What Do You Mean, "What Does It All Mean?" Atheism, Nonreligion, and Life Meaning
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3343536 |
|---|---|
| Authors | D Speed (0000-0001-7033-2068, University of New Brunswick, corresponding author), Thomas J Coleman (0000-0002-3003-5090, Coventry University), Joseph Langston (0000-0002-6026-0272, United States Air Force Academy) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2018-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | SAGE Open (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2158-2440 • E-ISSN: 2158-2440 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/2158244017754238 |
| OpenAlex | W2789408978 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 33 |
| References cited | 53 |
Nonreligion is often thought to be commensurate with nihilism or fatalism, resulting in the perception that the nonreligious have no source of meaning in life. While views to this effect have been advanced in various arenas, no empirical evaluation of such a view has been conducted. Using data from the 2008 American General Social Survey ( N = ~1,200), we investigated whether atheists, the religiously unaffiliated, and persons raised religiously unaffiliated were more likely than theists, the religiously affiliated, and persons raised with a religious affiliation to report greater levels of fatalism, nihilism, and the perception that meaning in life is self-provided. Results suggested that these groups did not differ with regard to fatalism or nihilism. However, atheists and the religiously unaffiliated (but not persons raised in a religiously unaffiliated household) were more likely to indicate that meaning in life was endogenous-that is, self-produced. While atheists and the nonreligious differed from their counterparts on source of meaning in life, this was not associated with any "penalty" for overall existential meaning
Atheism · Epistemology · Existentialism · Fatalism · Nihilism · Psychotherapist · Purpose in life · Theism · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Philosophy · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Psychology · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Religious studies · Social Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 33 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,13 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 27 |