Atheist Awakening: Secular Activism and Community in America
ISBN: 9780199392940
Platform/Publisher: Oxford Academic / Oxford University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited
Subjects: Religious Studies; United States History Religion and Atheism Sociology and Anthropology of Religion;

Books on atheism often emphasize the individuality of the atheist, a person who has broken away from religious dogmatism to personally determine a worldview and morality. By welcome contrast, Cimino and Smith study the social aspects of atheist culture. At the core of atheist identity, they argue, resides an inherent tension between the needs for inclusion and autonomy. Their work historically situates the atheist movement, unearthing ways in which atheists have adapted social group behaviors and strategies from using evangelical Christian-style conversion to mobilizing via identity politics. The authors also consider the signal role of social media in the formation of atheist communities, suggesting that technology has shifted the ways in which people conceive of relationships and interact within them. This is a meticulous study that embeds atheist community in a larger context of subcultures, showing identity formation, the assertion of that identity, and the need to be included. The authors excel in demonstrating the inevitably social dimensions of human identity. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


Richard Cimino is founding editor of Religion Watch, a monthly publication reporting on trends and research in contemporary religion. He currently teaches sociology at the University of Richmond in Virginia and is the author of several books on religion, including The Most Scientific Religion, Trusting the Spirit, and co-author of Shopping for Faith.

Christopher Smith is an independent researcher. His areas of interest include secularism and social theory. He holds an M.A. in Sociology from the New School for Social Research.

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