Description
Book SynopsisChoice Outstanding Academic Title 2023
A radically new way of understanding secularism which explains why being secular can seem so strangely religious
For much of America's rapidly growing secular population, religion is an inescapable source of skepticism and discomfort. It shows up in politics and in holidays, but also in common events like weddings and funerals. In The Secular Paradox, Joseph Blankholm argues that, despite their desire to avoid religion, nonbelievers often seem religious because Christianity influences the culture around them so deeply. Relying on several years of ethnographic research among secular activists and organized nonbelievers in the United States, the volume explores how very secular people are ambivalent toward belief, community, ritual, conversion, and tradition. As they try to embrace what they share, secular people encounter, again and again, that they are becoming too religious. And as they reject religion, th
Trade Review
By far the best work done on secular movements and secularism. Blankholm’s impressive scope of data and his attention to diversity based on ethnicity, gender, and apostates from non-Christian traditions make this a unique and exceptional contribution to the field. -- Darren Sherkat, Southern Illinois University
Masterfully illustrates how the organized secular movement in the US is constantly being negotiated. -- Ryan Cragun, The University of Tampa
Simultaneously, an incisive examination of American secularity’s paradoxical relationship to `religion,’ its constitutive other, and an expansive ethnography of how secular people live with and in that paradox. Blankholm brilliantly attends to secularity not simply as a space of absence—religion’s remainder—but as a set of ethical, epistemological, and affective commitments—a tradition. . . . A remarkable book and essential reading for those interested in debates about secularism and religion in the United States and beyond. -- Mayanthi Fernando, University of California, Santa Cruz
This work enriches understanding of one of the fastest growing segments of the US population, those with no religious affiliation or identity… [T]his study merits the attention of students of American religious culture at all levels. -- C. H. Lippy (emeritus, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) * CHOICE *
...Interesting, thought-provoking, well-researched – and written in a readable, engaging, and captivating style. * Religious Studies Review *
Pioneering. The Secular Paradox gives voice to a diverse cast of characters who can represent the increasing diversity of secular communities in the twenty-first-century United States and help to dispel views about secularism’s inherent whiteness and maleness. A must-read for scholars of American religions... sure to influence future scholarship in the field. * American Religion *
Blankholm’s writing is praiseworthy… the author clearly articulates complicated paradoxical positions and clarifies murky terms. * Reading Religion *
