Goodbye Religion: The Causes and Consequences of Secularization

Examines why so many are leaving religion, and what that means for American society One of the largest changes in American culture over the last fifty years has been the increase in people exiting religion. Goodbye Religion explores why there has been such an upswing among those who identify as nonreligious, and what the societal […]

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The Beliefs of Nonbelievers: Exclusive Empiricism and Mortal Finitude Among Atheists and Agnostics

Citation:Blankholm, Joseph, Ryan Cragun, Abraham Hawley Suárez, and Shakir Stephen. 2024. “The Beliefs of Nonbelievers: Exclusive Empiricism and Mortal Finitude Among Atheists and Agnostics.” Sociology of Religion srae003. doi: 10.1093/socrel/srae003. You can download this article here.

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From Religious to Nonreligious/Areligious

Citation:Gull, Bethany, and Ryan T. Cragun. 2024. “From Religious to Nonreligious/Areligious.” Pp. 522–36 in The Routledge International Handbook of Changes in Human Perceptions and Behaviors, edited by K. Taku and T. K. Shackelford. New York: Routledge. This chapter can be downloaded here.

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Beyond Doubt: The Secularization of Society

Demonstrates definitively that the secularization thesis is correct, and religion is losing its grip on societies worldwide In the decades since its introduction, secularization theory has been subjected to doubt and criticism from a number of leading scholars, who have variously claimed that it is wrong, flawed, or incomplete. In Beyond Doubt, Isabella Kasselstrand, Phil […]

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Outcast Women: Gender and Authenticity in Ex-Mormon Women’s Disaffiliation Narratives

Citation:Gull, Bethany, Jesse Smith, and Ryan Cragun. 2023. “Outcast Women: Gender and Authenticity in Ex-Mormon Women’s Disaffiliation Narratives.” Nova Religio 26(3):7–29. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2023.26.3.7. This article is available for download here. (Image generated using DALL-E 3.)

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Does Interfaith Programming on College Campuses Influence Attitudes Toward Religious Minorities?: A Case Study

Citation:Cragun, Ryan T. 2022. “Does Interfaith Programming on College Campuses Influence Attitudes Toward Religious Minorities?: A Case Study.” Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion 32:238–61. This article can be downloaded here. (Image created by Easy Diffusion v2.5.48.)

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Religiosity and Happiness: Much Ado About Nothing

Citation:Cragun, Ryan T., and David Speed. 2022. “Religious and Non-Religious Perspectives on Happiness and Wellbeing.” Pp. 167–91 in Religious and Secular Perspectives on Happiness and Wellbeing, Routledge Studies in Religion, edited by S. Sugirtharajah. London: Routledge. This book chapter can be downloaded here. (Image generated using Easy Diffusion v2.5.48)

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chart showing growing interest in nonreligious in academic journals

Secularity and Nonreligion

Citation: Smith, Jesse M., and Ryan T. Cragun. 2021. “Secularity and Nonreligion.” in Bloomsbury Religion in North America, edited by J. M. Smith and R. T. Cragun. London: Bloomsbury Academic. This chapter can be downloaded here.

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