secularism

Religion is on a decline in the United States, as the religiously unaffiliated segment climbs to more than 25% of the overall population. This is likely due to demographic shifts, but it may also be influenced by factors such as mass migrations from rural to urban areas and the advancement of isolating technology. Additionally, many are turned off by what they consider outdated stances and exclusiveness of many religions. Given these changes, what place does religion have in contemporary society? Can it adjust with the times? Diverse experts in the field tackle this timely topic.

Presents the argument that the concept of "Manifest Destiny," whose roots are traced here, has degraded to the point where the United States feels morally obligated to end tyranny the world over and warns that if this policy is not altered, it will lead to the country's downfall.

Many people use religion to guide them and instill a set of principles that they can follow in life. However, not everyone chooses to go down this path. Those who don't believe in things like god or destiny might subscribe to humanism, or the philosophy that humans are independent and in control of their own lives without a higher power to help them along. Using this insightful guide, readers will be well-equipped to navigate the world on their own terms using critical thought and analysis.

An award-winning USA Today columnist makes the case for how a Jesus freed from religion and politics meets the need for meaning and purpose in secular America.

Over the last twenty-five years, "no religion" has become the fastest-growing religion in the United States. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people have turned away from the traditional faiths of the past and embraced a moral yet nonreligious--or secular--life, generating societies vastly less religious than at any other time in human history. Revealing the inspiring beliefs that empower secular culture--alongside real stories of nonreligious men and women based on extensive in-depth interviews from across the country. Zuckerman is a sociologist who in this groundbreaking book writes clearly, offers unobtrusive statistical support, and provides a persuasive and comprehensive look at the growing contemporary phenomenon of people who choose to live without religion, but with ethics and meaning in their lives.

Traces the role of American secularists, or freethinkers, in the origins and history of the United States, from the writing of the Constitution, to the social movements of the twentieth-century, and emerging battles over separation of church and state in the 2000s.

The Renaissance produced a remarkable transformation of European society and culture. In education and in government, in wealth and in the visual arts, the Renaissance produced major changes in almost every area of European life changes which even today continue to affect the way people live, work, and think.

Examines the growing nonreligious minority of Americans, argues that America was never in fact a Christian nation, and shows how the Religious Right successfully took control of the social and political narrative.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama discusses his ideas on ethics, explaining his views for a shared world that gives full respect to religions based on understanding and mutual respect within a global community.