheists

Investigating the members of atheistorganizations, the studypresented here has focused on the fact of their membership. It has studied organized atheists as members. Whatdothey do as members of their organizations?What do they think about the activities of their groups and about other members?How did they gettobeamember in the first place? And what has been the history of their worldview formationleadinguptobecomingamember? As it turns out, the diversityofanswers to these questions is overwhelming.This section willex- plore some of this diversity and will put into focus those results which either contradict or amplify our knowledge of organized atheists from prior studies.

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Worldview and Worldview Formation

There is some debate, both among scholars and within organized atheism, over whether agnostics should count as part of the atheist movement(see Cimino and Smith 2007,416;McGrath 2004,174;Hunsbergerand Altemeyer 2006,25). But consideringthatagnosticism, rather thananindependent worldview position which is softer or less radical than atheism, actuallyconstitutes amethodofrea- soning by which one mayarrive at either an atheist or theist position (Eller 2010, 8–9), it is not surprising that agnostics have always been involved in atheist or- ganizations – and several members identify thatway primarily. In general, many – even though by no means all – of the members of atheistorsecularist organ- izations give alot of thought to how to position themselvesregarding their worldview and what to call themselves. This was evidenced by the inscription on Paul G.’s(Atheists and Other Freethinkers, AOF, 76) – the creator of the “Brights”–business card. It read:

Iamabright (mynaturalistic worldview is free of supernatural /mystical elements). Iam agnostic in regards to unverifiable claims (including gods), humanisticinmorals, pragmat- ic in actions,freethinkinginregards to authority,existentialistic in philosophy, sartrienne in regards to purpose, scientific in regards to what constitutesknowledge,contrarian in de- meanor,and skeptical with respect to all the aforementioned.

Whether they call themselves “atheist”, “agnostic”, “secular humanist”, “natu- ralist”, “bright”, “Jewish atheist”, “mystic”,orsome otherterm Ifound in my sample, such as “liberal” or “realist”,organized atheists presumably share at least the commonality of being nonreligious in some form and alsocritical of (at least certain aspects and variants of)religion. Yetthey have arrivedatthis common place via very different routes of world- view formation. Someofthese routes have been outlinedbyStephen LeDrew (2013), who, in his research on atheist activists in Canada and the U.S., has dif- ferentiated five “different trajectories to atheistidentity and activism”.Ofthe five paths he describes, two have secular socialization as their starting point,while three start out from religious socialization. All five eventuallylead to atheism and onlyfrom there to atheist activism. While this typologyofdifferent routes of worldview formation matches the experiences described by most of the inter- viewees from my study, there are at least afew cases in which this model is not sufficient. In several cases there was ambiguity regardingthe classification of a participant’ssocialization as having been either “religious” or “secular”.Some of the respondents grew up in ahome that was onlynominallyreligious. Others experiencedcognitive dissonance earlyon, either because their parents were not both equallyreligious, belonged to different churches,orchanged religious affili-

Brought to you by | Sacred Heart University Authenticated Download Date | 1/11/18 4:20 PM ATypology of Organized Atheists and Secularists in Germany and the US 229 ation continuouslyoverashort period of time.Others grew up in astronglyre- ligious household within asecular environment or in asecular household within areligious environment. Additionally, afew cases had not even acquired an atheist identity or apo- sition critical of religious belief at the point at which they entered theiratheist organization. Dietmar H. (BfG, 50), for example, was recruited as amember for BfG Munich onlyafter being interviewed on the group’sradioprogram. The group had invited him to their show as avictim of purportedchurch-state entan- glements.Atthe time, Dietmarhad made local headlines after agay pridefloat mockingPope Benedict for his anti-gayrights policies, which he and his collea- gues had created, had been confiscated by the Bavarian policeunder dubious chargesof“insultingaforeign head of state”.Upuntil meeting the BfG group and learning more about theirpositions, Dietmarhad never considered himself an atheist, but was onlycritical of different religious traditions for theirviews on gayrights. He had even studied theologyincollegeand had been employed as a public school teacher for Protestant religious education for manyyears, ajob he onlyquit for amorepromisingcareer option, not for alack of religiosity.Even though he said that he did not believeinapersonal god, he stillregarded Jesusasanethical role model and expressed spiritual ideas. Asimilar case wasthat of BrigitteS.(BfG, 42). Even though she had disaffili- ated from the Catholic Church long ago, as she wasatodds with its conservative positions on manysocial issues, she had never thought about cultivatingamore pronounced secular identity.This onlychanged whenshe made friends with two active members of the BfG group and decided to join in order to do “something meaningful”.One explanation for these cases maybethe widespread perception of astrongprivilegeand influenceofthe Catholic Church in Bavaria. As BfG Mu- nich does not onlyact as asecular “worldview congregation” (“Weltan- schauungsgemeinschaft”), but as an activist group fighting for the separation of church and state,itisconceivable that the group and its goals are deemed at- tractive alsofor citizens who do not identify as atheists primarily.

Ways intoOrganized Atheism

While Dietmarand Brigittefound their wayinto BfG through personal contacts, atheistorganizations also employ more conscious and systematic attemptsat “frame bridging”:making people who share similar views aware of the organi- zations’ existence(Snow et al. 1986,467– 469). They mayadvertise in progressive media, practice outreach via their ownmedia channels,oremploy the strategyof “bloc recruitment” (Oberschall 1973)bycooperating with other movements or,at

Brought to you by | Sacred Heart University Authenticated Download Date | 1/11/18 4:20 PM 230 Björn Mastiaux least in the case of the Americanorganizations, Unitarian Universalist churches, which provide some membership flow.Eventhough the literature on social movements stresses such active effortsatmobilization by movement actors,in the case of atheist organizations “self-recruitment”–i.e. the active search for agroup one can join – seems to be even more important.Goodwin and Jasper (2009) describe self-recruitment as acommon reaction to so-called moral shock. This kind of shock mayset in when “events or information raise such a sense of outrageinpeople that they become inclined towardpolitical action, with or without anetwork of contacts” (Goodwin und Jasper 2009,57–58). Out- rage maybegenerated by so-called “suddenlyimposed grievances” (Walsh 1981, 2),which can be events or new developments, perceivedasscandalous, that are reported on in the media. To Steven F. (Atlanta Freethought Society,AFS,50), for example, the publically staged prayer for rain after adroughtperiod by the gov- ernor of Georgia on the steps of the state capitol constituted such an event.Frie- drich G. (BfG, 71)ofMunich gotagitated whenheread that posters of demonstra- tors against the local visit by the Pope were confiscated by the police: “It was in the newspaper.And so… (,) Iwasn’ttheremyself, but still this infuriated me. And so Iwrotetothe paper.And in the course of this Ibecame aware of BfG and be- came amember”.Personal experiences thatcontradict aperson’svalues and ex- pectations mayalso be experienced as asuddenlyimposed grievance. Rainer P. (IBKA, 41), for example, had always believed thatreligion was nothing to worry about in modern-day,highlysecularizedGermany, until he asked for the removal of alarge crucifix in the classroom of the public elementaryschool thathis young son attended, who seemed to be afraid of the object:

Howamayor conspires, moreorless,with the school district of Cologne in order to keep the crucifixes on the walls of aridiculouslysmall school of ahundred and fifty kids, how a priest from the pulpit calls for protest marches in front of this school until the crosses get reapplied, and similar things, …how the local paper deems it worthyofafull pagereport and their front pagethat these crosses gotremoved, well, that… surprisedmequiteabit.I didn’texpect that.Ireallydidn’texpect that.That the opinion of the grannyathome re- garding the crucifixes in the children’sclassroom maycount morethan asupreme court ruling, Ididn’texpect that either. …And when Irealized all of this, Ithought that,indeed, it might makesense to getactive.

In other cases, the active spread of information by movement activists in combi- nation with their interpretation of the situation maycause moral shock: “Moral shocks do not arise onlyfrom suddenlyimposed grievances; organizers try hard to generate them through their rhetorical appeals” (Jasper and Poulsen 1995, 498). Lukas G. (IBKA, 30) and Martin H. (IBKA, 23), for example, consumed the organization’smagazine and newsletter for awhile before they decided

Brought to you by | Sacred Heart University Authenticated Download Date | 1/11/18 4:20 PM ATypology of Organized Atheists and Secularists in Germany and the US 231 that it wastime to getmore involved. But,ofcourse, this framing can onlybe successfulifpotential recruits “alreadyhavecertain visions of the world, moral values, political ideologies,and affective attachments” (Jasper and Poul- sen 1995,496) that match those of the movement.Incases such as these, moral shock does not set in in reaction to asingular event or experience, but in reaction to the perception of aslow and creepingdevelopment,achangeincultural val- ues perhaps,which, apart from outrage, causesthe feeling of alienation. Typical for the American experience is the observation of the rise of the Religious Right in the years prior to and duringthe presidencyofGeorge W. Bush (see alsoFaz- zino, Borer,and Haq 2014,176 – 181). Alice C. expresses well how,priortoher joining of AOF,she felt increasingly uncomfortable:

Earlyonitwas not… somethingI…gave much… thought to.Iwould say, in the last fifteen years, though,I’ve become very awareofit…and… /eh/ almost annuallyincreasingly shocked. And… /eh/ the whole country feels like… East Texas,oughh, pushingthis (,) this incessant… need to convert everybody. There’sonlyone religion, and it’stheirs and… (,) youknow,the sooner youacknowledge that,the better off you’ll be. It’suncanny. It’severywherenow. …Just as it… used to be forty years ago.

Similar to moral shock, and often in combination with it,alienation is afeeling that maylead to self-recruitment.Itisanexperience which maymotivatepeople to look for others to help them relievethe tension. In addition to the feeling of being at odds with the surrounding cultureatlarge,alienation mayalsoresult from more limited experiencesofnew,confusing, or frustratingsituations, from the loss of an old or the adaptation of anew worldview and identity,orsim- plyfrom moving to aforeign, possiblymorereligious place. Whatever their motivesfor joining,most of the respondents from this study reported thatonce they had learned of the existenceofthese organizations they immediatelybecame amember.But in those rare cases, in which doubts were reported, it was often the influenceofotherpersons which convincedthem to join eventually. LeeS.(Minnesota Atheists, MNA, 69), aformer Evangelical preacher,for example, was originallybiased against atheists, and it took him some time and couragetofinallyattend afew meetingsofthe organization whose TV programs he had alreadywatched and enjoyed.What finallyconvinced him to join as amemberwas the presenceofaperson he knew,respected, and considered similar to himself:

And so… my first reaction was:well, Iwouldn’twant to have anythingtodowith those… people, but… the moreIlistened, the moreIthought: youknow [laughs slightly], Ithink I have moreincommon with them than Ihavewith anyChristians.SoIattended afew meet- ings. …And as amatter of fact […]Iwalked in the door […]and I… see aperson thereand I

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suddenly[…]recognize him. …He was somebodythat Iwent to highschool with. […]And he was avery popular guyinhighschool. And… so we gottotalking. And it turns out,he, too, had been in the ministry [laughs]. And he, too, was ordained. And now he was amember of MinnesotaAtheists.

Other doubts about joininghad to do with fears that the group might be too sim- ilar to religion, that it might be ineffective,orthat members might be either too eccentric or intolerant. In some examples, these doubts could be dispelled by the influenceand convincing presenceofacharismatic leader.Steven F. (AFS,50) and his wife, for example, had known for along time of the existenceofsecu- larist organizations in the Atlanta area, but had never bothered to join, since they thought that people there might be strange. This changed when they saw an interview with AFS’ Ed BuckneronTV:

And… Ed was very articulate. An intelligent man. And, so, what he said was (,) was great.I mean, he wasn’tshouting, he wasn’tpounding his chest,and he wasn’tscreaming or yell- ing or anyofthat kind of thing. He was just very (,) it was avery reasoned and rational… statement that he made. And that immediatelyappealed to us.And… we just kind of went: hmm, Atlanta Freethought Society?Sowewrote that down. And we went and did agoogle searchand found their website.

Finally, Stan C. (San Francisco Atheists, SFA, 45)was impressed by Madalyn Mur- rayO’Hair,the notorious founder of American Atheists,who spurred in him the enthusiasm to become an activist:

Youknow,alot of these separation organizations don’thavemuch of asense of humor.You know,somebodylikemewalks in the room,they go:oh, youknow,you should getahair- cut! With American Atheists it was just very (,) yeah: you’re one of us! Welcome on board! And part of that was the Madalyn O’Hair attitude. So, if Madalyn O’Hair had not been around with her free-wheeling,you know,fuck-you attitude, Iprobablywould not be doing this… myself. But she made it seem cool. She made it seem fun. She made it seem exciting. And she made it seem important.You know?Sothat’salarge part of whyI’m doing whatI’mdoing today.

Activism within the Organization

Due to conscious sampling decisions, interviews wereconducted with members with varyingdegrees of activity in the groups:passive members,whom McCarthy and Zald (1977,1228) in their member typologycall “isolated constituents”,as well as weakly, medium,and highlyactivemembers. In some cases, the degree of activism maydepend on people’sexperiences with other members. Mariva A.

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(SFA,38), for example, who onlysporadicallyattendedmeetingsofher organi- zation, explained that she could not relatetosome of the othermembers and criticized them for theirpublic demeanor,sharing her experience at apublic de- bate as an example:

Ikind of, …like, was alittle bit embarrassed by the behavior of some of my fellow atheists, for… they werejust kind of laughing reallyloud… and just kind of makingcomments during the debate. And… all the, like, the Christians were,you know,fairlywellbehaved. And I was just (,) Iwas thinking, like: okay, …youknow,if…(,) if we’re gonna show that we’re as good as these people, like, let’sbehave that way!

In general, the diversity of characters found in these groups is often cited as a drawback and reason for restraint in commitment.But even those who are the most committed mayevaluatethis diversity differently. Assunta T. (BfG, 46), for example, criticized the majorityofcasual members for lacking enthusiasm and sincerity in their atheism:

Our biggest problem is the nonreligious themselves. […]They’ll actuallyhavethe nerveand toleratethat their wives, friends,children… have adifferent conviction. They treat it as their sparetime… (,) their hobby.And hobby onlyinthe sense that if they find the time they may go and attend ameeting. But never makeafuss! They’ll onlyspeak up wherethey feel safe and know that everybodyisofthe same opinion. That’sour trouble!

Stan C. (SFA,45), on the other hand, felt rewarded by the less active members for his efforts in providingthem aplace to feelathomeat:

Well, the monthlymeetings basicallyjust give people achancetomeet other atheists,give them achancetorelax.Those of us whohavebeen working on it for an entiremonth geta chancetotalk to people whoactuallycarewhat we’re doing[laughs slightly]. Youknow?So (,) so, it’snice.

These statements show that within the movementthere are different expecta- tions regarding organized atheists’ openness and candor about their lack of re- ligion. While Assunta expected of her fellow atheists aself-confident demonstra- tion of their rejection of religion, Stan was more tolerant of some of the atheists’ fear of ostracism. Just as these expectations vary,sodothe actual practices of concealment or disclosure. Some respondents kept theiratheismcompletelytothemselves, while others decided to revealitonlyselectively, suchasSharon W. (AFS,57), who was careful not to appear as amemberofAFS as long as she was workingasaschool teacher in the U.S. South. Others, who did not have to fear work-related sanc- tions, liked to admit to their atheism and seemed to enjoy some of the reactions

Brought to you by | Sacred Heart University Authenticated Download Date | 1/11/18 4:20 PM 234 Björn Mastiaux they would get. Adrienne M. (SFA,34), for example, sometimes liked to be seen as a femme fatale when going out to bars in her home state of Texas and meeting men:

and of course they’dbeRepublican, they would be so intrigued… by that fact that Iwas a(,) aDemocrat,and that Iwas aliberal and that /hughhh/ [gasps] Ididn’tbelieveingod! That was like Iwas likethis (,) likethey were flirtingwith dangerjustbyhangingout with me or something.

Similarly,Michael C. was amused about acommon reaction to his answer for people’squestion about his church affiliation:

And youcan (,) and youcan watch it.Right in their eyes. Youcan see them likegoing through… (,) /eh/ it’salmost likeacomputer (,) goingthrough all their files, lookingfor an appropriate(,) like: what do Idowith that?You know?He’sanatheist?What?And they’re tryingtobe…polite. Because that’sthe bigthing in the South. Youhavetoalways appear to be (,) youcan be the biggest bastardinthe world, but youhavetoappear to be polite. And /eh/… (,) youknow,they’re like: o-o-h…(.) They always makethat sound. They’re like: o-o-o-h, …okay.You know?And (,) and Ican tell, …they’re like: …Iwonder if he’sabout to kill me [laughs].

Other than simply answering people’squestions about their religion, some re- spondentstalked about regularlyconfronting people with the fact of their athe- ism more or lessdirectly. Chuck C. (SFA,60):

Itravelled alot when Iwas working.Iwould intentionally… on an airplane have abook. You know: ‘Atheism Understood’.Orsomethingabout atheism. That would be my book to carry on the plane. And it wasn’tthat Ireallywanted to read that book, but Iwanted to invite conversation.

Finally, Assunta (BfG, 46), the leader of BfG who advocated for some atheist pride – similar to that of the gaymovement – and liked to wear atheist t-shirts and caps in everydaylife, even reported that she regularlyput invitations to events and political pamphlets by her organization into the business mail of her family’smedium-sized companyinthe car-manufacturing industry. The organized atheists from this studydid not onlyuse different strategies regardingthe disclosure of their atheism in everydaylife, but they also preferred different strategies for their organizations.Cimino and Smith (2011) arguethat the American secularist movement was torn in this respect: “Thetension be- tween, on the one hand,spreading secularism and attemptingtoexpose the fal- lacies of belief and, on the other,seeking acceptance in alargely religious soci- ety runs through the recent history of secular humanism” (28). LeDrew (2013,

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18–19) argues that favoring either a “confrontational” approach, in which criti- cism of religion and satire are used in order to produce attention and to push certain political goals, or an “accomodationist” approach, which is deemed to further respect and acceptance of atheists, would mirror different ideas about acollective self (see also Fazzino &Craguninthis volume). To my observation, these divergent strategies do not onlyseparate secular humanists from atheists, but they are also associated with different umbrella organizations within the atheistsector.Thisregularlycausesdebates within local atheist groups,asde- scribed by Don K. (AOF,53) for the case of AOF:

Youknow,dowe…(,) do we join American Atheists,who for so manyyears have been (,) whohavelived by… ridiculing… religion? …Or do we takeamore… understanding ap- proach, Iguess youcould call it?The way… the Atheist AllianceInternational… approaches it,saying: we need to develop… abetter connection… with society,sothat they will accept us as equals. …And, youknow,so, yeah, it’sa(,) it’saconstant… conflict that we have in our board meetings.You know,which direction do we go?

At the time this studywas conducted, asimilar debate took place in the Munich based BfG group. Some of the members criticized the group’spresident,Assunta T.,for her provocative style and activism, such as the implementation of ablas- phemycontest.Friedrich G. (BfG, 71):

In anycase, she is not aconventional character.Let’sput it that way. And she does exhibit that quiteabit.[…]You know,Idon’thaveaproblem with that at all. But the fact is, we want to change things.And for that we need the regular citizens.And therefore my opinion is that the current politics arenot very favorable, the politics of provocation. …Because that waywescare away the regular citizens.

Yet, Assunta countered with the opinion that citizens in ademocratic society should be able to stand criticism and satire. Accordingly, she advocated aprovo- cative,attention-grabbing strategy, arguing thatnoble values alone “are not sexy” for the media:

Those so-called humanistic,secular values, …they should have actuallybeen societal con- sensus for along time. It shouldn’ttakeanythingfor that.[…]You know?Soit’ssad enough that we still have to workour asses off for that.And we can onlybesuccessful […]with provocation,ofcourse! …What else? With provocation. Howelse do youwant to reach any- thing? That’show the world works. As long as thereare thingsgoing wrong,wemust pro- voke and trust that in ademocratic society democratic-humanistic people will be ableto bear that.

But just as atheist bloggerGreta Christina (2010) argued that one should “let fire- brands be firebrands” and “diplomats be diplomats”,voices that sawadvantages

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4ATypologyofOrganized Atheists

It has become apparent that goals, strategies,identity labels,aswell as world- view biographies vary drasticallyamong organized atheists. The saying common- ly used in the movement that “organizingatheists is like trying to herd cats” finds some validation in these results. Still Iwant to arguethatthis bulk of high- ly diverse cases can be reduced to afair number of characteristic exemplars or ideal types of members. The typologyproposed was achievedbythe identificationofnarrative pat- terns or “central motives”,which consist of typicalfigures in verbalizations as well as in topical choices and which heavilyinform and shape the character of an interview while putting it in line with select others. In order to be seen as central motivesthese patterns must appear recurrentlythroughout an inter- view and especiallybepresent in its “richest” passages (Kruse 2011,176 – 179). Ihaveidentified four such narrative patterns,which in combination with one of two behavioral patterns or modes of action – one more other-, the other more self-oriented – constituteeight ideal types of organized atheists.

Diagram 1: The eight ideal types of organized atheists

NarrativePattern / Ideal Type CentralMotive Other-Oriented Self-Oriented

Political Conflict Political Fighter Indignant

Belonging CollectivistAlienated

Philosophical, Scientific, and Religious Knowledge Intellectual Enlightener Silent Intellectual

Identification with Organization Dissociate Euphoric

The Narrative Pattern of “Political Conflict”

The common motive in narrations of members who Iwill call the “political fight- er” and the “indignant” is the narrator’sconviction that in the current situation democratic or constitutional principles are violated, as religious ideas or actors are being granted undue influenceonthe operations of the state or as atheists

Brought to you by | Sacred Heart University Authenticated Download Date | 1/11/18 4:20 PM ATypology of Organized Atheists and Secularists in Germany and the US 237 and the nonreligious are beingdiscriminated against.Thisconcern is at the heart of these persons’ activism, while epistemologicalquestions of religious belief or unbelief are seen as less important or dismissed completely. This overriding prin- ciple is represented fairlywell in astatement by Adrienne M. (SFA,34):

Irefuse to debatepeople on the existenceofgod. Idon’tcare.Believewhateveryou want to believe! Whatever makes youhappy,Iwant youtodoit! But youneed to keep it out of my government… and off of my bodyand away from me! …That’sthe onlyreason IdowhatI do. […]I’ve never even read the bible! Okay?Idon’tcare.Ican’tget past pagetwo.It’sbor- ing. …So Irefuse to debatethe existence. …What Idoiscivil liberties.

Apart from this political orientation,the two types of members who are united by this motive show further distinct characteristics which distinguish them from one another. ThePolitical Fighter: Representativesofthis type are characterized by their disputability,their conviction of ahighdegree of self-effectiveness,aswell as their preference for a confrontational strategy. Their activism is strongly outward- or other-oriented. Ed B. (AFS,62),for example, said thatwhat he loved most about his activism was “to do public speaking and debates”.When, duringthe interview,hereproduced the disputes that he regularlyhas with people who want the TenCommandments to be posted in publicbuildings, he self-ironically remarked: “Youcan getmeonsome soap boxesnow.I’ll preach for awhile, if youwant me to [laughs]”.Similarly, Assunta T. (BfG, 46) described herself as “streitlustig” (cantankerous – literally “argument jolly”), “with an emphasis on ‘lustig’” (“jolly”). She shrugged off fears of retributions for an outspoken sec- ularism, as voiced by other members of her organization, with a “pfff” sound, characteristic of her and used manytimes throughout the interview.Aslong as nothing worse happened than having ones car’stirespunctured, one needed to speak out against religiouslymotivated violations of individual rights. Assun- ta, as well as other representativesofthe political fighter,stressedthat this should be done by oneself rather than waitingfor others, such as political par- ties, to do the job. She said that it was not her style to bemoan abad situation, but,rather,todosomething about it.Besides believing in the effectiveness of political action, political fighters typicallyalso exhibit astrongwill and aten- dency to make decisions unilaterally.Accordingly, they oftentake up leading roles in theirorganizations. As they stronglybelieveinthe legitimacy of their project,they advocate the use of aconfrontationalstrategyinorder to getatten- tion. TheIndignant. Representativesofthis type are characterized by their indig- nance. Just as the political fighters, they are appalled about new developments regardingthe relationship between state and religion or regardingreligious in-

Brought to you by | Sacred Heart University Authenticated Download Date | 1/11/18 4:20 PM 238 Björn Mastiaux trusions on individual liberties. Yet, different from the political fighters, theiram- bition is less to look strategicallyfor ways to changethe political situation in the long run, but rather to lookfor an outlet to their disgust,for away to vent their frustration,which they find in theirorganizations.Accordinglytheir activism is of an expressive nature and often rather low-key and sporadic, such as writing let- ters to the editor,asJay B. (AFS,77) does:

We also have in our local newspaper on adailybasis… acolumn called vent.And the vent means really, literally, for people to let off steam. …And it’sa…series of what might be called one-liners, in which people would makesome comment.And… Ihave, again, been very (,) pretty successful in havinganumber of vents printed.

Some other indignants do not getactive themselves, but rather want to support financiallyand give voice to political activists, even though they maynot believe in the realization of their instrumental goals, as for example Lisa K. (IBKA, 32):

Idon’tbelievethat they can actuallyachievealot.But knowingthat thereisavoicethat says:hello, here,wehaveanopinion on this, too, does help. That’swhy Ifind the workthat they do tremendouslyimportant.

Representativesofthe indignants are oftennew members as their indignation is usually fresh and connected to aspecific current issue. Yet, in other cases, out- rage and frustration maybekept up and alive for years, not least by the religion- watch and news services of the organizations themselves.

The Narrative Pattern of “Belonging”

Another central motive that surfaced regularlyinsome of the interviews is that of belonging. Interviewees who represent the types of the “collectivist” and the “alienated” articulatedexperiencesofestrangement and a – sometimes pro- found – desire to (re‐)connect with others. Mariva A. (SFA,38), a “Jewish atheist” who, after areligious quest,became amemberofSan Francisco Atheists,but who still enjoyed attending services at aprogressive church on Christmas and Easter,got at the heart of this pattern when she remarked:

And Icame home from one of these services, and Itold my husband: youknow,Ithink, one (,) maybe the reason I’ve gone to all these different religious… outlets and… services and traditions and rituals is, …youknow,between likethe Native American sweatlodge and the Buddhist retreats and, youknow,the Quaker meetinghouse and the gayJewish syna- gogueand Glide Memorial Church (,) youknow,maybe whatI…(.) IthoughtIwas looking for god, but,Ithink, what Iwas reallylookingfor and what I found… was aconnection to

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humanity.[…]And that was sort of aprofound realization for me that… youcould look at almost anyreligion and it’ssort of adifferent expression of humanity.You know,the Bud- dhist tradition is an expression of becomingquiet and becominggrounded and becoming very meditative.And the Native American expression of religion is… about becomingvery connected to the earth and to nature. …Youknow,and the Jewish expression is (,) is very intellectual. It makes us think. It makes us,you know,buzz with ideas.And, youknow,the San FranciscoAtheists dinner […]sort of brings out the misfit in me and makes me feel like, youknow,finallywe’re part of acommunity where we’re not beingostracized.

The term “community” is used frequentlyinthe narrativesofboththe collectivist as well as the alienated. Both mayuse the term in two senses – meaning either society at large or the smaller group of the secular community.Yet,for the col- lectivist the wish to belong is directed more at the former,while for the alienated it is directed more at the latter. TheCollectivist. As atheists, representativesofthe collectivist type feelalien- ated from and misunderstood by the general population. They are drivenbythe desire to bridge that gapand by the wish to find communitywith the greater col- lective. As aco-founder of Atheists and Other Freethinkers,Mynga F. (AOF,63) de- fines this as the group’soriginal goal: “The purpose of AOF… is to… promote civic understanding of atheism… and acceptance of it in our community”.Collec- tivists are looking for common ground with the religious population of their so- ciety.One starting point for this is their refusal to criticize religion at large, which, as Paul G. pointed out,did not mean not to protestatall:

It’snot that we won’tevercriticize. …It’ssimplythat we do not lump religion… in one giant lump and thereforesay:religion’sbad! We can’tsay that [chuckles], ‘cause thereare reli- gions that aregood. And so… that (,) that’sthe basic idea.

This differentiatingand benevolenttreatmentofreligion is not necessarilymoti- vated by strategy. Instead, it mayresult from personal positive experienceswith religion, such as in Paul’scase. He did continue his passion for singinginchurch choirs long after his loss of faith and still enjoys singingchurch songstogether with his wife. Yet, the collectivists ask for the samekind of acceptance by the re- ligious in return. They try to earn this respect,for example, with the help of char- itable activities thatthey pursue or thatthey want their organization to engage in, such as highway cleanups or food drives. In addition, they promote openness about theirworldview in personal relations.This, according to Don K. (AOF,53), should help to dispel stereotypes about atheists as anti-social beings, which “church-going people” mayhave: “They will also learn then to accept atheists as… equal participants in… society,and that we can share… our common hu- manity… without… embracing adeity”.

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TheAlienated. Others who share the experience of alienation from their sur- roundingsociety with the collectivists are less concerned with trying to bridge that gap. Rather than hoping to provethat atheists are respectable members of society,too, their narrativestell of adesire to find anew “home”–be that in social or intellectual terms – asmall community of like-minded people. This motive is common for (but not exclusive to) members who grew up and used to live in an areawherereligion mattered little or not at all and who, after mov- ing,suddenlywereconfronted with ahigher degree of religiosity or with religion at all. HeikoT.(MNA, 40), for example, had grown up as the son of anonreli- gious father and amoderatelyreligious Lutheran mother in the secularizedGer- man Democratic Republic (GDR) /Eastern Germany. After he gotdivorced from his American wife, whom he had followed to Minnesota after their wedding, he felt lost and foreign there. He reported that during the first two years of his stay in the United States he had mainlybeen workingonhis doctoral dissertation and gottoknow American society mostlyvia television. Whathewas presented there on several religious channels wasdecidedlydifferent from what he knew of re- ligion from backhome:

Iactuallysaw hatethere.This was not the kind of Christianity… which teaches loveand understanding,you know.Itwas decidedlydirectedagainst atheists… and nonbelievers. Youknow?Well, to me this was shocking. Also, there were certain aspects of Christianity that Ihad never heardabout,like the Second ComingofChrist and… the rapture, …things likethat.[…]And also, of course,the cultural war of the intelligent designmovement.And then there’smewith my scientific background. So that hits (,) that hits close to home.

Also, trying to find anew partner after the divorceturned out to be difficult for Heiko, as women wereregularlyput off by the fact of his nonreligion. Both ex- periences prompted him to go online and search for other “atheists” in “Minne- sota”.Martina R. (BfG, 35), who also grew up in the GDR and livedinEast Ger- manyfor the better part of her life, did not have anyexperience with religion until she took ajob in Bavaria. There she was not onlyconfronted with Catholic street processions, but also with new colleagues who claimed to be religious. This at first unsettled her and she wondered whether,asanatheist,she was missing an important sourceofsupport in her life. Yet, she started to develop some atheistic self-esteem after she learned thatreligion had not savedapartic- ularlyfaithful colleagueofhers from committingsuicide. Finally, after seeing a representative from BfG in adiscussion on television, she soon joined this organ- ization, in order to learn more about awell-reasoned secular position. As in these two cases, the feeling of alienation can be ashort-term experience,result- ing from anew situation. But it mayalso become apermanent condition, as for atheists who are surroundedbystronglyreligious people in their jobs and pri-

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In our society religion is (,) youknow,likeintheworkplace and in social settings (,) so it’s just largely:hands-off!People don’tsay anythingrather than risk offendingsomebody. And so it was… (,) Ithink it was… energizingtojust be able to be myself, …be moreofmyself and be able to saywhat Ithink and to be able to talk about those kinds of subjects and hear,you know,different perspectivesand views without… people gettingupset.

The Narrative Pattern of “Philosophical,Scientific, and Religious Knowledge”

The two typeswho, as their main narrative pattern, share an interest in philo- sophical, scientific, and religious knowledge have alot in common otherwise, too. Their narrations show a high degree of self-reflection and structure. They ap- pear as critical thinkers and they exhibit intellectual curiosity.Both, the “intel- lectualenlightener” as well as the “silent intellectual”,also share the experience of a religious deconversion,which they usually interpret as aconsequence of their inquisitiveness. David F. (SFA,43) portrayed this as anecessary connection:

And… it’sjust ironic that,ifyou take… your Christianity seriouslyenough… to investigate that and to reallyhold that up, youknow,tolook for the truth, it will [claps hands] fall apart,ifyou look at it tooclose, in my humble opinion.

Joseph H. (MNA,46), for example, traced his deconversion back to his high school education, for which he attended aCatholic school:

Now,whereasmost high school students didn’tparticularlycare and they just did enough toget by, …likeother subjects,Iwas reallyinterested.Iaskedquestions. …Sincerelycon- cerned… teachers and priests gave me books to read. And in doing so, Ilearned the history of my religion, …in particular,and all religions in general, and discoveredthat they all had… very… reasonable, rational histories. Likethe history of any… philosophyorpolitical movement or city stateor…economic system or whatever.They had abeginning. They had acause and effect. …And it wasn’tsomethingthat was dumped out of the sky.Itwasn’t somethinghanded down by adeity.And moreand morethe idea gelled in my mind that… (,) that it had to be that the exact same causative forcesthat created… the ancient Egyptian gods… and the Roman gods and the Greek gods and the Chinese gods… had to have been the exact same causative forcesthat had created the Christian god. …It made sense. …Ironically, if Ihad never gone to aCatholic school, Imight never have questioned anything.

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Others started to investigate religion more closelyonlylater in life, such as Rü- diger C. (BfG, 69), who in privatedevelopedagrowinginterest in the bible, or formerevangelical preacher Lee S. (MNA,69), who, over the years, discovered more and more contradictions in the scripture. What they all have in common, though,isthatafter their deconversions they continued their “search for the truth” and kept up an interest in questions of philosophy, science, and religion. TheIntellectual Enlightener. In addition to this pattern of an interest in phi- losophy, science,and religion, some of these intellectuals exhibited in their nar- rations adrive and desire to actively educate. Trained biologist and educator Mynga F. (AOF,63), for example, who alsorepresents the type of the “collecti- vist”,viewed the public’seducation about evolutionary theory as aservice to all of society.For this reason she took the Darwin Dayevent,which her AOF helps to set up each year,tobeofpremier importance.Others are more con- cerned with the provision of knowledge about religion, such as SteveY.(AFS, 54), president of the Atlanta FreethoughtSociety at the time, who sawthis as the organization’smost important purpose:

We want people to learn (,) especiallypeople likemyself back in 1998, when Iwas still try- ing to figure things out… about religion… and nonreligion… and matters like this. […]Our organization might be able to help them to understand better.And so that’sagood thing. I love (,) Iloveitwhenpeople… come to… that realization and they learn moreevery day about how thereare some real problems with religion.

This motive of the “intellectual enlightener” is typicalfor members who have had areligious past of their own or who went through an intense religious quest. One example is Grant S. (MNA,63), aformer school teacher,who after 30 years as aJehova’sWitness converted to Catholicism and wroteadoctoral dis- sertation about cults at aJesuit university.After having lost religious faith alto- gether he joined Minnesota Atheists,despite his aversion against joining organ- izations, onlyinorder to be able to educateothers about religious cults.In particular, he had hoped to be able to provide active Jehova’sWitnesses with adropout’spoint of view on their religion via Minnesota Atheists’ media outlets, such as their cable TV show.Also, he entertained the idea of conducting atuto- rial:

Sort of aclass 101, atheism 101,that would give youbooks and then it would give study questions and sort of set it out that youcould follow it throughand studyit. …Fine books that would… aim at where you’re at.Because… in my own approach it was sort of: catchbycatch, whatever happened to be the most accessible. […]But Ithink that most people arenot here. They’re here. …They’re not as… educated. And so they need to have aprogram or away of approachingit. […]I’malwaysthe teacher,I’malwaysthe ed- ucator.And… that’swhat Iwant to do… (,) is tryingtoeducate people and to help them.

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One reason for the fact that “intellectual enlighteners” seem to be predominantly those members of atheistorganizations who used to be stronglyreligious in their past maybefound in LaurenceR.Iannaccone’sconcept of “religious human capital”.Itbuildsonthe idea that the time, money,and effort spent on religion for religious believers amount to an investment in techniques and knowledge, which makes it less likelyfor them to leave their faith behind:

The skills and experiencespecific to one’sreligion include religious knowledge,familiarity with church ritual and doctrine, and friendships with fellow worshippers.Itiseasy to see that these skills and experiences, which Iwill call religious human capital,are an important determinant of one’sability to produce and appreciatereligious commodities.(Iannaccone 1990,299,italics in original)

Iannaccone’sargument is that these investmentsovertime would make it more and moreirrational – and therefore unlikely – for an individual to changehis or her religious affiliation, to marry someoneofadifferent faith, or even to decon- vert from religion altogether. Obviouslythis did not hold true for those atheists who usedtobevery religious in the past.But while, despite all costs,reason and consciencecompelled them to leave behind their faith in which they had invest- ed so much, they stilldiscovered achance to applyatleast parts of their reli- gious human capital in sharing their religious knowledge with others. David F. (SFA,43), aformerevangelical Christian who at the time of the interview partici- pated in religious-secular dialogue projects and authored abook on the histor- icity of Jesus, even voiced his wish to convert this element of his religious capital into economic capital:

What Ihope to do (,) youknow,ifthe magic career fairy came down and grantedmemy wish, Iwould be on, like, the lecturecircuit… or some sort of teaching position, youknow. … Ithink I’dbe…reallygood as ateacher and…(,) Imean, people reallyseem to enjoy my public speaking. …And that’swhat I’dliketoget paid for.

TheSilentIntellectual. The adjective “silent” characterizes the representativesof this type onlyregarding their treatment of philosophical, scientific, and religious knowledge.Compared with the intellectual enlighteners, interviewees who ex- hibited this narrative pattern werefar less eager to share their knowledge,but rather to be educated further themselves. They showed ahighand generalized ambition to learn. One caseinpoint is Joseph H., who answered the general bio- graphical question about the most important stages in his life so far by talking extensively about experiencesthatshaped his wayofthinking.Other biograph- ical events,like meeting and marrying his wife or having adaughter,instead, ap- peared onlyasanafterthought:

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Forsome reason they don’t… jump out exactlyasturningpoints in my life, because in cer- tain ways they didn’treally… affect my world outlook, perhaps. They weren’t… (,) they were very important and emotional… parts of my life, but they reallydidn’t… teach me anything. Ireallyhaven’tlearned anything. Ireallywasn’t transformed… by the experienceofbecom- ing afather or beingmarried.

The silentintellectuals like their organizations for the chance to meet others that maybeofasimilar intellectual orientation as well as for being able to attend presentations on various scientificand philosophical topics. Some, likeRüdiger C. (BfG, 69), particularlyenjoy their group’slibrary,which enables them to study criticism of religion and its history systematically. Accordingly, KennethN.(AOF, 56) believed that he would leave AOF onlyinthe case that he would not be able to learn anything new thereany longer:

Ilike AOFbecause I’malwayslearningthings.And that’swhen I’mhappiest,when I’m learningsomething. …Yes, it’saneducational… pursuit.It’sawayofexpandingmy mind. And Ithink, if Ieverleft AOF, it would be because… Ifelt that my mind is no longer growing.

The Narrative Pattern of “Identification with the Organization”

While the narrative patterns introduced so far werecharacterized primarilyby members’ motivations for affiliating with their organizations (political protest, community,education), the narrations of the tworemainingtypes of members wereshaped morestronglybyhow they positioned themselvestoward their groups.All of these interviewees felt compelled to negotiate the relationship with theirorganization as ameans of performing asegment of theirpersonality that they identifiedwith very strongly. Substantially, these interviews were dia- metricallyopposed to each other,though, as they werecharacterized either by vehement rejection of or full-blowncompliancewith the atheist organization. TheDissociate. All of the organizations explored have afair share of nominal or passivemembers. With their membership, they onlywish to support the goals of the movement symbolically or financiallyorthey merelywish to be informed by their group’snewsletter or magazine. This does not make them “dissociates” in the sense discussed here. Rather,the members classified as such actively re- ject identification with their atheist group, some of its practices,and members. This rejection results from a value central to the person’sidentity which he or she does not see fulfilled or represented by the other atheists and their organi- zations. Interviewees who exhibit this pattern also exhibit acertain amount of

Brought to you by | Sacred Heart University Authenticated Download Date | 1/11/18 4:20 PM ATypologyofOrganized Atheists and Secularists in Germany and the US 245 generalized distrust and accuse the atheists of some of the samemistakesthat they accuse the religious of. MarcoP.(AFS,65), for example, identifiedpredom- inantlyasamystic. By this he meant aperson who did not believewithout ques- tioning,but who was open still to new experiences and insights. Persons, who would jump to conclusions or unconditionallycling to their convictions, he called “stupid”–aterm that occurred frequentlythroughout his interview. One of his fields of interest was that of near-death experiences.Hehad offered the board of directors at AFS to give atalk on the topic, but at the time of the interview he was certain that this would be rejected, as manyatheists deemed the field to be unscientific. This “closed-mindedness”,Marcosaid, made him just as angryasbans on the teaching of evolution, which he experiencedin his career as alecturer in anthropology:

Idon’treactwelltopeople whotry to limit my freedom. And, essentially, what you’ve been hearingmesay about the Atlanta FreethoughtSociety… is that… it seems to me that there aresome… in there that have their own very,very narrow view of what free is. …If they real- ly werefreethought… they would be really open to all thought. But… Idon’thavethe opin- ion that they are.

While MarcoP.felt threatened by “stupid people” who wanted to limit his free- dom, the central issue in Mona T.’s(IBKA,69) narration is her rejection not only of Christians,but also of conservativesand sexist men – who, in her experience, tended to appear in personal union and who she deemed responsible for most bad thingsthateverhappened to her.Eventhough in IBKA therewerenoChris- tians, she reported that she still grew critical of the group:

Because Ithink the only ones whocan really do anythingagainst those dreadful religions arethe leftists… and women. They have the most reason.And both areheavilydiscriminat- ed against in this organization. …Beingleftist is treated as bad. And women areinthe mi- nority.[…]Ipity that.But Iamstill going to stick with IBKA, because otherwise it would onlybeone less – one leftist and one woman.

Finally, Wolfram B. (IBKA, 55), who was mainlyactive in the anarchist and paci- fist movements, was discouraged from further attending IBKA meetingsnot only by procedures there, such as podium discussions, that he deemed toohierarch- ical for his taste, but also by the fact that he was not able to recruit new members for the pacifist movement:

Well, of course, whovotes for Social Democrats is not interested in peaceand whovotes for the Greens goes to war as well. Letmeput it that way[laughs slightly]. So, my topic is a minority issue, Iknow. …That was obvious.Noone showed anyinterest in it.

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Therefore, Wolfram himself developed no interest in engagingwith atheismmore actively and remained distant.Pollettaand Jasper (2001) see areason for the phenomenon that people sometimes associate themselveswith movements whose members they criticize in the fact that “(c)ollective identity is not the same as common ideological commitment.One can joinamovement because one shares its goals without identifying much with fellow members (one can even, in some cases, despise them)” (298).Tothateffect,MarcoP.(AFS,65) stressed thatbefore joining AFS he did not think “{{with feigned voice, soft} ooohhh, I’mgoingtomeet people likeme. AndI’mgonna feel so at home and so comfortable.} Bullshit!” Instead, he said, he onlywanted to make astate- ment:

Ihaveno…interest in stupidity. …So, Idon’trun around lookingfor stupid groups. I joined… this particular… Atlanta Freethought Societynot because Ithoughtthese people were… smart and had anyanswers,but because I(,) …mainlyIthought it was away of me doing… what Ithink is morallyproper.Mesaying: hey,here’sanother number you can put on your membershiplist to show that not everybodyinthis god-damn country is asimple-minded evangelical.

TheEuphoric. In contrast, representativesofthe euphoric feelcompletelyat home in theiratheistactivism. Their identity as atheist is at the center of their personality.With the freethought-secularist movement they have found aplat- form with the help of which to act out on this aspect of theiridentity.This ideal type is characterized by threemotives: the publicself-presentation as athe- ist in activist as well as everydaysituations, the conviction of being part of avic- torious movement,and the characterization of religion as psychosis and mental imprisonment.David M. (SFA,77) represented the prototypical euphoric:

Igot an atheist cap.ItsaysAmerican Atheists up here. Igot that at one of the conventions. And… areporterfromthe Chronicle interviewed me… and tookmypictureand… (,) and this actuallywas at an atheist meeting, Ibelieve, in Berkeley.They were discussing something… about atheism or somethingthe governmentisdoing. And this reporter was thereand… took my picture. And I’ve been in parades.I’ve been in alot of parades… holding… aban- ner or something. And Igiveout these pins [pins with the word “GOD” crossed out].

It is obvious that David enjoyed presentinghimself as an atheist in public. In contrast to manyotherAmerican atheists, he happilyhad his picture taken for anewspaper.Also, he liked to be present and honk his horn at demonstrations, the actual cause of which seems to be less important to him. He fashionedhim- self an “atheist preacher”,who, for example, singsatheistblues songsand plays his harmonica at anight club or who advertiseshis book, “Atheist Acrimonious”, in everydaysituations, such as while inquiring about car insurance on the

Brought to you by | Sacred Heart University Authenticated Download Date | 1/11/18 4:20 PM ATypology of Organized Atheists and Secularists in Germany and the US 247 phone. This ambition results from his idea that atheismconstitutes asuperior and, in the long run, victorious worldview.David typicallyargued for this view with amixture of serious and tongue-in-cheek arguments:

Atheists have morefun. Youhavemoreenjoyment beinganatheist.You’re happier beingan atheist. …And [laughs] (,) and, of course, if you’re talkingtoanother guy, says:you can drink morewithout guilt.Imean, youcan have another beer! …And drink morewhiskey! Shit,you got ‘em right there[laughs]! …Or youtalk to the women and says: …did you know that the atheist men arethe handsomest men in the world?They’re alot more handsomerthan these Catholics. Youknow? …Tell ‘em anygod-damn thing!Itdon’tmatter. As long as youget their attention.

Of these arguments, David was at least convincedofthe greater happiness that atheists would enjoy.His happiness about his own atheismand his enthusiasm to advertise for it resultfrom his past,when, he claimed,hesuffered from “god phobia”.Having finallyconcluded that the godheused to be afraid of did not exist,tohim, accordingly, felt like an enormous liberation: “And I’ve been elated and happy about it… ever since that… Ijust can’tget over it.Iam so happy [laughs].”

5Conclusion

The phenomenon of “new atheism” at the beginning of the 21 century has led to agrowingacademicand public visibilityofafreethought-secularist movement, whose protagonists have sometimes been called “militant” or “zealous atheists” (Gray2008;Platzek 2011). Apart from the general problem that “militancy” is a mischaracterization of stringent criticism, my exploration of German and Amer- ican atheist organizations has revealed thatthe membership of these groups is much more pluralistic – regardingdegrees of and motivations for members’ ac- tivism, their views on strategies and openness, as well as their worldviews and worldview formation. Acertain degree of zealmay onlybeascribed to members that Icharacterized as the “political fighter”,the “euphoric”,and, to some de- gree, the “intellectual enlightener”.Ingeneral, organized atheists’ activism maybeeither other-orself-oriented, it mayfollow political,communal, or edu- cational goals, and it mayseek confrontation or accommodation. Also, some of the members maybevery critical not onlyofreligion, but also of their fellow atheists and atheist organizations. This plurality was present in both the Americanaswell as the German or- ganizations.One exception, at least in my sample, wasthe ideal type of the “eu- phoric”,whose prototypical representative Ionlyfound in one of the American

Brought to you by | Sacred Heart University Authenticated Download Date | 1/11/18 4:20 PM 248 BjörnMastiaux groups.While this maybemere coincidence, Iwould like to arguethat asystem- atic differencebetween organizations from the twocountries can be found with respect to the narrative pattern of “belonging”.Eventhough the study’sdesign does not allow for quantitative comparisons,itisnoteworthythatthis narrative pattern wasmuch morecommon in the Americaninterviews. There maybea structural reason for this tendency,and it mayhavetodowith the “ubiquity of theism” (Smith 2011) in U.S. society and the more charismatic and expressive character of Americanreligiosity.Ithas been reported that these factors make the Americanatheist identity arejection identityfaced with stigma and ostra- cism. Accordingly, the main reason for joining atheist organizations so far (look- ing at Americancases only) has been seen in the management of anon-norma- tive identity through associationwith like-minded people – either with the aim of fighting the stigma, or with the aim of banding together. While important in the Americancontext,this is less of amotive in the caseofGermany, wherenon- religion and atheismare not uncommon and faced with less of astigma. Accord- ingly,this exploration has shown that there exist further motivations for secula- rist activism – namelypolitical outrageand intellectual curiosity – which can be found in bothcountries alike. Finally, the differenceinreligious vitality between the two countries overall mayberesponsible for the most striking difference between the Germanand the Americanatheistorganizations. The latter proved to be alot more vivid. Even though in both countries Iconsciouslysampled organizations that offered their members chances for getting active politically as well as for socializing, the German groups studied offered social events and meetingsmuch less regu- larlyand less frequentlythan the American ones. Efforts at organizinginformal meet-ups within the Germangroups weregenerallyshort-livedand charitable ac- tivism not considered necessary.Therefore, except for the preparation of the newsletter, the more active members tended to onlymeet irregularly, such as for occasional political protest, for outreach at progressive festivals (such as Labor Dayorgay pride events), for an occasional lecture or book discussion, and for theirgroups’ annual conferences.Incontrast,the Americangroups fea- tured not onlytheir monthlymeetings, but also dinner clubs,book clubs,char- itable as well as aplethoraofother activities. Even though national differences in civic cultures mayalso playarole here, it seems more likelythat the degree of religiosity present in aculturedetermines heavilythe degree of activism in athe- ist organizations, which on all other counts are so similar to one another.

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