Atheists in America

By Melanie E. Brewster and Chris Matallana

Book Overview

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, providing a nuanced look at living without a god in a predominantly Christian nation.

These narratives illuminate the complexities and consequences for nonbelievers in the United States. Stepping away from religious belief can have serious social and existential ramifications, forcing atheists to discover new ways to live meaningfully without a religious community. Yet shedding the constraints of a formal belief system can also be a freeing experience. Ultimately, this volume shows that claiming an atheist identity is anything but an act isolated from the other dimensions of the self. Upending common social, political, and psychological assumptions about atheists, this collection helps carve out a more accepted space for this minority within American society.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231163584
• ISBN13: 9780231163583
• Release Date: June 2014
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 9.1"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher