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Extensive literature in the social and medical sciences link religiosity to positive health outcomes. Conversely it is often assumed that secularity carries negative consequences for health; however, recent research outlining different types of secular individuals complicates this assumption. Using a national sample of American adults, we compare physical and mental health outcomes for atheists, agnostics, religiously nonaffiliated theists, and theistic members of organized religious traditions. Results indicate better physical health outcomes for atheists compared to other secular individuals and members of some religious traditions. Atheists also reported significantly lower levels of psychiatric symptoms (anxiety, paranoia, obsession, and compulsion) compared to both other seculars and members of most religious traditions. In contrast, physical and mental health were significantly worse for nonaffiliated theists compared to other seculars and religious affiliates on most outcomes. These findings highlight the necessity of distinguishing among different types of secular individuals in future research on health.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-116). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--Missouri State University, 2008. / "May 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-96). Also available online.

Submitted by Maike Costa (maiksebas@gmail.com) on 2017-01-19T13:11:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivo total.pdf: 873946 bytes, checksum: 6effdec015752ed548c07fbefbc33ce8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-19T13:11:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivo total.pdf: 873946 bytes, checksum: 6effdec015752ed548c07fbefbc33ce8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-06 / The objective of this research was to examine the associations between spirituality and meaning of life, from the perspective of atheists. It starts with the idea that spirituality acts as an important protective factor of the subject, directing you to a search for meaning for their lives and that is independent of religious practice. This conception is based on the theoretical framework of the psychological approach to Logotherapy and Existential Analysis. This is a methodological research quantitative and qualitative, and therefore, two studies were conducted. For the qualitative study, the sample was 18 subjects, in order to show, through the speech of the atheists, concepts of spirituality and meaning of life and their relationships. a semi-structured interview with the following question "how would you define spirituality" was held "how would you define the meaning of life?" "for you, what would be manifestations/ expressions of spirituality?" "What is the relationship that you see between spirituality and meaning of life? ", which were analyzed from the Collective Subject Discourse (CSD) for the analysis of qualitative data. The study showed that the participants perceive spirituality, mostly as a kind of belief or connection with something or someone; sense of life as being primarily an objective or personal motivation or assignment that the subject gives significantly to something and does not realize the relationship between spirituality and meaning of life. For the quantitative study, the sample was 256 subjects in order to build an atheism measure, testing its factorial validity and internal consistency. socio-demographic questionnaire were used, Attitude Scale Theist / Atheist (ASTA) Questionnaires of Basic Values (QBV) and Life Sense (QLS) for data analysis. It was evident that the Attitude Scale Theistic / Atheist (EATA) and their validity constructs showed good psychometric parameters, the analysis showed adequate internal consistency for the factors and Gnostic Atheist factor correlated negatively with the Presence of Meaning factors, with the subfunctions normative and interactive. / O objetivo da pesquisa foi averiguar as associações entre espiritualidade e sentido de vida, sob a ótica dos sujeitos ateus. Parte-se da concepção de que a espiritualidade atua como importante fator protetivo do sujeito, direcionando-o a uma busca de sentido para sua vida e que independe de prática religiosa. Tal concepção baseia-se no aporte teórico da abordagem psicológica da Logoterapia e Análise Existencial. Trata-se de uma pesquisa metodológica quanti-qualitativa e, portanto, dois estudos foram realizados. Para o estudo qualitativo, a amostra foi de 18 sujeitos, a fim de evidenciar, através do discurso dos ateus, conceitos sobre espiritualidade e sentido de vida e suas relações. Foi realizada uma entrevista semi-estruturada contendo as seguintes perguntas “como você definiria espiritualidade” “como você definiria sentido de vida?” “para você, o que seriam manifestações/expressões de espiritualidade?” “qual a relação que você percebe entre espiritualidade e sentido de vida?”, que foram analisadas a partir do Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo (DSC) para análise de dados qualitativos. O estudo evidenciou que os participantes percebem espiritualidade, em sua maioria, como sendo um tipo de crença ou conexão com algo ou alguém; sentido de vida como sendo, principalmente, um objetivo ou motivação pessoal ou a atribuição que o sujeito dá de forma significativa a algo e não percebe relação entre espiritualidade e sentido de vida. Para o estudo quantitativo, a amostra foi de 256 sujeitos a fim de construir uma medida de ateísmo, testando sua validade fatorial e consistência interna. Foram utilizados questionário sócio-demográfico, Escala de Atitude Teísta/Ateísta (EATA), Questionários de Valores Básicos (QVB) e de Sentido de Vida (QSV) para análise de dados. Evidenciou-se que a Escala de Atitude Teísta/ Ateísta (EATA) e suas validades de construtos evidenciaram bons parâmetros psicométricos, as análises evidenciaram uma consistência interna adequada para os fatores e o fator Ateísmo Gnóstico correlacionou-se negativamente com os fatores Presença de Sentido, com a subfunção valorativa normativa e interativa.

“Race in a Godless World” examines the racial thought of atheists in Britain and the United States from about 1850 to 1914. While there have been no comprehensive studies of atheists' views on race, there is a trend in the historiography on racial thought, which I have described as the “Race-Secularization Thesis,” that suggests a link between the secularization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and an increase in nineteenth-century racialism – that is, racial essentialism and determinism – as well as resulting racial prejudice and discrimination. Through a study of both leading and lesser-known atheists and freethinkers, I argue that the “Race-Secularization Thesis” needs to be reconsidered. A simple link between secularization and racialism is misleading. This is not to suggest that the “Race-Secularization Thesis” contains no truth, only that secularization did not inevitably lead to racialism. This dissertation helps to tell a more complex and nuanced story about the relationship between atheism and racial thought. While in some cases, nineteenth-century atheists and freethinkers were among the leading exponents of racialist views, there is an alternative story in which the atheist worldview – through its emphasis on rationality and skepticism – provided the tools with which to critique ideas of racial prejudice, racial superiority, and even the concept of race itself.

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This thesis explores the use of identity politics within the atheist movement at both the national and individual levels. I conducted a content analysis of two national atheist groups and three best-selling atheist authors in order to assess the use of atheist identity politics at the national level. I then conducted 15 in-depth interviews with a sample of atheists in Portland, Oregon about their atheist identity and their reactions to and identification with national atheist movement strategies. Findings suggest that national atheist organizations and atheist authors are using a strategy of identity politics that encourage atheists to "come out" as atheists, complain about church/state violations, and criticize religion's influence in American society. They liken their movement to the gay identity movement and argue that as more atheists "come out", they will see less stigma and more respect towards atheists. However, individual atheists do not always identify with these movement strategies. Most participants said that atheism is not a particularly salient identity for them and thus most did not see themselves participating in atheist activism. Further, they implied that they experience little stigma in their everyday lives and are more concerned with promoting religious tolerance and secular policies. I argue that the lack of social identification with atheism, combined with limits to the gay analogy, are likely inhibitors to the success of an atheist movement.

Negative attitudes towards atheists are hardly a new trend in our society. However, given the pervasiveness of the prejudices and the lack of foundation for them, it seems warranted to explore the underlying elements of these attitudes. Identifying these constitutive elements may help pick apart the different contributing factors and perhaps mitigate or at least understand them in the future. The present study was designed to identify which myths or stereotypes about atheists are most influential in these attitudes. A Lexical Decision Task was utilized to identify which words related to popular stereotypes are most related to the label atheists. The labels Atheists, Christians, and Students were compared to positive words, negatives words, words or interests, neutral words, and non-word strings. Analyses revealed no significant differences among the participants' reaction times in these various comparisons, regardless of religion, level of belief in god, level of spirituality, or being acquainted with atheists. Possible explanations for these results are discussed in this thesis.