Introduction Christianity is the most dominant religion in the United States, with over 70% of the population 1 identifying as Christian. While there is no state sponsored religion, Christianity still has a great deal of influence on American politics and social life. It is only recently that same sex marriages have become legal, and the primary opposition to such marriages was religious. In many parts of the country, stores are still closed on Sundays, a remnant of blue laws. The stock market closes on Christmas, Easter, and many other Christian holidays. It is not surprising that movements opposing Christianity in public life, especially in politics, have emerged. What is perhaps a bit more surprising is that some of these movements may have resulted in the emergence of a new religion, or class of religions. The following paper analyses a combination of personal discussions and published documents by some of the more prominent members of these movements, and shows that these movements are indeed reasonably classified as 2 religious ones, based on the definition of religion established in previous work. For the purpose of this paper, the proposed religion will be called Religious Rejectionism. Once the initial evidence for the existence of Religious Rejectionism is presented, the paper finishes with suggestions for additional research necessary to fully understand this new religion. Religioid Belief In order to show the presence of a religion, the first step is to identify a candidate for a religioid belief. In the case of the aforementioned movements, such beliefs may include the belief that there are no gods, the belief that there is no afterlife, and in the extreme, the belief that all religion is false. For this paper, the focus will be on the belief that there are no gods. While the belief that all religion is false would incorporate that belief, it is a bit more difficult to find data and provide a detailed argument. The no-god belief is also enough to justify the initial conclusion of religiosity. Over time, it should be possible to tie both beliefs together and show more details on the nature of Religious Rejectionism. To show that Religious Rejectionism is truly a religion, it is first necessary to provide justification that the core beliefs are indeed religioid. Sam Harris fmri study on religious and non-religious belief acts as a foundation for the argument. Harris paper analyzes the reaction to religious and non-religious stimuli, for two separate groups. One group was Christian, and the other group 1 Wormald, Benjamin. "Religious Landscape Study." Pew Research Centers Religion & Public Life Project. May 11, 2015. Accessed April 05, 2018. http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/. 2 Goldman, Daniel S., 2018. A Unified Psychological and Anthropological Model of Religion. SocArXiv. March 31. doi:10.17605/osf.io/xqduv.
was labeled as non-believers. The results indicate that there is a difference between the way 3 the brain responds to religious and non-religious stimuli. However, there is also another interesting result. When the Christian group has their belief in a god affirmed, the response is almost the opposite of the non-believer group s reaction to having the god claim affirmed. The signal is however weaker in the non-believer group. A similar result occurs when the existence of god is rejected. Harris suggested that some alternative mechanism was responsible for the non-believer group s reaction. Yet there is no explanation as to why the fmri results would 4 show nearly equal but opposite reactions. A simpler explanation is that the non-believer group included both those who simply lacked a belief in gods, and those who believed that none exist, and that the belief that no god exists is a religioid belief. If both the belief in a god and the belief that none exist are the same, we should see equal and opposite signals, if the non-believer group were really believers of nonexistence. A failure to separate believers in nonexistence of gods, from those who simply lack a belief in gods should result in a weakened signal, because there should be little to no response, if there is no belief being affirmed or rejected. 5 Wiech et al. 2008 gives another hint at the nature of belief in absence of gods. This study was 6 used, alongside Harris work, to construct the initial model of religioid belief. While the study suggested that religious belief helped induce analgesic effect, when the non-religious group was confronted with religious images, it seemed to actually resulted in a decrease in tolerance for 7 8 pain. Newer research suggests that disgust may reduce pain tolerance. If so, it could be that the non-religious group is actually having a disgust reaction in response to a religious position which contradicts their own religioid beliefs. Dimensions of Religion Further research is needed to investigate these topics, and by themselves, these results are very weak justification for the presence of a religion. However, if this candidate belief can be integrated with the cultural framework of Smart s seven dimensions of religion, then it becomes 3 Harris, Sam, Jonas T. Kaplan, Ashley Curiel, Susan Y. Bookheimer, Marco Iacoboni, and Mark S. Cohen. "The Neural Correlates of Religious and Nonreligious Belief." PLoS ONE 4, no. 10 (2009). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0007272. 4 Ibid. 5 Wiech, Katja, Miguel Farias, Guy Kahane, Nicholas Shackel, Wiebke Tiede, and Irene Tracey. "An FMRI Study Measuring Analgesia Enhanced by Religion as a Belief System." Pain 139, no. 2 (2008): 467-76. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2008.07.030. 6 Goldman, Daniel S., 2018. A Unified Psychological and Anthropological Model of Religion. SocArXiv. March 31. doi:10.17605/osf.io/xqduv. 7 Wiech, Katja, Miguel Farias, Guy Kahane, Nicholas Shackel, Wiebke Tiede, and Irene Tracey. "An FMRI Study Measuring Analgesia Enhanced by Religion as a Belief System." Pain 139, no. 2 (2008): 467-76. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2008.07.030. 8 Oaten, Megan J., Richard J. Stevenson, and Trevor I. Case. "The Effect of Disgust on Pain Sensitivity." Physiology & Behavior 138 (2015): 107-12. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.10.023.
more reasonable to conclude that the belief is a religioid belief, and the combined system is a religion. The following includes a list of potential elements of each dimension, based on a combination of private discussions, writings by prominent authors on the topic, and less formal discussions, including a number of atheist and secular websites. Doctrinal or philosophical : The doctrinal or philosophical dimension of Religious Rejectionism is quite well developed. One of the key elements of the doctrine is related to negative claims: claims of nonexistence. A common response, to requests for evidence when a claim of nonexistence of gods is made, is that one cannot prove a negative claim, or that the burden of proof is on those claiming existence. While the purpose of this paper is not a philosophical discussion on proving negatives, it is important to go over the logical issues with such a claim. Science investigates negative claims all the time. Whenever the FDA requests that a new drug be tested, one of the requirements is that the drug be tested for side effects. When a drug is claimed to be safe, the claimant is stating that there is evidence that there are no significantly harmful side effects. Furthermore, looking at the topic of negative and positive claims from a logical perspective, one can take any claim of existence, and find a claim of nonexistence which implies it: although such a claim may be verbally obtuse, the difference between claims of nonexistence and claims of existence is linguistic, not logical. It is uncertain where the doctrinal component originates, however it may be a misunderstanding of Russel s allegory of a teapot existing somewhere between the Earth and Mars. The allegory exists to explain why shifting of burden of proof is not reasonable. If a theist claims that a god 9 exists, the burden of proof is on that person. However, that does not absolve anyone of burden of proof when claiming nonexistence. To finalize the argument here, one could state that a universe without a god does not exist. Such a claim is a claim of existence, but it implies that there is a god. Given that claims of nonexistence do suffer burden of proof, and that it is likely that people would demand satisfaction of burden of proof, when making a mundane claim of nonexistence, such as this drug is free of dangerous side effects, it becomes increasingly clear that the function of this doctrine is to absolve the Religious Rejectionist of recognition of burden of proof. Therefore, the doctrine makes sense, only in light of the belief that there are no gods. Another component of doctrine is the idea that religion is inherently irrational. This view is even embedded in some of the scientific literature on the topic of religion, but that view is largely 9 Is There a God. Accessed April 04, 2018. http://www.personal.kent.edu/~rmuhamma/philosophy/rbwritings/istheregod.htm.
10 opposed by anthropological theory on the topic. The following is one example of such a view being expressed. It is because religion and many other dark ideologies warp reason, reason is thinking carefully and clearly and avoiding contradictions, and thereby make a virtue out of woolly thinking that this page has been written. It offers you the chance to feel confident in your thinking and to learn how to think and how to protect yourself against the disciples of 11 reason who are anything but. Ethical and legal: Humanism and secularism seem to be common elements within Religious Rejectionism. Partially in response to the argument that there cannot be any morality without a god, there has been an attempt to define a godless moral system, and one argument used is 12 that morality comes from nature itself. Experiential and emotional: A common theme among Religious Rejectionists is the experience of leaving religion. As an example, the following summarizes a story of leaving 13 religion, discussed by one of the many godless bloggers. Armin Navabi, the founder of Atheist Republic had a similar experience. According to Why There Is No God, Navabi was born in Iran, and indoctrinated into Islam. But after an extremely traumatic experience, he began to question his religion, losing his faith, and becoming an atheist. He then sought out groups where 14 he could share his experience, and eventually founded Atheist Republic. There are also entire 15 organizations dedicated to sharing the experience of leaving one s religion. Material: These same institutions give rise to an example of the material dimension of Religious Rejectionism. The material dimension includes any physical object which is tied to the religion. The material dimension includes, among other elements, symbols and books related to the 16 17 religion. One recognized symbol is the atomic whirl, which is the logo of American Atheists. There are also a number of books, such as The God Delusion, Fighting God, and others by prominent atheist authors. These symbols relate, not just to atheism, but also to attempts to disprove the existence of gods, reinforcing the religioid belief that there are no gods. 10 Goldman, Daniel S., 2018. A Unified Psychological and Anthropological Model of Religion. SocArXiv. March 31. doi:10.17605/osf.io/xqduv. 11 Religious Faith Is Illogical. Accessed April 04, 2018. http://www.secularrights.com/philosophyfaith.html. 12 "Ethics Without Gods." American Atheists. Accessed April 04, 2018. https://www.atheists.org/activism/resources/ethics-without-gods/. 13 Carter, Neil. "What Leaving My Religion Did for Me." Godless in Dixie. September 14, 2014. Accessed April 04, 2018. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godlessindixie/2014/09/14/what-leaving-my-religion-did-for-me/. 14 Navabi, Armin. Why There Is No God: Simple Responses to 20 Common Arguments for the Existence of God. Place of Publication Not Identified: Atheist Republic, 2014. 15 "Welcome." Recovering from Religion. Accessed April 04, 2018. https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/. 16 Smart, Ninian. The Worlds Religions. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998. 17 "Our Logo." American Atheists. Accessed April 04, 2018. https://www.atheists.org/about/our-logo/.
Ritual: There are a few rituals connected to Religious Rejectionism, including the National Day 18 of Reason, which largely exists as a response to the National Day of Prayer. But it does connect to the earlier addressed doctrinal elements, including the idea that religion is inherently irrational. Social or institutional: The social or institutional dimension is satisfied by numerous atheist groups. Atheism is simply a lack of belief in gods. There are many atheists of all walks of life, 19 including devoutly religious Zen Buddhists, which is essentially agnostic towards god claims. A lack of belief in gods does not constitute a unifying trait, and yet these institutions exist. Many of them are spearheaded by vocal anti-theists like Richard Dawkins and David Silverman. Part of their existence is simply to act as institutions which fight against the religious impositions of Christianity in politics. But they do far more than that. The Richard Dawkins Foundation clearly 20 states that their purpose is to promote scientific literacy and a secular worldview. Narrative and mythic: This dimension is probably the most difficult to identity. Part of the narrative comes from the origin of Religious Rejectionism. Since the religion grew out of an opposition towards Abrahamic tradition, there are remnants of the narrative, adopted for a different purpose. Biblical stories of violence, including the Israelite conquest of Jericho have been used as arguments attacking religion. Yet there is no evidence of a battle of Jericho and according to current anthropological theory, the Israelites were just a tribe of Canaanites that 21 found the region abandoned. Perhaps the most important narrative in Religious Rejectionism is the rise and fall of religion. There seems to be this view that religion came into existence because primitive man could not explain natural phenomena such as thunder and lightning, and that gods were used to explain these phenomena, and now that we have science, there 22 religion is falling by the wayside. 18 "National Day of Reason." National Day of Reason RSS. Accessed April 04, 2018. http://nationaldayofreason.org/about-the-national-day-of-reason/. 19 "Beliefs & Dogmas." ZEN BUDDHISM Beliefs Buddhist Beliefs. Accessed April 05, 2018. http://www.zen-buddhism.net/beliefs/beliefs-and-dogmas.html. 20 "What We Do." Richard Dawkins Foundation. Accessed April 04, 2018. https://www.richarddawkins.net/aboutus/. 21 Dever, William G. Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? Grand Rapids (Michigan): William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006. 22 "Is Religion Fast Becoming Obsolete In Today's Modern Society?" Relatively Interesting. November 24, 2016. Accessed April 05, 2018. http://www.relativelyinteresting.com/is-religion-becoming-obsolete-in-todays-society/.
Research Proposals The second half of this paper focuses on suggested research in order to improve the understanding of Religious Rejectionism. First, the work, conducted by Sam Harris, Katja Wiech, et al., can be expanded upon. The non-religious group should have been separated into two or more subgroups. One option is to divide the group of subjects by level of belief or disbelief. Five subgroups would allow for separation of those who are nearly certain that there are no gods, those who believe that gods are unlikely, those who hold no position, those who believe that the existence of a god is probable, and those who are certain that there is a god. This classification system can be used for both tests. If belief in the absence of a god is indeed a religioid belief, there should be a clear spread across the spectrum, with those who believe strongly having roughly equal and opposite reactions, and those with little to no position on the topic showing very little response. A few additional modifications would have to be made to the analgesia study. In order to identify a similar disgust response within the theistic group, as found in the non-religious group of the initial study, an image contradicting theistic belief would have to be included. Similarly, a symbol common among Religious Rejectionists, such as the atheist A should be included. In the initial study, it was fairly obvious that the theistic group would be familiar with the religious image. It is less certain if the added images would be familiar to the subjects. After the test is complete, the participants should be interviewed to determine whether or not they were familiar with the other images. The examples of each dimension of religion, indicated to be present in Religious Rejectionism, are only candidates. Surveys of the population will allow for a much better understanding of each dimension. But the candidates proposed can be used to form the basis of the questions of such a survey. The results of the study can then be used to characterize a more detailed description of Religious Rejectionism. Alternatively, if there is an apparent lack of correlation between the presence of each proposed religious dimension, or between the proposed religious dimensions and proposed religioid beliefs, then the results would suggest Religious Rejectionism does not exist as a well developed religion. Similarly, if the fmri studies contradict the predictions stated in this paper, that too would help refute the existence of Religious Rejectionism.
Conclusion The existence of a belief, which induces a similar response in the brain, as those found in religious individuals, hints at the presence of a religion. However, it is only after linking such a belief to a cultural framework of religious dimensions that it is reasonable to declare that there is indeed a religion present. The clues in fmri studies do suggest that the belief that there are no gods is indeed similar in form and function to the belief that there is a god. Furthermore, it is possible to link that belief to every dimension of religion, discussed by Ninian Smart. While further research should be done, in order to identify the full nature and extent of the religion, it seems that there is reasonable evidence to suggest that Religious Rejectionism is a religion. However, further research should be conducted, in order to identify the existence or absence of such a religion.
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