‘Nones’ in selected countries – a comparison
Workshop with “Hans Blumenberg Visiting Professor” Linda Woodhead
The workshop at the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” addresses the growth of the so-called “nones”, people who are unaffiliated with any religion, in selected European countries and the U.S. The renowned British sociologist of religion, Hans Blumenberg Visting Professor, Prof. Dr. Linda Woodhead explores together with international researchers the socio-structural profile of the “nones” and their religious attitudes. The Blumenberg-Workshop will take place in Münster on 4 and 5 May.
The workshop deals with the following questions: Who are the ‚nones‘? What is their social-structural profile? What can we say about their religious attitudes? To what extent have withdrawals from church and to what extent have omissions of baptism contributed to the rise of ‘nones’?
The talks will concentrate on the influence religious socialization in families exerts on church ties. They also focus on motives for leaving the church. One further point of the workshop pertains the question to what extent we can attribute religious attitudes to non-affiliated people. Are they as religious as church members, but in a different, more individualistic, alternative and syncretistic way? Are they looking for quasi-religious substitutes? Do they still have high expectations towards the church?
By raising these analytical questions the workshop, titled “‘Nones’ in selected countries in Western and Eastern Europe and the U.S. – a Comparison”, will contribute to a better understanding of processes of secularization and re-sacralization in Western and Eastern European countries as well as the U.S. by identifying causal mechanisms which foster these ongoing processes.
Hans Blumenberg Visiting Professorship 2017
The workshop is part of the “Hans Blumenberg Visting Professorship” at the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”. In the summer semester 2017 the Professorship is assumed by sociologist of religion Prof. Dr. Linda Woodhead from Lancaster University. The British academic will focus on the worldwide growing number of so-called “nones”. In the summer semester the Cluster of Excellence has for the first time appointed two Hans Blumenberg Visiting Professors. Ethnologist Prof. Dr. Thomas Hauschild from the University of Halle-Wittenberg will follow Prof. Woodhead in June and July. (exc/dak/vvm)