Overview

This volume presents results from new and ongoing research efforts into the role of nonreligion in education, politics, law and society from a variety of different countries. Featuring data from a wide range of quantitative and qualitative studies, the book exposes the relational dynamics of religion and nonreligion. Firstly, it highlights the extent to which nonreligion is defined and understood by legal and institutional actors on the basis of religions, and often replicates the organisation of society and majority religions. At the same time, it displays how essential it is to approach nonreligion on its own, by freeing oneself from the frameworks from which religion is thought. The book addresses pressing questions such as: How can nonreligion be defined, and how can the “nones” be grasped and taken into account in studies on religion? How does the sociocultural and religious backdrop of different countries affect the regulation and representation of nonreligion in law and policymaking? Where and how do nonreligious individuals and collectives fit into institutions in contemporary societies? How does nonreligion affect notions of citizenship and national belonging? Despite growing scholarly interest in the increasing number of people without religion, the role of nonreligion in legal and institutional settings is still largely unexplored. This volume helps fill the gap, and will be of interest to students, researchers, policymakers and others seeking deeper understanding of the changing role of nonreligion in modern societies.

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9783030923945

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Anne-Laure Zwilling is an established researcher at the joint research unit Droit, Religion, Entreprise, Société of the University of Strasbourg and the French National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS), where she is the director of several international research projects. She holds MA degrees in philosophy and religious studies, a PhD in religious sciences and a habilitation in religious anthropology. Her fields of interest are religious minorities in France and Europe, the recent changes in the European religious landscape, and religious founding texts. Her recent publications include Les minorités religieuses en France. Panorama de la diversité contemporaine (Bayard, 2019); Indifférence religieuse ou athéisme militant (PUG, 2020); Religion and Prison: State Governance and Social Issues. A European Comparative Overview (Springer, 2020). Helge Årsheim is Associate Professor of religion, worldviews and ethics at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. He holdsa Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of Oslo. His current research explores the ways in which religion travels across different levels of governance in international and domestic legislation and jurisprudence. He has published extensively on these themes in journals and edited volumes. He is the author of Making Religion at the United Nations (Walter de Gruyter 2018), a case study of the genealogy and current approaches to religion at the United Nations Erlend Hovdkinn From is a doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo, specialising in sociology of nonreligion with his current project on ‘nonreligious identities in Oslo’. Hovdkinn From is postgraduate from the University of Oslo (MA Religion and Society) and from Goldsmiths College (MA World Cities and Urban Life). 

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