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Introduction: Vaccine hesitancy poses a complex global challenge. Our study investigates correlations between COVID-19 vaccination rates, religious demographics, and educational performance. Materials and methods: Using cross-sectional analysis, data from reputable sources were analyzed for correlations using Pearson's correlation and linear regression. Results: We found statistically significant positive correlations between COVID-19 vaccination rates and PISA scores, Catholic populations, non-religious, and atheist populations. Conversely, negative correlations were observed with Muslim and Eastern Orthodox populations. Our findings suggest potential influences of religious beliefs and educational attainment on vaccination rates. Conclusion: The data reveals a positive correlation between COVID-19 vaccination rates and the percentages of Catholic, Non-Religious, and Atheist populations, while indicating a negative correlation between COVID-19 vaccination rates and the percentages of Muslim and Eastern Orthodox populations. These findings underscore the potential significance of engaging religious leaders in promoting vaccinations as a strategy to address vaccine hesitancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this autobiographical essay, Elaine (Sneierson) Leeder traces her evolution from being an atheist, anarchist, lesbian feminist to becoming a spiritual seeker. Following her path from being raised an Orthodox Jew, Leeder discovers that her social activism and deep dedication to social justice have roots in Jewish values. This has led her to embrace her Judaism in newfound ways. By studying for her Bas Mitzvah, Leeder has learned about spirituality, the lessons of the Kabbalah and resolved deep fears of death and dying. Her piece is heartfelt and follows a path toward the unknown.

Abstract Introduction Vaccine hesitancy poses a complex global challenge. Our study investigates correlations between COVID-19 vaccination rates, religious demographics, and educational performance. Materials and methods Using cross-sectional analysis, data from reputable sources were analyzed for correlations using Pearson’s correlation and linear regression. Results We found statistically significant positive correlations between COVID-19 vaccination rates and PISA scores, Catholic populations, non-religious, and atheist populations. Conversely, negative correlations were observed with Muslim and Eastern Orthodox populations. Our findings suggest potential influences of religious beliefs and educational attainment on vaccination rates. Conclusion The data reveals a positive correlation between COVID-19 vaccination rates and the percentages of Catholic, Non-Religious, and Atheist populations, while indicating a negative correlation between COVID-19 vaccination rates and the percentages of Muslim and Eastern Orthodox populations. These findings underscore the potential significance of engaging religious leaders in promoting vaccinations as a strategy to address vaccine hesitancy.

Whereas research has documented how atheists are perceived, none has considered their perceptibility. Atheists must first be identified as atheists in order to experience the stigma associated with them (i.e., as distrusted, disliked, and widely maligned). Although atheism is considered a concealable aspect of one's identity, substantial research has found that a variety of ostensibly concealable attributes about a person are indeed legible from small and subtle cues. We merged these lines of inquiry here by considering the perceptibility of religious and spiritual (dis)belief. Studies 1A-1B showed that atheists could be reliably discerned from Christians based on brief glimpses of 100 standardized male faces. Experiment 2 replicated these results using female faces. Experiments 3 A-E then interrogated the facial features that support perceivers' detection of atheism, showing that various parts of faces suffice for independently conveying atheism. Experiment 4 investigated and showed a potential mechanism for atheism detection – expressive suppression. Thus, across nine studies (N = 677), these data show robust evidence that atheists can be categorized from facial cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Belief in God is the first of several principles enshrined in the Rukun Negara of Malaysia which makes it one of the important principles to be upheld by any Malaysian citizen. However, there are some who do not accept this concept of believing in God and they are referred to as atheists. The existence of this group can seen clearly when issues that concern this group became public knowledge like the meeting of atheists in Kuala Lumpur that took place in 2017 and the existence of a Facebook group called Warung Atheist (Atheist Stall). Therefore, this article is prepared to discuss a discourse on the atheism within the Malaysian society including: [1] to analyze past studies related to the definitions and history of atheism; [2] to analyze past studies related to atheist thoughts and arguments and [3] to analyze past studies related to the response and objection to atheism. This article is written using qualitative method with content analysis design. In general, the research findings show that, in Malaysia, there are so few studies conducted on this topic. The study on the definitions and history of atheism among Malaysian researchers is still lacking because many researchers make the studies as a side topic only. This also happens to studies on themes related to atheism, but it should be noted that there are several studies have begun to make focusing on atheism. However, most researchers in Malaysia conduct studies which concern the objection against and criticism towards atheism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this response to Spencer's essay, I highlight how our two essays have distinct aims and purposes. Our contrasting interpretations and arguments reflect how differing goals, imprecise definitions of the literature on atheists/atheism, and conflicting prioritizations of context can lead to opposing perspectives over the current state of scholarly attention to atheists in the field. Additionally, I argue that Spencer's literature review functions as an extension of my chapter, confirming and reinforcing several of the core concerns about the scholarly work on atheism I originally highlighted. It is my hope this exchange offers an opportunity to keep thinking about how rhetoric and communication scholars can effectively approach scholarship on atheism and atheists moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dixi is the property of Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

From ancient times to the present day, the question of faith and unbelief has troubled all mankind, from the common man to his greatest geniuses. In expressing belief and/or non-belief, the notion of „atheist“ is frequently used, which has many different meanings. There are frequent cases in which, in a conversation, people use, each distinctly, the notion of „atheist“, (1) either with the most different meanings, (2) or with ambiguous, unclear meanings, and in one case and in another, reaching the situation of „talking together and understanding each other separately“. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Journal of Religious Education Studies / Türkiye Din Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi is the property of Turkish Journal of Religious Education Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Recent research suggests presumptions about atheists' uncommitted mating strategy causes atheists to seem less trustworthy, and that people who are more religious or espouse less agreeable attitudes toward uncommitted mating (i.e., more restricted sociosexual attitudes) tend to harbor greater anti-atheist attitudes. We provided additional tests of these ideas and addressed whether they could extend to discrimination against atheists in a "high-trust domain:" likelihood of granting approval to marry one's adult child. An MTurk sample of U.S. parents (N = 301) self-reported their religiosity and sociosexual attitudes, then were randomly assigned to a condition wherein they read about their adult child's fiancé who was either depicted as an atheist or devoted Christian. Participants reported their likelihood of approving of their child marrying the fiancé and estimated the fiancé's committed mating strategy, trustworthiness, and dark personality characteristics. Participants with high religiosity presumed an atheist (vs. devoted Christian) fiancé endorsed a less committed mating strategy, which, apart from presumptions about the fiancé's standing on dark personality characteristics, was associated with (a) perceiving the atheist as less trustworthy and (b) indicating less approval for their child marrying an atheist. Broadly, the research extends theorizing on how atheism relates to perceived threats to moral values and discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although religious intolerance and marginalization still exist today, research suggests that perhaps one of the most marginalized groups is those who report no religion. Through interviews with 31 nonreligious couples (N = 62 individuals), we investigated what nonreligious parents want religious people to understand about them and their families. Using a team-based approach to qualitative data analysis, we identified three themes related to what our participants wanted religious people to know: (1) we are good people, good parents, and not that different from you; (2) religion does not equate with morality; and (3) do not judge beliefs, actions are what matter. We identified an additional theme regarding how they would like to convey these and other matters to religious people, that we termed as (4) I do/do not want to talk about religion and here is why. Implications include suggestions and recommendations to increase understanding, tolerance, and respect between religious and nonreligious individuals, family members, and groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally believed that the greatest asset of human being is the moral values and according to theist such values have been infused in human by the creator. By accepting such view we simply get rid of any effort of searching the origin of morality or ethics and also transfer the responsibility of being ethical on the almighty. But when atheist denied God, the liability of being moral comes to human and also the significant question arose why we should be moral. Probably more important is the hunt for the origin of our morality. In this article we have discussed about that origin of our morals in Nietzsche’s view as he was one of the strongest atheist of all time and in the light of the Darwinian evolutionary philosophy which inspired the modern age atheists. In this course, we have showed that how Nietzsche’s individual-centric value system faced the demand of societal explanation of interactive moral outcome and Darwinian school of evolutionary thinking articulates such issue in a broader perspective normally dealt with the philosophical views of human ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, four censuses have been conducted since 1990, in which the religious affiliation of the population was monitored. While the first one, in 1991, was carried out with a uniform methodology still within the framework of a common, albeit federalised, state, the later censuses differed from each other in both countries in their methodology, which was changed several times, but also in what they actually measured. In the same period, international surveys that worked with a more unified methodology for measuring religiosity were also conducted, most notably the EVS and WVS programmes. The study will focus on the analysis of the methodology used in both countries and the various risks involved in attempting to compare results between the two countries. Different survey and census results also lead to substantial differences in interpretation of the results of trends in religiosity change, leading to the need for a more in-depth analysis of the impact of the different methods on the results obtainet. Comparisons will be made concerning the possible ways to analyse both the group of people claiming a religious affiliation and those who did not claim a religious affiliation (nones). The ways of comparing the results from the censuses will be tested by using the survey-type studies EVS/WVS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the frameworks provided by Max Weber's comprehensive theory to offer insights into why a growing sector of young people residing in Bogota now identifies as either atheist or agnostic. This research attempts to understand why this subgroup rejects or has distanced itself from the Catholic tradition, which is still dominant in Colombia. Quantitative and qualitative data from a survey, along with a series of in-depth interviews of young people aged between 14 and 21 years, is analyzed and interpreted to achieve this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion is an influential and resilient phenomenon that parades no cryptograms of decline. It incites the deepest obligation, emotion, sharp action, strong dialogues and study for practitioners, opponents and fence-sitters. Any anthropoid who is familiar with the world around them understands that religion is a powerful probing phenomenon that demands better understanding through inquiries. Despite the force of religion, the 21st century has observed nonreligious groups and scholars’ greater influence on religion. This mixed-method study adopts a grounded theory approach to inductively ascertain from collected data, whether religious movements (RM) will survive the heroic tremor from nonreligious movements (NRM) and scholarship. The study discussed how scholars have studied religion and NRM in various academic disciplines and how the activities and engagements of NRM and scholarship have impacted the beliefs, functions and paradigm of RM. The study discoveries bring out that, though NRM and scholarship have vastly altered religious beliefs and meanings, RM will live beyond the 21st century, as far as human beings remain. The study findings additionally acmes that RM should not envision the NRM and scholarship as harmful but also as an expedient tool for favorable and inspired reforms. The study contributes to scholarship by defining religion as anthropoids’ innermost instinct and craving to satisfy certain responsibilities as revealed by a transcendental being or a higher order. The study further contributes to academia with the theory that, religious movements cannot be suppressed by the copious nonreligious schedules and scholarship, nevertheless it has made weighty vicissitudes to the trajectory of religious movements, which is worth stating and noteworthy.

This study aims to expose the writings of Malay atheists on Facebook regarding the teachings of Islam in Malaysia. Atheists are a group that rejects belief in God and religion. Furthermore, the existence of this thought is also detected in Malaysia and has successfully influenced some Malay communities to accept atheist thinking. As a result, there are several active Malay atheist groups on social media. They not only establish the Malay atheist movement but also actively write about their views, especially on Islam, through social media, including Facebook. Therefore, this study focuses on three main issues rejected by Malay atheists. The first issue relates to the concept of divinity (creed); the second issue is about the holy book, the Quran, and the third issue concerns worship. This study uses a qualitative method involving content analysis on social media. Their writings found in Malay atheist groups on Facebook from 2018 to 2022 have been analyzed to identify misunderstandings related to the three selected main issues. In addition, secondary sources such as journals, books, and magazines are used to strengthen the conducted study. The study found that the history of atheistic beliefs developed in the Malay Peninsula after the colonization by the communists. The development of this belief further expanded with the advancement of mass media technology, leading to the successful establishment of the Malay atheist movement and active engagement through social media. Furthermore, Malay atheists also use the progress of social media as a medium to criticize fundamental aspects of Islamic creed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate the religious development, life experiences, and perspectives of six atheist high school choral music teachers on their current attitudes about performing sacred choral music within the public school education system. Six atheist choir directors participated in eighteen semi-structured interviews, resulting in 608 minutes of data. Main analysis occurred through first- and second-wave coding, with horizontalization within the process. Analysis revealed five main themes that defined atheist choir director experiences: youth religious participation largely motivated by community and vibrant music, moving away from religious teaching throughout adolescence and college, feelings of other as a non-Christian minority, stepping into a role to participate in religious rituals, and programming religious music by presentation rather than proselytizing. Additionally, there was intersectional overlapping between the sexuality of a participant and their development as atheists. The essence of atheist choir directors is that of a lived contradiction between religious music and a non-believing music presenter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Transgender individuals face high levels of prejudice in interpersonal relationships. However, limited experimental research has examined the role of identity disclosure on anti-transgender prejudice. Methods: Drawing upon research on distrust and identity disclosure, two between-participants experiments (total n = 802) examined the role of intentional and unintentional identity disclosure on negative attitudes (Studies 1 & 2), perceived deception (Studies 1 & 2) and distrust (Study 2) toward two potentially concealable and historically distrusted identities (transgender and atheist). Specifically, the current studies examine the impact of a target's stigmatized identity (transgender or atheist) and method of disclosure (intentional or unintentional) on perceptions of the target, perceived deceptiveness, and distrust toward the target. Results: Our findings demonstrated that compared to atheists, transgender targets elicited greater levels of prejudice and were viewed as more deceptive, and that this effect was amplified if the target did not intentionally reveal their identity. Study 2 demonstrated that perceived deception mediated the relationship between reveal type (i.e., intentional vs. unintentional) and prejudice toward participants who read about a transgender (but not atheist) target. Discussion: We discuss the implications of these findings for reducing prejudice toward binary transgender individuals, particularly those who do not voluntarily disclose their identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An atheist named Richard Dawkins like many others came up with certain arguments questioning the existence of God in his book "The God Delusion". His highlighted arguments revolved around the theory of Darwinism meaning that everything in this universe is a result of natural selection and evolution. He says that immoral contradictions in the old and new testaments are proof of the nonexistence of a sacred force. Another theory he presented was that if everything is created by God, then who created God in the 1st place? He also put emphasis on the idea that religion is a self-serving motivation, and it does not come from a divine origin. Although he talked about a worldwide topic, yet he failed to quote even a single reference from the world's fastest-growing religion; Islam and presented his ideologies from a Christian perspective. Since the Old and New Testaments are the tempered scriptures that Richard Dawkins agrees to as well, his arguments cannot be considered valid considering these scriptures. Also, the theory he presented about the nonexistence of God goes against the basic principles of modern science as well. His key ideas are viewed and analyzed carefully and critically here considering the only non-tempered and original text, The Holy Quran. As a result, his work doesn't have actual academic support from anyone who studies religion from any angle, whether they be atheist or theist, liberal or fundamentalist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionTransgender individuals face high levels of prejudice in interpersonal relationships. However, limited experimental research has examined the role of identity disclosure on anti-transgender prejudice.MethodsDrawing upon research on distrust and identity disclosure, two between-participants experiments (total n = 802) examined the role of intentional and unintentional identity disclosure on negative attitudes (Studies 1 & 2), perceived deception (Studies 1 & 2) and distrust (Study 2) toward two potentially concealable and historically distrusted identities (transgender and atheist). Specifically, the current studies examine the impact of a target’s stigmatized identity (transgender or atheist) and method of disclosure (intentional or unintentional) on perceptions of the target, perceived deceptiveness, and distrust toward the target.ResultsOur findings demonstrated that compared to atheists, transgender targets elicited greater levels of prejudice and were viewed as more deceptive, and that this effect was amplified if the target did not intentionally reveal their identity. Study 2 demonstrated that perceived deception mediated the relationship between reveal type (i.e., intentional vs. unintentional) and prejudice toward participants who read about a transgender (but not atheist) target.DiscussionWe discuss the implications of these findings for reducing prejudice toward binary transgender individuals, particularly those who do not voluntarily disclose their identity.

Baskerville, with its well-considered design and elegant proportions, is one of the world's most widely used and influential typefaces. It was created by John Baskerville (1707–75) of Birmingham, an eighteenth-century typographer, printer and industrialist; an Enlightenment figure with a worldwide reputation who changed the course of type design. Whilst printing historians have lauded Baskerville for his contributions to the trade, he is more widely remembered for his unusual will, unconventional burial, and extraordinary post-mortem life. It is a story which has been retold over the course of 250 years by the local, national, and international press and which has contributed to the making of Baskerville's erroneous reputation as an atheist. This article surveys the evidence of Baskerville death and burial and reappraises the facts surrounding his post-mortem activities in order to correct the misapprehensions which surround Baskerville's beliefs and to reassess him as a deist rather than atheist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of History / Habaršy Tarihi Seriâsy is the property of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Strategic Universe Journal / Univers Strategic is the property of Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, Institute for Security Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article uses the frameworks provided by Max Weber’s comprehensive theory to offer insights into why a growing sector of young people residing in Bogota now identifies as either atheist or agnostic. This research attempts to understand why this subgroup rejects or has distanced itself from the Catholic tradition, which is still dominant in Colombia. Quantitative and qualitative data from a survey, along with a series of in-depth interviews of young people aged between 14 and 21 years, is analyzed and interpreted to achieve this purpose.

Over the last several decades, Gallup data shows an increased willingness among members of the public to support presidential candidates from a wide range of religious backgrounds, though a nontrivial proportion of the public is still unwilling to vote for an Atheist, Mormon, or Muslim. What underlies this opposition? We argue that voters evaluate candidates from religious out-groups more negatively on a wide range of dimensions considered desirable for political office, and that this bias should be more pronounced among the highly religious. We show support for these arguments using a survey experiment fielded with YouGov. Atheists and Muslim candidates were perceived more negatively on a large set of traits considered desirable for political office compared to candidates from religious in-groups, and Mormon candidates fall somewhere in between. The Atheist and Muslim candidates were also perceived as less competent on a diverse set of issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of religion on charitable donation of atheists. We used experimental method utilizing a post-test and a control group. The population of the present study was 314 students at Sharif University of Technology recruited in the second half of 2018 semester and randomly assigned to either the experimental (n=27) or the control (n=26) group. Then subjects answered some demographic questions (i.e., age, gender, and income) and some questions from the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, and were also primed using a research-made Religious Priming Tool. Then they were given an opportunity to donate money to Mahak Charity, while keeping the record of donation amounts. At the end, they reported their religious orientation again and answered questions to check their knowledge of the objectives of the experiment. Finally, we compared the median of the donations in two groups. The data analyzed using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney test due to the abnormality of data distribution. The results showed that highlighting religion had no effect on donation of the atheists. The experiment warrants further research for the purpose of a better understanding of mechanisms influencing prosocial behavior.

While religious beliefs are typically studied using questionnaires, there are no standardized tools available for cognitive psychology and neuroscience studies of religious cognition. Here we present the first such tool—the Cambridge Psycholinguistic Inventory of Christian Beliefs (CPICB)—which consists of audio-recorded items of religious beliefs as well as items of three control conditions: moral beliefs, abstract scientific knowledge and empirical everyday life knowledge. The CPICB is designed in such a way that the ultimate meaning of each sentence is revealed only by its final critical word, which enables the precise measurement of reaction times and/or latencies of neurophysiological responses. Each statement comes in a pair of Agree/Disagree versions of critical words, which allows for experimental contrasting between belief and disbelief conditions. Psycholinguistic and psychoacoustic matching between Agree/Disagree versions of sentences, as well as across different categories of the CPICB items (Religious, Moral, Scientific, Everyday), enables rigorous control of low-level psycholinguistic and psychoacoustic features while testing higher-level beliefs. In the exploratory Study 1 (N = 20), we developed and tested a preliminary version of the CPICB that had 480 items. After selecting 400 items that yielded the most consistent responses, we carried out a confirmatory test–retest Study 2 (N = 40). Preregistered data analyses confirmed excellent construct validity, internal consistency and test–retest reliability of the CPICB religious belief statements. We conclude that the CPICB is suitable for studying Christian beliefs in an experimental setting involving behavioural and neuroimaging paradigms, and provide Open Access to the inventory items, fostering further development of the experimental research of religiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research demonstrates that people high in religiosity tend to be prejudiced against value-threatening groups. Therefore, some researchers have suggested that people who are not religious may be less prejudiced. Are nonreligious people characterized by general tolerance? If not, what are the bases of their prejudices? This research investigated prejudice toward Christians and atheists among people who identify as nonreligious (atheist, agnostic, and spiritual-but-not-religious), documented this prejudice in the form of exclusion behaviors (Study 1) and self-report of affect and social distance (Studies 2–3), and explored potential mechanisms of nonreligious prejudice toward Christians: individual differences in belief style and biases against Christians (Studies 2–3). Results showed the nonreligious are not generally tolerant and that differences among these groups in belief superiority, feelings of distrust, and fear of contamination by unpalatable ideas all explained differences in prejudice toward Christians. These findings help provide a more comprehensive picture of religious intergroup prejudice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the controversial issues of the philosophy of Kant is the question of the role of postulates of practical reason. Their introduction into the practical philosophy of Kant is often criticised since they are regarded as heteronomic elements, violating the autonomy of the will. In the first Critique the heteronomy of these foundations seems to appear more distinctly. By contrast, the third Critique is often regarded as the point where Kant’s ethics finally reaches its maturity. Here Kant finally comes to a formulation of the superfluity of religion for morality. An important passage on which the apologists of such a view rely is the example of a “righteous man (Spinoza [...])” (KU, AA 05: 452) who reveres the moral law but rejects the existence of God. Quite often attention is paid only to the beginning of this fragment. But at the end Kant comes to the conclusion that, although morality as such does not need religion, morality inevitably leads to religion. This passage is also interesting for another reason. We see in it a direct parallel with a text of J.J. Spalding, who considers the same example of an atheist-minded person (Spinoza). And the conclusion is essentially identical to that of Kant. The moral law commands regardless of man’s faith in God. Thus nothing prevents us from presenting a righteous atheist. But in practice this does not occur, since a truly righteous person, in accordance with his inner mood, freely and naturally comes to the idea of God.

This research paper is an attempt to examine Atheist’s arguments in the context of Pakistan. Atheism is a growing phenomenon across the world; however, the factors which led the atheists to adopt atheism as their identity vary from context to context. Consequently, the goal of this research paper is to explore major factors which led the Muslim youth towards atheism in Pakistani context. This research is important, firstly to understand the arguments normally given to alienate the youth form their religion, and secondly to initiate a way forward to counter the arguments so the people of Pakistan remained intact to their inherited religion—Islam. This study focuses on answering two basic questions. How does one become atheist? What are the factors which lead towards atheism? Semi-structured qualitative interviews are used as a method of this study and 19 self-identified atheists from different universities have been interviewed on the bases of comprehensive open-ended questionnaire ranging from their diverse educational, institutional and their peer groups. A non-probability snow-ball sampling technique is used to find participants for interviews. Each interview is recorded and later coded and analysed the data in search of understanding the argument in the participants’ responses. This research concludes that there are both similarities and differences across countries in the way atheists conceptualize atheistic ideology and their evaluation of the arguments on atheism. The results also suggest that the debate of atheism is highly contextual and adaptation of research methodologies from country to country should be done. Keywords: Atheism, Pakistan, Fundamental beliefs, Marginalized minority, Atheist, Factors

Religion can exert a powerful influence on human behavior, including suicide. Research has demonstrated that religiosity can potentially serve as a protective factor against suicidal behavior, but may also, at times, serve as a risk factor. In clinical practice with individuals managing suicidality, a clear understanding of the influence of religion on suicidality is required to effectively assess for risk of suicide. In the 10 years since the article, 'Religion and suicide: Buddhism, American Indian/Alaskan Native (AIAN) and African religions, Atheism, and Agnosticism' (Lizardi and Gearing, J Relig Health 49:377–384, 2010), there has been a significant increase in research advancing our understanding of the nature of this relationship across faiths and beliefs. Consequently, this article provides an expanded and updated review of the research in the 10 years since our original publication examining the relationship between suicide and religion across Buddhism, AIAN, African religions, as well as atheism, agnosticism. The databases PsycINFO, MEDLINE, SocINDEX, and CINAHL databases were searched for published articles on religion and suicide over the last decade, between 2009 and 2019. Epidemiological data on suicidality across these world religions, and attitudes and beliefs toward suicide are presented. Updated recommended practice guidelines for effectively incorporating religiosity into suicide risk assessment and treatment are provided, and areas of future research are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Politics & Religion Journal is the property of University of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This qualitative study examined religion and spirituality among couples in which one person (a Catholic) believed in God and the other (e.g., an atheist, an agnostic) did not. Specifically, this study explored how the relationship impacted each individual's beliefs about the existence of God and the extent to which the couples incorporated religious or spiritual elements into their relationship. Some of the nonbelievers became more open to the possibility of God's existence, whereas others remained unchanged. Some believers reported that their faith was actually strengthened through the relationship. Couples incorporated religious elements into their relationship (e.g., having a religious wedding, attending church together) to varying degrees. A typology of the couples based on spiritual engagement and the nonbeliever's openness to God emerged from the findings. Pastoral or clinical implications for working with such couples are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the difficulties encountered by an evangelist, later converted into an anthropologist, when conducting an academic study of the Pirahá ethnic group living in the Amazon rainforest. Following twenty years of cohabitation with the Pirahá, this evangelist/anthropologist was able to confirm what previous missionaries had reported: the Pirahá were entertained by the biblical account and they were even interested in it but only as a mere story. The author examines the linguistic difficulties that prevent the Pirahá, subjected to an almost unique language contrasting Chomsky's universal grammar, from assigning any spiritual or salvific category to the Word of God. The author also describes the evangelist/anthropologist’s return, a few years later, to the jungle and the way he is reunited with the Pirahá but this time without his faith and god.

Using an empirical approach, this study addresses the question whether followers of different religious beliefs (Christians, Muslims, and Hindus), as well as Atheists and Agnostics manifest different senses of humour when rating a variety of jokes. The study further investigates whether one’s religious background influences the threshold of what is considered offensive. And finally, it seeks to answer whether jokes targeting religions other than one’s own are always perceived as funnier. Analysing the results of a public survey (N=783) containing a blend of religious and non-religious jokes (including irreverent ones), we found that Hindus demonstrate overall the highest humour appreciation among all the groups, while Christians were the least amused by the jokes presented on the survey. Muslims had overall robust humour responses, despite reporting the highest incidence of being offended. Atheists were the least likely to be offended, and they generally enjoyed irreverent jokes. All groups agreed that if a joke was seen as offensive, its funniness was reduced.

Antiatheist prejudice appears to be common. This prejudice may stem from distrust. However, the factors influencing distrust are not fully understood. The current research identified common stereotypes about atheists, tested the intuitiveness of those stereotypes, and determined whether distrust toward atheists depends more on the label "atheist" or the attributes atheists are thought to possess. Study 1 (N = 100) and Study 2 (N = 149) identified several attributes thought to be most characteristic of atheists and least characteristic of Christians (or vice versa). Study 3 (N = 219) demonstrated that atheists and Christians are intuitively associated with the respective traits identified in Studies 1 and 2. Study 4 (N = 274) and Study 5 (N = 259) used fake social media profiles to manipulate target religious identification (atheist, Christian, or unspecified) and attributes (stereotypically atheist or stereotypically Christian) to determine the effect on trust ratings. Overall, the results of these studies indicate that atheists and Christians are explicitly and implicitly associated with different attributes and that, even when atheists possess stereotypically Christian attributes, Christians trust atheists significantly less than other Christians. These findings suggest that antiatheist prejudice is relatively insensitive to individual differences of the target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In my paper, I examine the source of the disagreement between Philo and Cleanthes in David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, beginning in Part 2, in regard to the analogical Argument from Design - the argument which purports to prove, through the principle ‘like effects prove like causes’, that the similarities between the design of the world and the design of machines, in terms of means to ends relations and a coherence of parts, countenance the conclusion that the cause of the design of the world resembles the cause of the design of machines. I show that Cleanthes and Philo have different interpretations regarding the proper application of the principle ‘like effects prove like causes’, the central principle employed in Cleanthes’ argument. Hume achieves a reconciliation between the disputants in Part 12, which he holds that it is reasonable to accept, although the reconciliation is held to take place, not as we might expect, between Cleanthes and Philo (the principal speakers in this work), but between the theist and the atheist, and (in a footnote in Part 12) between the dogmatists and the sceptics. I explain this change; and show that in Part 12, as in the earlier Parts of the Dialogues, Philo remains consistent with his claim to Demea in Part 2, that he argues with Cleanthes “in his own way”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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It is known that the communism had affected the history of this world. This ideology had succeeded influencing a third of the world in less than one century after Karl Marx’s death and it had caused some revolutionary movements at some countries of the world. It is interesting to say that even what Marx had predicted about the history of human being in the future was not surely proven, but his ideas have been affecting people. But, the communism has serious problems related to the theological matter for sure. It could make people becoming atheist. Moreover, it could create the people hate their religion, but they could become religion’s antagonists. Marx’s hatred toward religions was expressed by the words: “Religion is the opium of the masses”. Then Lenin, another figure of the communism, did a discrimination to religious people, as well as, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong who prohibited all kinds of religious activities during their lifetime. Long time ago, thousands of Indonesian Moslems were becoming victims of a communist party in Indonesia (PKI). Nowadays, the communism doctrine begins to appear and affect some youths of Indonesia. Perhaps, it does because they have been frustrated and being disappointed by the socio-political condition which is controlled by modern capitalists. But, they have to be aware that the communism is not a solution. In fact, it is surely dangerous. It could ruin religions’ concepts. Hence, this article would try to explain some theological problems of the communism ideology.