Reading Time: < 1 minute 54% of nonbelievers completely agree with the idea that the government needs to do more to address climate change; 28% mostly agree. Jewish and other non-Christians all overwhelmingly agree that the government must do more. Protestants and non-Catholic Christians are the least likely to agree with this idea, but most still believe that the government […]
Research
Research from a secular perspective at OnlySky, a secular community for nonreligious Americans.
Posted inReligion
Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland. Could this be the end of the United Kingdom?
Reading Time: 5 minutes The writing has been on the wall since Brexit. The United Kingdom, made of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, is now counting its days. A further nail was driven into the coffin today as statistics from the 2021 census were released showing that, for the first time ever, Catholics now outnumber Protestants in Northern […]
Posted inNews
New research: The future of religion might just be no religion at all
Reading Time: 2 minutes The long-term future of Christianity is looking pretty grim. At least that’s what the data from a recent Pew Research Center study is showing. According to their report, Christianity continues to shrink as a share of the US population as more people engage in religious switching. In this report, “switching” is defined as “a change […]
Posted inPsychology
Absurdities to die for: How tribal psychology drives dangerous beliefs
Reading Time: 11 minutes If you’re outside a tribe that holds absurd beliefs, their absurdity is patently obvious. But from the inside, such beliefs are resistant to corrective information because they play an important social-psychological function.
Posted inNonreligious News
The future of American religion? Christians will finally be in the minority
Reading Time: 5 minutes Back in 2015, the Pew Research Center released a landmark study about the changing religious landscape in America, and there was one graph in particular I still think about to this day. I’ve even used it in presentations I’ve given to various groups over the years. It involved religious “switching” and showed that people were […]
Posted inLeaving Religion
Collapse: Inside Ireland’s stunning rebuke of Catholicism
Reading Time: 9 minutes The speed and conviction of Ireland’s repudiation of the Catholic Church is without precedent in the world—and for good reason.
Posted inSociology
The fascinating collision of gender and religion in changing attitudes about work
Reading Time: 6 minutes If you had enough money to live comfortably without working, would you do so? Researchers often use this type of question to measure “work ethic.” When Americans are asked this question, most say they would keep working anyway. But a fascinating difference has developed in the answers people give—a difference involving not only gender, but […]
Posted inCulture
Sociologist: It’s called ‘culture war’ for a reason
Reading Time: 7 minutes On May 2nd, 2022, the Haven, Kansas city council voted to remove decals from police cars that said “In God We Trust.” They did so in a sensible effort to recognize the separation of church and state. Sixteen days later, after an intense backlash from conservative citizens in Haven, the city council reversed that decision. […]
Posted inPsychology
Is religion rooted in childhood gullibility?
Reading Time: 13 minutes The vast majority of people who ever lived have believed in the existence of one god or another. What are the evolutionary forces that made our species—and our species alone—a religious one? Evolutionary thinkers have spilled much ink trying to answer questions like this. Some answers have proven to be much more successful than others. […]
Posted inViolence
The one unbeatable trait of the aspiring mass killer
Reading Time: 9 minutes CN: Sexual assault, homicide I had a passion for serial killers in college. The topic, not the people. Armed with an investigative mind and a passion for the intersection of psychology and crime, I was seriously pondering a career in forensic psychology as a way to marry my knowledge of violent criminals with my desire […]