Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions

Synopsis

A guidebook for living a life without religion, combining sociological insight and personal inspiration . Over the last twenty-five years, "no religion" has become the fastest growing religion in the United States. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people have turned away from the traditional faiths of the past and embraced a secularor nonreligiouslife, generating societies vastly less religious than at any other time in human history. Revealing the inspiring beliefs that empower secular culturealongside real stories of nonreligious men and women, based on extensive in-depth interviews from across the countryLiving the Secular Life is an indispensable handbook for millions of secular Americans. Drawing on innovative sociological research, Living the Secular Life illuminates this demographic shift with the moral convictions that govern secular individuals, offering crucial information for religious and nonreligious alike. Living the Secular Life reveals that, despite opinions to the contrary, nonreligious Americans possess a unique moral code that allows them to effectively navigate the complexities of modern life. Spiritual self-reliance, clear-eyed pragmatism, and an abiding faith in the Golden Rule to adjudicate moral decisions, such common principlesamong othersare shared across secular society. Living the Secular Life demonstrates these principles in action and points to their usage throughout daily life.