Being agnostic, not atheist: Investigating personality, beliefs, and development of a specific type of irreligion (Symposium)
(2023) International Association for the Psychology of Religion Conference — Location: Groningen, The Nethermands
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- Abstract
- Across psychological and sociological studies, the two major categories of nonbelievers are atheists and agnostics. The psychology of agnostics remains unexplored. Do agnostics differ from atheists only on an epistemic issue (the God’s existence question) or on deeper personality characteristics? Are beliefs and worldviews of agnostics similar to those of atheists or do agnostics identify themselves in opposition to atheism? Finally, as societies secularize, do agnostics become predominant (no need to strongly oppose religion) or does atheism generalize among nonbelievers (no need to hide one’s own disbelief)? This symposium will address these three questions through three papers presenting results from, respectively, a study on 537 UK adults self-identified as Christian, agnostic, and atheist (Moise Karim), a study on 360 US secular and nonreligious people self-identified as agnostic, atheist, or both (Luke Galen), and analyses of data from the EVS-European Values Survey (three waves) in 17 countries (Vassilis Saroglou).
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Saroglou, V. (2023). Being agnostic, not atheist: Investigating personality, beliefs, and development of a specific type of irreligion (Symposium). International Association for the Psychology of Religion Conference, Groningen, The Nethermands. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/241405