Religion, Secular Humanism, and Atheism: Multi-Institutional Politics and the USAFA Cadet Freethinkers Group

• In Event: 059 - Regular Session. Religion

Abstract

This paper contends that atheist and secular humanist group strategies and identities among emerging adults in secular organizations can be conditioned, often in unintended ways, not only by the priorities of powerful organizational actors--which may change with a changing external environment and organizational threats--but also by these actors’ evolving perceptions and definitions of religion. We demonstrate this claim with an analysis of the relational process between the Cadets’ Freethinkers Group at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) and Academy administrators from 2000 to 2013. In the process of interaction between the Freethinkers, their advisors, and USAFA administrators over time, Freethinkers encountered evolving constraints and choices that offered different types of recognition and access to institutional resources. In response, they chose between two strategies for obtaining institutional recognition--a strategy of inclusion and a strategy of resistance--which are only loosely coupled with secular humanist and New Atheist identities.

Authors

• Mary Ellen Konieczny, University of Notre Dame

• Megan Rogers, University of Notre Dame