While humanist sensibilities have played a formative role in the advancement of our species, critical attention to humanism as a field of study is a more recent development.
The present collection brings together a set of essays which shed light on recent research into non-religion, secularity and atheism-topics which have been emerging as important areas of current research in a number of different disciplines.
Since the Second Vatican Council (1962-5), the Catholic Church has formally declared the possibility of salvation for atheists: 'those who, without fault, have not yet arrived at an express recognition of God' (Lumen Gentium 16).
The secular clergy - priests and other clerics outside of monastic orders - were among the most influential and powerful groups in European society during the central Middle Ages.
This new study examines the relationship of atheism to religious tolerance from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment in a broad array of literary texts and political and religious controversies written in Latin and the vernacular primarily in France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
A significant number of Americans view atheists as immoral elitists, aloof and unconcerned with the common good, and they view science and scientists as responsible.
Exploring lived atheism in the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, this book offers a unique insight into India s rapidly transforming multi-religious society.
A preeminent scientistand the worlds most prominent atheistasserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11.
Die Entwicklung freigeistiger Organisationen in Deutschland nach 1945 ist bislang unter dem Radarschirm der Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften geblieben.
Funerals are among the most important life events in Western society, and fashioning a personalized ceremony for yourself or for a loved one is often the most meaningful way to celebrate the life of the deceased.
Natural theology is the process of observing nature and engaging science and reason to provide evidence for God's existence by "e;reasoning to the best explanation.
This book explores the idea of religious pluralism while defending the norms of secular cosmopolitanism, which include liberty, tolerance, civility, and hospitality.
The forgotten story of the nineteenth-century freethinkers and twentieth-century humanists who tried to build their own secular religionIn The Church of Saint Thomas Paine, Leigh Eric Schmidt tells the surprising story of how freethinking liberals in nineteenth-century America promoted a secular religion of humanity centered on the deistic revolutionary Thomas Paine (1737-1809) and how their descendants eventually became embroiled in the culture wars of the late twentieth century.
The trend towards a more secular culture in Western society means that there can be greater flexibility in a wedding ceremony, but couples are often faced with the challenge of preparing a meaningful celebration outside the traditional religious framework.
Adieu to God examines atheism from a psychological perspective and reveals how religious phenomena and beliefs are psychological rather than supernatural in origin.
During his 2009 inaugural speech, President Obama described the United States as a nation of "e;Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus--and nonbelievers.
"e;Few are agnostic about atheism and agnosticism; this eloquent, wide-ranging volume should appeal to many, as well as supporting recent academic interest in its subject.
50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists presents a collection of original essays drawn from an international group of prominent voices in the fields of academia, science, literature, media and politics who offer carefully considered statements of why they are atheists.
Studies of "e;near-death experiences"e; show that such experiences not only provide a new certainty of post-mortem survival, but often function as a call for fundamental change in the present.
This book provides the first comprehensive overview of atheism, secularity and non-religion in Central and Eastern Europe in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
In einer Welt, die von Umweltkrisen und spiritueller Entfremdung gezeichnet ist, bringt Amanda Drakes "Das Göttliche in Allem: Eine pantheistische Vision für die Moderne" ein erfrischendes und tiefgründiges Konzept zurück in das Bewusstsein der modernen Gesellschaft: den Pantheismus.
In 2013, when the state of Oklahoma erected a statue of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the state capitol, a group calling themselves The Satanic Temple applied to erect a statue of Baphomet alongside the Judeo-Christian tablets.
Heidegger's Eschatology is a ground-breaking account of Heidegger's early engagement with theology, from his beginnings as an anti-Modernist Catholic to his turn towards an undogmatic Protestantism and finally to a resolutely a-theistic philosophical method.
