Living Non-religious Identity in London

Abstract

Mumford, who has been engaged with local non-religious meeting groups in London England, discusses three significant aspects of lived non-religious experience highlighted through her field research. Firstly, she notes the presence of emotional experiences within participants’ narrative accounts of motivations for their rejection of religious beliefs and the assertion of an atheist identity, which suggests an active non-religious stance is not always the product of purely intellectual deliberation and debate. Secondly, the influence of religious institutions on social and political issues can create the perception that religious affiliation is considered normative by wider society which contributes to concern that the open expression of a non-religious identity in certain contexts may lead to conflict or cause offence. Consequently, some individuals choose to conceal their non-religious position either partially or completely in order to avoid negative responses. Lastly, she found that participants’ objections to religion emerged through concern regarding the possible detrimental impact of certain ideas and practices, rather than simply an opposition to all forms of religion per se.