Secular America: Nones, Atheists, the Unaffiliated

Lately, the American media has written extensively about the so-called “nones,” following an influential Pew survey in October 2012 that found religiously unaffiliated Americans to be at an all-time high. But who are these atheists, agnostics, non-believers, and other secular folk? What are their lifestyles and belief systems?

Here to answer this question is Professor Phil Zuckerman of Pitzer College, founder of the first Secular Studies program in the nation. Professor Zuckerman is an ethnographer whose books include Society without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment and Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion. In this interview with Jacques Berlinerblau as part of the “Secularism on the Edge” conference, Professor Zuckerman discusses some of his research findings from around the world.