Atheists And Agnostics Negotiate Religion

Topic:

How Religion is experienced by those who have no religion or belief in a God or are unsure about what they believe in, and what caused the person to stop believing or to never have a belief.

Specific Issue being examined:

The purpose of the research assignment is to find out how religion is experienced by those who do not believe in a higher power. I am examining the issue because I would like to find out how to improve the stereotypically negative views of atheists and agnostics. In Atheists and Agnostics Negotiate Religion and Family, Elaine Howard Ecklund and Kristen Schultz Lee (2011) examine various sociological research done in the recent years and “survey researchers show that other Americans find atheists among the most distasteful

In Atheism: a very short introduction, Julian Baggini (2003) tries to provide a positive view of atheism, in contrast with the negative view of atheism that is presented by the general public. Julian believes that Atheists can be indifferent to religion, instead of hostile towards it as well as “more sensitive to aesthetic experience, more moral, more attuned to natural beauty than many theists.” There is a notion that without God, people cannot be moral, find meaning in life or experience human goodness. This negative reception of atheists in the general public has had significant social consequences, with atheist’s only recently feeling that they could come out about their beliefs as explained by Elaine Howard Ecklund and Kristen Schultz (2011) in Atheists and Agnostics Negotiate Religion and Family. Howard and Schultz examine the changes in religious involvement that occur at different stages in life. As young adults leave the home, their rate of participation tends to drop, with it rising again when they start their own family. Some people even adopt a religion for the first time because they want to “transmit specific beliefs and morals to children.” Robin Le Poidevin (2010) in Agnosticism: A very Short Introduction, he states that Agnostics can have two very different portrayals of what could be considered moral agnostics and the thing they share in common is: “it is hard to count on their behavior as moral behavior,” however their behavior may not be immoral either. Le Poidevin (2010) challenges the notion that Agnostics can be moral, however the objective of this study is to prove otherwise. This subject needs more exposure because the notion that atheism is a negative thing in the eyes of many people should be stamped out. This research may help people realize that atheism and agnosticism are not a bad thing, and that these people can