TY - JOUR
T1 - What do non-religious non-believers believe in? Secular worldviews around the world
AU - van Mulukom, Valerie
AU - Turpin, Hugh
AU - Haimila, Roosa
AU - Purzycki, Benjamin G
AU - Bendixen, Theiss
AU - Kundtová Klocová, Eva
AU - Řezníček, Dan
AU - Coleman III, Thomas J.
AU - Sevinç, Kenan
AU - de Oliveira Maraldi, Everton
AU - Schjødt, Uffe
AU - Rutjens, Bastiaan T.
AU - Farias, Miguel
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - The global increase in nonreligious individuals begs for a better understanding of what nonreligious beliefs and worldviews actually entail. Rather than assuming an absence of belief or imposing a predetermined set of beliefs, this research uses an open-ended approach to investigate which secular beliefs and worldviews nonreligious nontheistic individuals in 10 countries around the world might endorse. Approximately, one thousand participants were recruited (N = 996; approximately 100 participants per country) and completed the online survey. A data-driven coding scheme of the open-ended question about the participants’ beliefs and worldviews was created and includes 51 categories in 11 supercategories (agency and control, collaboration and peace, equality and kindness, morality, natural laws and the here and now, nonreligiosity, reflection and acceptance, science and critical thinking, spirituality, truth, and other). The 10 most frequently mentioned categories were science, humanism, critical skepticism, natural laws, equality, kindness and caring, care for the earth, left-wing political causes, atheism, and individualism and freedom. Patterns of beliefs were explored, demonstrating three worldview belief sets: scientific worldviews, humanist worldviews, and caring nature-focused worldviews. This project is a timely data-driven exploration of the content and range of global secular worldviews around the world and matches previous theoreticalwork. Future research may utilize these data and findings to construct more comprehensive surveys to be completed in additional countries.
AB - The global increase in nonreligious individuals begs for a better understanding of what nonreligious beliefs and worldviews actually entail. Rather than assuming an absence of belief or imposing a predetermined set of beliefs, this research uses an open-ended approach to investigate which secular beliefs and worldviews nonreligious nontheistic individuals in 10 countries around the world might endorse. Approximately, one thousand participants were recruited (N = 996; approximately 100 participants per country) and completed the online survey. A data-driven coding scheme of the open-ended question about the participants’ beliefs and worldviews was created and includes 51 categories in 11 supercategories (agency and control, collaboration and peace, equality and kindness, morality, natural laws and the here and now, nonreligiosity, reflection and acceptance, science and critical thinking, spirituality, truth, and other). The 10 most frequently mentioned categories were science, humanism, critical skepticism, natural laws, equality, kindness and caring, care for the earth, left-wing political causes, atheism, and individualism and freedom. Patterns of beliefs were explored, demonstrating three worldview belief sets: scientific worldviews, humanist worldviews, and caring nature-focused worldviews. This project is a timely data-driven exploration of the content and range of global secular worldviews around the world and matches previous theoreticalwork. Future research may utilize these data and findings to construct more comprehensive surveys to be completed in additional countries.
KW - Atheism
KW - Cross-cultural
KW - Nonreligion
KW - Secular beliefs
KW - Worldviews
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85135821857&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.31234/osf.io/gtcem
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/gtcem
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1941-1022
VL - 15
SP - 143
EP - 156
JO - Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
JF - Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
IS - 1
ER -