Jonathan Simmons
Biographic Data
| ID | 4140142 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jonathan Simmons |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jonathan |
| FAMILY NAME | Simmons |
| SIGNATURE | SIMMONS J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Alberta |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5231-0578 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 38 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1971 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Indigenous Atheists in Canada
This study addresses a gap in existing scholarship on Indigenous people in Canada who identify as atheists. To shed light on this underrepresented group, I conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 18 Indigenous atheists from three different cities. Through these interviews, I sought to explore their experiences, exposure to non-Indigenous atheists, and perceptions of Indigenous spirituality and traditions. My findings offer valuable in…
Police officers as filmmakers
The impact of body worn cameras on policing will depend on multiple factors such as effective training, and high-quality technological design. Among these factors, we argue, are police officer's understanding and operation of body worn cameras. Operation involves user decisions about when to activate a body worn camera and where to direct its lens. With that in mind, we propose that police officers, especially when ineffectively regulated by poli…
Program Design Principles to Support Teen-Adult Community Conservation Efforts
Researchers and practitioners have identified numerous outcomes of place-based environmental action (PBEA) programs at both individual and community levels (e.g., promoting positive youth development, fostering science identity, building social capital, and contributing to environmental quality improvement). In many cases, the primary audience of PBEA programs are youth, with less attention given to lifelong learners or intergenerational (e.g., y…
Between Islam and Islamophobia
We use data from qualitative interviews with forty atheist activists in two Canadian cities to analyze the politics of critiquing Islam in the contemporary political environment. We show that atheist activists struggle to navigate between their criticisms of Islam, their fears of being labeled “Islamophobic” (taken as a synonym for “racist” or “xenophobic”), and their concerns about contributing to anti-Muslim rhetoric. To manage this struggle, a…
Feminist Women’s Attitudes towards Feminist Men in the Canadian Atheist Movement
Scholars of nonreligion and atheism have become increasingly interested in how the atheist movement reproduces gender inequalities. This growing research area is especially concerned with atheist activism’s contradictory embracing of gender egalitarianism on the one hand (especially when embedded in a critique of religion) and the exclusion of women from atheist spaces. Limited information is available on male atheists who identify as feminist or…
Politics, Individualism, and Atheism
Given the growth of atheism in the Western world (including activist organizations), and atheists becoming more political, it is essential to understand the identities and values that motivate atheist activism. One avenue for exploring these identities and values is through an examination of individual political attitudes. Although the scholarship on atheist activists’ political attitudes is limited, some scholars have identified the apparent gro…
Bibby, Reginald W., Resilient Gods
Resilient Gods: Being Pro-Religious, Low Religious, or No Religious in Canada builds on his "gods series" of books, which started in 1987, with Fragmented Gods and culminated in the 2011 release of Beyond the Gods and Back.Bibby is perhaps best known for the extensive survey data he has collected since the 1970s and his coverage of Canada's religious and social values.Resilient Gods uses the emerging framework of religious polarization, which arg…
Not that kind of atheist
This article examines atheist activists from a lifestyle movement perspective. I focus on how atheist activists adopt the term 'sceptic' as a distinct identity marker to represent their growing interest in other types of activism beyond atheist community building and criticism of religious beliefs. My data come from thirty-five interviews with Canadian atheist activists and participant observation in the province of Alberta. In contrast to previo…
Atheism Plus What? Social Justice and Lifestyle Politics Among Edmonton Atheists
This article addresses Edmonton secularists' responses to the emergence of a social justice faction known as Atheism Plus (A+) within the broader secularist movement. I show that some atheist activists express a libertarian rationalism consistent with Enlightenment values to maintain a lifestyle free from collectivist ideologies that promote social justice. The data for this article comes from interviews and participant observation, focusing on t…
Issues in Participant Observation
Issues in Participant Observation
Not that kind of atheist
This article examines atheist activists from a lifestyle movement perspective. I focus on how atheist activists adopt the term 'sceptic' as a distinct identity marker to represent their growing interest in other types of activism beyond atheist community building and criticism of religious beliefs. My data come from thirty-five interviews with Canadian atheist activists and participant observation in the province of Alberta. In contrast to previo…
Atheism Plus What? Social Justice and Lifestyle Politics Among Edmonton Atheists
This article addresses Edmonton secularists' responses to the emergence of a social justice faction known as Atheism Plus (A+) within the broader secularist movement. I show that some atheist activists express a libertarian rationalism consistent with Enlightenment values to maintain a lifestyle free from collectivist ideologies that promote social justice. The data for this article comes from interviews and participant observation, focusing on t…
Bibby, Reginald W., Resilient Gods
Resilient Gods: Being Pro-Religious, Low Religious, or No Religious in Canada builds on his "gods series" of books, which started in 1987, with Fragmented Gods and culminated in the 2011 release of Beyond the Gods and Back.Bibby is perhaps best known for the extensive survey data he has collected since the 1970s and his coverage of Canada's religious and social values.Resilient Gods uses the emerging framework of religious polarization, which arg…
Issues in Participant Observation
Atheism Plus What? Social Justice and Lifestyle Politics Among Edmonton Atheists
This article addresses Edmonton secularists' responses to the emergence of a social justice faction known as Atheism Plus (A+) within the broader secularist movement. I show that some atheist activists express a libertarian rationalism consistent with Enlightenment values to maintain a lifestyle free from collectivist ideologies that promote social justice. The data for this article comes from interviews and participant observation, focusing on t…
Bibby, Reginald W., Resilient Gods
Resilient Gods: Being Pro-Religious, Low Religious, or No Religious in Canada builds on his "gods series" of books, which started in 1987, with Fragmented Gods and culminated in the 2011 release of Beyond the Gods and Back.Bibby is perhaps best known for the extensive survey data he has collected since the 1970s and his coverage of Canada's religious and social values.Resilient Gods uses the emerging framework of religious polarization, which arg…
Not that kind of atheist
This article examines atheist activists from a lifestyle movement perspective. I focus on how atheist activists adopt the term 'sceptic' as a distinct identity marker to represent their growing interest in other types of activism beyond atheist community building and criticism of religious beliefs. My data come from thirty-five interviews with Canadian atheist activists and participant observation in the province of Alberta. In contrast to previo…
Politics, Individualism, and Atheism
Given the growth of atheism in the Western world (including activist organizations), and atheists becoming more political, it is essential to understand the identities and values that motivate atheist activism. One avenue for exploring these identities and values is through an examination of individual political attitudes. Although the scholarship on atheist activists’ political attitudes is limited, some scholars have identified the apparent gro…
Between Islam and Islamophobia
We use data from qualitative interviews with forty atheist activists in two Canadian cities to analyze the politics of critiquing Islam in the contemporary political environment. We show that atheist activists struggle to navigate between their criticisms of Islam, their fears of being labeled “Islamophobic” (taken as a synonym for “racist” or “xenophobic”), and their concerns about contributing to anti-Muslim rhetoric. To manage this struggle, a…
Feminist Women’s Attitudes towards Feminist Men in the Canadian Atheist Movement
Scholars of nonreligion and atheism have become increasingly interested in how the atheist movement reproduces gender inequalities. This growing research area is especially concerned with atheist activism’s contradictory embracing of gender egalitarianism on the one hand (especially when embedded in a critique of religion) and the exclusion of women from atheist spaces. Limited information is available on male atheists who identify as feminist or…
Program Design Principles to Support Teen-Adult Community Conservation Efforts
Researchers and practitioners have identified numerous outcomes of place-based environmental action (PBEA) programs at both individual and community levels (e.g., promoting positive youth development, fostering science identity, building social capital, and contributing to environmental quality improvement). In many cases, the primary audience of PBEA programs are youth, with less attention given to lifelong learners or intergenerational (e.g., y…
Police officers as filmmakers
The impact of body worn cameras on policing will depend on multiple factors such as effective training, and high-quality technological design. Among these factors, we argue, are police officer's understanding and operation of body worn cameras. Operation involves user decisions about when to activate a body worn camera and where to direct its lens. With that in mind, we propose that police officers, especially when ineffectively regulated by poli…
Indigenous Atheists in Canada
This study addresses a gap in existing scholarship on Indigenous people in Canada who identify as atheists. To shed light on this underrepresented group, I conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 18 Indigenous atheists from three different cities. Through these interviews, I sought to explore their experiences, exposure to non-Indigenous atheists, and perceptions of Indigenous spirituality and traditions. My findings offer valuable in…
Political science (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (6 works) · Atheism (5 works) · Gender Studies (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Religion, Society, and Development (5 works) · Religious studies (5 works) · Philosophy (4 works)