Becoming Atheist Humanism and the Secular West [Hardcover]

The Western World is becoming atheist. In the space of three generations churchgoing and religious belief have become alien to millions. We are in the midst of one of humankind's great cultural changes. How has this happened?

Becoming Atheistexplores how people of the sixties' generation have come to live their lives as if there is no God. It tells the life narratives of those from Britain, Western Europe, the United States and Canada who came from Christian, Jewish and other backgrounds to be without faith. Based on interviews with 85 people born in 18 countries, Callum Brown shows how gender, ethnicity and childhood shape how individuals lose religion.

This book moves from statistical and broad cultural analysis to use frank, humorous and sometimes harrowing personal testimony. Becoming Atheist exposes people's role in renegotiating their own identities, and fashioning a secular and humanist culture for the Western world.

Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Narratives of Belief and Unbelief
3. The Atheist Child
4. The Silent and Indifferent Atheist
5. Women, Feminism and Becoming Faithless
6. Men, Reason and Radicalism
7. Atheism and Ethnicity
8. The Humanist Condition
Sources
Index

This will be a useful resource for those interested in secularism and humanism. CHOICE

A social and cultural historian, Brown (a specialist in late modern European history, Univ. of Glasgow, UK) has written extensively on secularism, humanism, and atheism. Part of a project that includesReligion and the Demographic Revolution: Women and Secularisation in Canada, Ireland, UK and USA since the 1960s(CH, Jun'13, 50-5537), the present book analyzes individual narratives of loss of religion and identifies patterns based on the narratives. Those studied reflect a wide range of positions about religion, from those who are anti-religion to those who are simply not concerned with religion. Brown l3Á