Irreligionist
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Irreligionist

Irreligion (adjective form: non-religious or irreligious) is the absence, indifference to, or rejection of religion.[1] According to the Pew Research Center's 2012 global study of 230 countries and territories, 16% of the world's population is not affiliated with a religion, while 84% are affiliated.[2]

Irreligion may include some forms of theism, depending on the religious context it is defined against; for example, in 18th-century Europe, the epitome of irreligion was deism,[3] while in contemporary East Asia the shared term meaning "irreligion" or "no religion" (, Chinese pron. wú z?ngjiào, Japanese pron. mu sh?ky? Korean pron. mujonggyo), with which the majority of East Asian populations identify themselves, implies non-membership in one of the institutional religions (such as Buddhism and Christianity) and not necessarily non-belief in traditional folk religions collectively represented by Chinese Shendao and Japanese Shinto (both meaning "ways of gods").[4]

According to cross-cultural studies, since religion and fertility are positively related while secularism and fertility are negatively related, secularism is expected to decline throughout the 21st century.[5] By 2060, according to their projections, the number of unaffiliated will increase by over 35 million, but the percentage will decrease to 13% because the total population will grow faster.[6][7]

Etymology

The term irreligion is a combination of the noun religion and the prefix ir-, signifying "not" (similar to irrelevant). It was first attested in French as irréligion in 1527, then in English as irreligion in 1598. It was borrowed into Dutch as irreligie in the 17th century, though it is not certain from which language.[8]

Types

  • Secular humanism embraces human reason, ethics, social justice, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, pseudoscience, and superstition as the bases of morality and decision making. Secular humanism posits that human beings are capable of being ethical and moral without religion or a god.
  • Freethought holds that positions regarding truth should be formed on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism, rather than authority, tradition, revelation, or other dogma. In particular, freethought is strongly tied with rejection of traditional religious belief.
  • "Spiritual but not religious" rejects organized religion as the sole or most valuable means of furthering spiritual growth. In contrast to religion, spirituality has often been associated with the interior life of the individual.
  • Theological noncognitivism is the argument that religious language - specifically, words such as God - are not cognitively meaningful. It is sometimes considered as synonymous with ignosticism.
  • Antireligion is opposition to religion of any kind. It can describe opposition to organized religion, religious practices, religious institutions, or specific forms of supernatural worship or practice, whether organized or not.
  • Atheism is the rejection of belief that any deities exist or, in a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. There are ranges from Negative and positive atheism.[9]
  • Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable.[10]
  • Agnostic atheism is a philosophical position that encompasses both atheism and agnosticism. Agnostic atheists are atheistic because they do not hold a belief in the existence of any deity and agnostic because they claim that the existence of a deity is either unknowable in principle or currently unknown in fact.[11]
  • Apatheism is the attitude of apathy towards the existence or non-existence of god(s).[12][13]
  • Deism is the philosophical position that rejects revelation as a source of religious knowledge and asserts that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to establish the existence of a Supreme Being or creator of the universe.[14][15][16]

Human rights

In 1993, the UN's human rights committee declared that article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights "protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief."[17] The committee further stated that "the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief necessarily entails the freedom to choose a religion or belief, including the right to replace one's current religion or belief with another or to adopt atheistic views." Signatories to the convention are barred from "the use of threat of physical force or penal sanctions to compel believers or non-believers" to recant their beliefs or convert.[18][19]

Most Western democracies protect the freedom of religion, and it is largely implied in respective legal systems that those who do not believe or observe any religion are allowed freedom of thought.

A noted exception to ambiguity, explicitly allowing non-religion, is Article 36 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (as adopted in 1982), which states that "No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion."[20] Article 46 of China's 1978 Constitution was even more explicit, stating that "Citizens enjoy freedom to believe in religion and freedom not to believe in religion and to propagate atheism."[21]

Demographics

Although 11 countries listed below have nonreligious majorities, it does not mean that the majority of the populations of these countries don't belong to any religious group. For example, 68% of the Swedish population belongs to the Lutheran Christian Church,[22] while 59% of Albanians declare themselves as religious.[] Also, though Scandinavian countries have among the highest measures of nonreligiosity and even atheism in Europe, 47% of atheists who live in those countries are still members of the national churches.[23]

A Pew 2015 global projection study for religion and nonreligion, projects that between 2010 and 2050, there will be some initial increases of the unaffiliated followed by a decline by 2050 due to lower global fertility rates among this demographic.[24] Sociologist Phil Zuckerman's global studies on atheism have indicated that global atheism may be in decline due to irreligious countries having the lowest birth rates in the world and religious countries having higher birth rates in general.[25]

According to Pew Research Center's 2012 global study of 230 countries and territories, 16% of the world's population is not affiliated with a religion, while 84% are affiliated.[2] A 2012 Worldwide Independent Network/Gallup International Association report on a poll from 57 countries reported that 59% of the world's population identified as religious person, 23% as not religious person, 13% as "convinced atheists", and also a 9% decrease in identification as "religious" when compared to the 2005 average from 39 countries.[26] Their follow-up report, based on a poll in 2015, found that 63% of the globe identified as religious person, 22% as not religious person, and 11% as "convinced atheists".[27] Their 2017 report found that 62% of the globe identified as religious person, 25% as not religious person, and 9% as "convinced atheists".[28] However, researchers have advised caution with the WIN/Gallup International figures since other surveys which use the same wording, have conducted many waves for decades, and have a bigger sample size, such as World Values Survey; have consistently reached lower figures for the number of atheists worldwide.[29]

Being nonreligious is not necessarily equivalent to being an atheist or agnostic. Pew Research Center's global study from 2012 noted that many of the nonreligious actually have some religious beliefs. For example, they observed that "belief in God or a higher power is shared by 7% of Chinese unaffiliated adults, 30% of French unaffiliated adults and 68% of unaffiliated U.S. adults."[30] Out of the global nonreligious population, 76% reside in Asia and the Pacific, while the remainder reside in Europe (12%), North America (5%), Latin America and the Caribbean (4%), sub-Saharan Africa (2%) and the Middle East and North Africa (less than 1%).[30]

The term "nones" is sometimes used in the U.S. to refer to those who are unaffiliated with any organized religion. This use derives from surveys of religious affiliation, in which "None" (or "None of the above") is typically the last choice. Since this status refers to lack of organizational affiliation rather than lack of personal belief, it is a more specific concept than irreligion. A 2015 Gallup poll concluded that in the U.S. "nones" were the only "religious" group that was growing as a percentage of the population.[31]

Country Percentage of population
who are nonreligious 		Date and source
 Czech Republic 75 [32]
 Estonia 70 [33]
 Netherlands 68 [34]
 Vietnam 63 [33][35]
 Denmark 61 [33]
 Sweden 54 [33]
53 [36]
 Albania 52 [37][38][39]
 Japan 52 [33]
 Azerbaijan 51 [40]
 China 51 [33][35][41]
 New Zealand 48 [42]
 Russia 48 [35]
 Belarus 48 [35]
 Uruguay 47 [43]
 France 44 [33]
 Cuba 44 [44]
 South Korea 56 [35][45]
 Finland 43 [33]
 Hungary 43 [35]
 Iceland 42 [46]
 Latvia 41 [35]
 Chile 38 [47]
 Belgium 35 [35]
 Australia 30 [48]
 Bulgaria 30 [35]
 Germany 21-34 [49][50][51][52][53]
 Luxembourg 30 [35]
 Slovenia 30 [35]
 Spain 29 [54]
  Switzerland 26 [55]
 Canada 24 [56]
 Slovakia 23 [35]
 United States 26 [57]
 Argentina 21 [58]
 Botswana 21 [59]
 Jamaica 21 [60]
 Lithuania 19 [35]
 El Salvador 19 [61]
 Singapore 17-19 [62]
 Italy 18 [35]
 Ukraine 16 [63]
 Nicaragua 16 [64]
 Belize 16 [65]
 South Africa 15 [66]
 Croatia 13 [35]
 Guatemala 13 [67]
 Austria 12 [35]
 Portugal 11 [35]
 Costa Rica 11 [68]
 Philippines 11 [35]
 Colombia 11 [69]
 Suriname 10 [70]
 Honduras 9 [69]
 Brazil 8 [71]
 Ecuador 8 [72]
 Peru 8 [73]
 India 7 [35]
 Ireland 7 [74]
 Mexico 7 [69]
 Venezuela 6 [69]
 Serbia 6 [35]
 Poland 5 [35]
 Bolivia 5 [75]
 Greece 4 [35]
 Montenegro 3 [76]
 Panama 3 [77]
 Turkey 3 [35]
 Romania 2 [35]
 Tanzania 2 [35]
 Paraguay 2 [78]
 Malta 1 [35]
 Iran 1 [35]
 Uganda 1 [35]
 Nigeria 1 [35]
 Thailand <1 [79]
 Bangladesh <1 [35]

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ * "Irreligion as presented in 26 reference works".
  2. ^ a b Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. "The Global Religious Landscape". Retrieved 2012.
  3. ^ Campbell, Colin. 1971. Towards a Sociology of Irreligion. London:McMillan p. 31.
  4. ^ Bestor, Theodore C.; Bestor, Victoria; Yamagata, Akiko, eds. (2011). Handbook of Japanese Culture and Society. London: Routledge. pp. 66-67. ISBN 978-0415436496. mush?ky?, "no religion", in Japanese language and mindset identifies those people who do not belong to organised religion. To the Japanese, the term "religion" or "faith" means organised religions on the model of Christianity, that is a religion with specific doctrines and requirement for church membership. So, when asked "what is their religion", most of the Japanese answer that they "do not belong to any religion". According to NHK studies, those Japanese who identify with mush?ky? and therefore do not belong to any organised religion, actually take part in the folk ritual dimension of Shinto. Ama Toshimaru in Nihonjin wa naze mushukyo na no ka ("Why are the Japanese non-religious?") of 1996, explains that people who do not belong to organised religions but regularly pray and make offerings to ancestors and protective deities at private altars or Shinto shrines will identify themselves as mushukyo. Ama designates "natural religion" what NHK studies define as "folk religion", and other scholars have named "Nipponism" (Nipponky?) or "common religion".
  5. ^ Ellis, Lee; Hoskin, Anthony W.; Dutton, Edward; Nyborg, Helmuth (8 March 2017). "The Future of Secularism: a Biologically Informed Theory Supplemented with Cross-Cultural Evidence". Evolutionary Psychological Science. 3 (3): 224-43. doi:10.1007/s40806-017-0090-z.
  6. ^ "Why People With No Religion Are Projected To Decline As A Share Of The World's Population". Pew Research Center. April 7, 2017.
  7. ^ "The Changing Global Religious Landscape: Babies Born to Muslims will Begin to Outnumber Christian Births by 2035; People with No Religion Face a Birth Dearth". Pew Research Center. April 5, 2017.
  8. ^ "Irreligie". Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie. Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal. 2007. Retrieved 2019.
  9. ^ J.J.C. Smart. "Atheism and Agnosticism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  10. ^ Hepburn, Ronald W. (2005) [1967]. "Agnosticism". In Donald M. Borchert (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 1 (2nd ed.). MacMillan Reference USA (Gale). p. 92. ISBN 978-0-02-865780-6. In the most general use of the term, agnosticism is the view that we do not know whether there is a God or not. (page 56 in 1967 edition)
  11. ^ Harrison, Alexander James (1894). The Ascent of Faith: or, the Grounds of Certainty in Science and Religion. London: Hodder and Stroughton. p. 21. OCLC 7234849. OL 21834002M. Let Agnostic Theism stand for that kind of Agnosticism which admits a Divine existence; Agnostic Atheism for that kind of Agnosticism which thinks it does not.
  12. ^ Sean Phillips (November 7, 2013). "Apatheism: Should we care whether God exists?". nooga.com. Archived from the original on August 5, 2017. Retrieved 2018.
  13. ^ Austin Cline (July 16, 2017). "What Is an Apatheist?". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2018.
  14. ^ "Deism". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2012. In general, deism refers to what can be called natural religion, the acceptance of a certain body of religious knowledge that is inborn in every person or that can be acquired by the use of reason and the rejection of religious knowledge when it is acquired through either revelation or the teaching of any church.
  15. ^ "Deism". Jewish Encyclopedia. 1906. Retrieved . DEISM: A system of belief which posits God's existence as the cause of all things, and admits its perfection, but rejects Divine revelation and government, proclaiming the all-sufficiency of natural laws.
  16. ^ Gomes, Alan W. (2011). "Deism". The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization, 4 Volume Set. The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization. doi:10.1002/9780470670606.wbecc0408. ISBN 9781405157629. Deism is a rationalistic, critical approach to theism with an emphasis on natural theology. The deists attempted to reduce religion to what they regarded as its most foundational, rationally justifiable elements. Deism is not, strictly speaking, the teaching that God wound up the world like a watch and let it run on its own, though that teaching was embraced by some within the movement.
  17. ^ "CCPR General Comment 22: 30/07/93 on ICCPR Article 18". Minorityrights.org. Archived from the original on 2015-01-16.
  18. ^ International Federation for Human Rights (1 August 2003). "Discrimination against religious minorities in Iran" (PDF). fdih.org. Retrieved 2009.
  19. ^ Davis, Derek H. "The Evolution of Religious Liberty as a Universal Human Right" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 2009.
  20. ^ [1]
  21. ^ People's Republic of China 1978 Constitution (PDF). 1978. p. 41. Retrieved .
  22. ^ "Kyrkan i siffror, Swedish Lutheran Christian Church in numbers".
  23. ^ Zuckerman, Phil, ed. (2010). "Ch. 9 Atheism And Secularity: The Scandinavian Paradox". Atheism and Secularity Vol.2. Praeger. ISBN 978-0313351815.
  24. ^ "The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050". Pew Research Center. April 5, 2012.
  25. ^ Zuckerman, Phil (2007). Martin, Michael (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. Cambridge Univ. Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0521603676.
  26. ^ "Global Index of Religion and Atheism" (PDF). WIN/Gallup International. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 2015.
  27. ^ "Losing our Religion? Two Thirds of People Still Claim to be Religious" (PDF). WIN/Gallup International. WIN/Gallup International. April 13, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 30, 2015.
  28. ^ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). 2017-11-14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-11-14. Retrieved .
  29. ^ Keysar, Ariela; Navarro-Rivera, Juhem (2017). "36. A World of Atheism: Global Demographics". In Bullivant, Stephen; Ruse, Michael (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Atheism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199644650.
  30. ^ a b "Religiously Unaffiliated". The Global Religious Landscape. Pew Research Center: Religion & Public Life. December 18, 2012.
  31. ^ "Percentage of Christians in U.S. Drifting Down, but Still High".
  32. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-03-09. Retrieved .CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  33. ^ a b c d e f g h Zuckerman, Phil (2007) [First printed 2006]. Martin, Michael (ed.). "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns" (PDF). The Cambridge Companion to Atheism (Essay collection). Cambridge Companions to Philosophy, Religion and Culture. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press: 47-66. doi:10.1017/CCOL0521842700.004. ISBN 9781139001182. LCCN 2006005949.
  34. ^ Bernts, Tom; Berghuijs, Joantine (2016). God in Nederland 1966-2015. Ten Have. ISBN 9789025905248.
  35. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad Dentsu Communication Institute Inc., Research Centre for Japan (2006)
  36. ^ Bulman, May (4 September 2017). "Record number of British people say they have no religion". The Independent. London.
  37. ^ "Albania". State.gov. 2006-09-15. Retrieved . US Department of State - International religious freedom report 2006
  38. ^ "Lycos.com" (PDF). lycos.fr. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-03.
  39. ^ "Adherents.com". Adherents.com. Retrieved . Some publications
  40. ^ "Global Index Of Religion and Atheism" (PDF). Redcresearch.ie. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-16. Retrieved . Publications are taken from Gallup
  41. ^ "Adherents.com". Adherents.com. Retrieved . Some publications
  42. ^ Palmer, Scott (24 September 2019). "'No religion' overtakes Christianity in latest Census results". Newshub. Retrieved 2019.
  43. ^ "Atheism to Defeat Religion By 2038". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2015.
  44. ^ https://fusiondotnet.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/fusion_cuba-poll-charts-1.pdf
  45. ^ According to figures compiled by the South Korean National Statistical Office. ",/ ?/ ? (2015 ? )". NSO online KOSIS database. Archived from the original on September 8, 2006. Retrieved 2015.
  46. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-16. Retrieved .CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  47. ^ "Cifra de chilenos que se declaran católicos bajó de 73% a 45% en la última década" [Number of Chileans who declare themselves Catholic decreased from 73% to 45% in the last decade] (in Spanish). Latinobarómetro. January 2018.
  48. ^ Statistics, c=AU; o=Commonwealth of Australia; ou=Australian Bureau of. "Media Release - 2016 Census: Religion". www.abs.gov.au.
  49. ^ "End of year 2016 Germany" (PDF). WIN-Gallup International. p. 40. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 2017.
  50. ^ "End of year 2014 Germany" (PDF). WIN-Gallup International. p. 38. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 2017.
  51. ^ "Religionszugehörigkeit Bevölkerung Deutschland" (PDF) (in German). Forschungsgruppe Weltanschauungen in Deutschland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 January 2016. Retrieved 2016.
  52. ^ (in German) Religionen in Deutschland: Mitgliederzahlen Religionswissenschaftlicher Medien- und Informationsdienst; 31 October 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
  53. ^ REMID Data of "Religionswissenschaftlicher Medien- und Informationsdienst" retrieved 16 January 2015
  54. ^ [2] Sociological Research Centre, July 2018
  55. ^ "Ständige Wohnbevölkerung ab 15 Jahren nach Religions- / Konfessionszugehörigkeit, 2015". www.bfs.admin.ch (in German, French, and Italian). Neuchâtel: Swiss Federal Statistical Office. 2015. Retrieved .
  56. ^ "96F0030XIE2001015 - Religions in Canada". 2.statcan.ca. Retrieved . Canada 2011 census
  57. ^ NW, 1615 L. St; Washington, Suite 800; Inquiries, DC 20036 USA202-419-4300 | Main202-419-4349 | Fax202-419-4372 | Media (2019-10-17). "In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. Retrieved .
  58. ^ "El Papa Francisco y la Religión en Chile y América Latina, Latinobarómetro 1995 - 2017" (PDF), www.cooperativa.cl, January 2018
  59. ^ "Pew Research Center", Accessed 23 March 2016.
  60. ^ "The World Factbook -- Central Intelligence Agency". Cia.gov. Retrieved .
  61. ^ "International Religious Freedom Report for 2012". U.S. State Department. Retrieved .
  62. ^ "Youth in Singapore shunning religion". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2016.
  63. ^ ?, , ? ?: ? ? [Religion, Church, Society and State: Two Years after Maidan] (PDF) (in Ukrainian), Kiev: Razumkov Center in collaboration with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches, 26 May 2016, pp. 22, 27, 29, 31, archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-04-22
    Sample of 2,018 respondents aged 18 years and over, interviewed 25-30 March 2016 in all regions of Ukraine except Crimea and the occupied territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
  64. ^ "2005 Nicaraguan Census" (PDF). National Institute of Statistics and Census of Nicaragua (INEC) (in Spanish). pp. 42-43. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-11-29. Retrieved .
  65. ^ "Table Of Statistics On Religion In The Americas". Prolades.com. April 2001. Retrieved . Gallup-Belize survey
  66. ^ [3] Güney Afrika 2001 census Archived April 11, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  67. ^ The Latin American Socio-Religious Studies Program / Programa Latinoamericano de Estudios Sociorreligiosos PROLADES Religion in America by country
  68. ^ International Religious Freedom Report 2008: Costa Rica. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (September 14, 2007). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  69. ^ a b c d "Latinobarómetro 1995 - 2017: El Papa Francisco y la Religión en Chile y América Latina" [Latinobarómetro 1995 - 2017: Pope Francis and Religion in Chile and Latin America] (PDF) (in Spanish). January 2018. Retrieved 2018.
  70. ^ 2012 Suriname Census Definitive Results. Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek - Suriname.
  71. ^ "Census 2010; Sistema IBGE de Recuperação Automática SIDRA". Retrieved .
  72. ^ (in Spanish) El 80% de los ecuatorianos afirma ser católico, según el INEC
  73. ^ (in Spanish) [4]
  74. ^ "This is Ireland. Highlights from Census 2011, Part 1" (PDF). March 2012. Retrieved .
  75. ^ "Las religiones en tiempos del Papa Francisco" (PDF) (in Spanish). Latinobarómetro. April 2014. pp. 6, 31. Archived from the original (pdf) on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 2015.
  76. ^ "Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in Montenegro 2011" (PDF). Monstat. pp. 14-15. Retrieved 2011. For the purpose of the chart, the categories 'Islam' and 'Muslims' were merged; 'Buddhist' (.02) and Other Religions were merged; 'Atheist' (1.24) and 'Agnostic' (.07) were merged; and 'Adventist' (.14), 'Christians' (.24), 'Jehovah Witness' (.02), and 'Protestants' (.02) were merged under 'Other Christian'.
  77. ^ "Religión en Panamá" (PDF).
  78. ^ "Las religiones en tiempos del Papa Francisco" (PDF) (in Spanish). Latinobarómetro. April 2014. p. 6. Archived from the original (pdf) on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 2015.
  79. ^ (in Thai). ?.?. 2543 (2000 census), National Statistical Office of Thailand. Retrieved .

Further reading

External links


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