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Semi-Secular Worldviews and the Belief in Something Beyond

Palmqvist, Carl-Johan LU and Jonbäck, Francis (2024) In Elements in Global Philosophy of Religion
Abstract
An increasingly large part of the population in the West identifies as religious Nones. Contrary to what might be assumed, most of them are not outright atheists. They reject traditional religion, but many pursue different forms of spirituality, and many entertain supernatural ideas. This element concerns the worldview of these “semi-secular” Nones. When asked about whether they believe in God, they usually provide answers like “Perhaps not God per se, but I do believe in something”. Belief in “something” is the ontological cornerstone of many Nones’ worldviews. We reconstruct it as the view “Somethingism”. We assess Somethingism by inquiring how well it stands up to the epistemic challenge of being true to the demands of reason. We also... (More)
An increasingly large part of the population in the West identifies as religious Nones. Contrary to what might be assumed, most of them are not outright atheists. They reject traditional religion, but many pursue different forms of spirituality, and many entertain supernatural ideas. This element concerns the worldview of these “semi-secular” Nones. When asked about whether they believe in God, they usually provide answers like “Perhaps not God per se, but I do believe in something”. Belief in “something” is the ontological cornerstone of many Nones’ worldviews. We reconstruct it as the view “Somethingism”. We assess Somethingism by inquiring how well it stands up to the epistemic challenge of being true to the demands of reason. We also assess it by exploring how it manages the existential challenge of providing comfort and guidance in this life, and its ability to align us with any transcendent reality there might be. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Book/Report
publication status
in press
subject
keywords
Somethingism, Semi-Secularity, Religious Nones, Fuzzy Religion, Lived Religion
in
Elements in Global Philosophy of Religion
publisher
Cambridge University Press
ISBN
9781009452199
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d45fe5a2-ca52-40cb-a34b-d79c003e514f
date added to LUP
2025-01-16 17:17:51
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:03:16
@book{d45fe5a2-ca52-40cb-a34b-d79c003e514f,
  abstract     = {{An increasingly large part of the population in the West identifies as religious Nones. Contrary to what might be assumed, most of them are not outright atheists. They reject traditional religion, but many pursue different forms of spirituality, and many entertain supernatural ideas. This element concerns the worldview of these “semi-secular” Nones. When asked about whether they believe in God, they usually provide answers like “Perhaps not God per se, but I do believe in something”. Belief in “something” is the ontological cornerstone of many Nones’ worldviews. We reconstruct it as the view “Somethingism”. We assess Somethingism by inquiring how well it stands up to the epistemic challenge of being true to the demands of reason. We also assess it by exploring how it manages the existential challenge of providing comfort and guidance in this life, and its ability to align us with any transcendent reality there might be.}},
  author       = {{Palmqvist, Carl-Johan and Jonbäck, Francis}},
  isbn         = {{9781009452199}},
  keywords     = {{Somethingism; Semi-Secularity; Religious Nones; Fuzzy Religion; Lived Religion}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Cambridge University Press}},
  series       = {{Elements in Global Philosophy of Religion}},
  title        = {{Semi-Secular Worldviews and the Belief in Something Beyond}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}