Review of None of the Above: Nonreligious Identity in the US and Canada

The rapid rise of the religiously unaffiliated in the United States has captivated scholars and the public alike, but is rarely put in comparative perspective. In None of the Above: Nonreligious Identity in the US and Canada, Joel Thiessen and Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme trace what’s been happening in Canada in relation to the United States. Throughout the book, the authors make the case that Canada and the United States are both following a similar religious trajectory that they situate as “stages of decline” in a secularization framework, arguing that in both countries “religious none growth has transpired gradually across time and generations” (p. 171 of the NYU Press edition). In addition to combining an analysis of two countries, this book also combines two forms of data: national surveys and in-depth interviews. The book therefore provides broad big-picture overviews and concrete narrative explanations for general patterns, which makes for an engaging read. It traces reasons people become disaffiliated, the diversity of perspectives and experiences of the unaffiliated, and considers the social and political implications of disaffiliation. Many of the patterns are in line with what we know from research on the United States: the unaffiliated leave religion for a variety of reasons, are still moral people, are a diverse group who are not uniformly secular, are generally more politically liberal than their more religious counterparts, and are more civically engaged than the moderately religious. I especially appreciated when the book compared and contrasted Canadian and US nones, showing patterns less covered in the literature: for example, Canadian nones are more liberal and less spiritual than US nones.

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.