Atheists in America

Published by Columbia University Press 2014

Atheists in America

Edited by: Melanie Brewster

https://doi.org/10.7312/brew16358

Overview
Contents

About this book

This collection features more than two dozen narratives by atheists from different backgrounds across the United States. Ranging in age, race, sexual orientation, and religious upbringing, these individuals address deconversion, community building, parenting, and romantic relationships, upending common social, political, and psychological assumptions about atheists.

An intimate psychological study of a largely invisible minority navigating life in a religious world.

Author information

Melanie Elyse Brewster is a professor of psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on marginalized groups and examines how experiences of discrimination and stigma may shape the mental health of minority group members, such as LGBTQ individuals, atheists, and people of color. She regularly tweets about identity politics at @melysebrewster.

Reviews

Intriguing... This volume should appeal to academics and some spiritual seekers.

Dan Barker, copresident, Freedom from Religion Foundation:
I used to preach that atheists are fools who lead sad, empty, meaningless, and immoral lives. Then I actually met some atheists. After reading the moving and honest stories in Atheists in America, you will agree with me that nonbelievers lead reasonable, moral, and purposeful lives.

Michael Shermer, editor of Skeptic:
Atheists in America—a vital new contribution to the growing literature on nonbelievers—reveals in their own words how a wide diversity of people learned to live lives of integrity and meaning without God. The book also grants readers ready to hear it the message that not only is it okay not to believe, being an atheist can be both enlightening and liberating.

Amarnath Amarasingam, York University:
Atheists in America is a unique contribution to the literature on atheism touching on topics rarely discussed or researched. I do not know of any other book on the market that seeks to bring together individual narratives of deconversion and the challenges faced afterward.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
INTRODUCTION. The Other Closet: An Introduction to Atheism and Coming Out Processes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART 1. LEAVING FAITH
Arriving at Atheist Identity from Religious Backgrounds Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
1. HOW I GOT TO NONE OF THE ABOVE Alvin Burstein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
2. RELIGION AND THE F-WORD (FEMINISM) Lynnette Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
3. CLAP OUR HANDS LIKE TREES Chris Matallana Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
4. EX-MORMON Cora Judd Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	48
PART 2. CULTURAL CONTEXTS IN COMING OUT AS ATHEIST
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
5. AN UNEXAMINED LIFE Naima Cabelle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
6. USER ERROR: COMING OUT AS ATHEIST IN UTAH James Mouritsen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	72
7. THE NAMES WE CALL HOME Shawn Mirza Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
8. A LIFE OF CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS David Hoelscher Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
PART 3. TWO CLOSETS? Identifying as Both LGBTQ and Atheist
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
9. A TALE OF TWO CLOSETS Stephen S. Mills Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
10. THE PERMANENT PRODIGAL DAUGHTER Sherilyn Connelly Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
11. FAR FROM HOME David Philip Norris Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
PART 4. AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH
Navigating Romantic Relationships as an Atheist Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
12. AN ATHEIST’S SIMPLE REVELATION ABOUT LOVE: IT’S COMPLICATED Ethan Sahker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
13. SWEPT UNDER THE RUG Kristen Rurouni Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
14. ON LOVE AND CREDULITY Matt Hart Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	132
PART 5. FAMILY LIFE AND ATHEIST PARENTING
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
15. DINNER WITH GRANDMA Ronnelle Adams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
16. PARENTING AUTHENTICALLY IN AN INTERFAITH MARRIAGE Kevin J. Zimmerman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	148
17. HAVING A BABY MADE ME AN ATHEIST Amy Watkins Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
18. BORN SECULAR Adrienne Filardo Fagan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	162
PART 6. THE SEARCH FOR CONNECTION
Coming Out to Friends and Questing for Community Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
19. SLOW GROWTH Justus Humphrey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
20. AN ATHEIST IN THE BIBLE BELT Brittany Friedel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
21. COMING OUT AND FINDING HOME Pam Zerba Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
PART 7. ATHEISM AT WORK
Tales of Coming Out to Coworkers and Colleagues Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
22. IS THIS THE WAY TO AMARILLO? Samuel W. Needleman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
23. CRACKING OPEN THE CLOSET DOOR Camilo Ortiz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202
24. MY FAVORITE ATHEIST John Douma Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
PART 8. ATHEISM AND AGING
The Challenges of Entering Older Adulthood as a Nonbeliever Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
25. THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED Ursula Raabe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
26. A CONTRARIAN LIFE STORY Elizabeth Malm Clemens Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
27. DARK MATTER AND MISSING SOCKS Margaret M. Bennett Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	232
Concluding Thoughts: The Open Door Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Edition: Pilot project, eBook available to selected US libraries only
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 272

eBook

Published: June 3, 2014
ISBN: 9780231537001