Becoming Atheist

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The western world is becoming atheist. In the space of three generations, churchgoing and religious belief have become alien to millions. We are in the midst of one of humankind's great cultural changes. How has this happened?Becoming Atheist offers the most thorough analysis of this phenomenon to date, exploring through their own words how people have come to live their lives as if there is no God. It tells the stories of those who have come to secular lives in Britain, western Europe, the United States and Canada, mostly from Christian and Jewish backgrounds. Based on interviews with over 80 people born in 18 countries, Callum Brown shows that a long-latent humanism has been roused in the post-1945 secularising west. Focusing on the gender, ethnic and childhood dimensions of atheists from the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada and Europe, the author looks at how the religious condition of the western world changed during the 20th and 21st centuries.By listening to individuals' life stories, this book moves away from mere statistical or broad cultural analysis. Making extensive use of frank, humorous and sometimes harrowing personal testimony, Becoming Atheist exposes the people's role in renegotiating their own identities and fashioning a secular and humanist culture for the western world.