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İNANÇSIZLIK NEDİR? İNANÇSIZLIK KAVRAMI ÜZERİNE EMPRİK BİR ARAŞTIRMA

Year 2017, Issue: 4, 23 - 40, 04.12.2017

Abstract

İnançsızlık,
son zamanlarda din psikolojisi alanında ilgi çekmeye başlayan bir konudur. Bu
konuda yapılan araştırmaların sayısı artmaktadır. Fakat inançsızlık konusunda
yapılan araştırmalara bakıldığında, inançsızlığın ne olduğu ve kimin inançsız
olarak kabul edileceği hususunda bir muğlaklık olduğu görülmektedir.
İnançsızlar dinsiz midir yoksa maneviyatsız mı? Ateist olmak inançsız olmak
anlamına gelir mi? Bu çalışmada inançsızlık kavramı emprik olarak ele
alınmaktadır. Bu araştırma, 2014 yılında ABD’de, kendisini en az bir
inançsızlık biçimiyle tanımlayan 2548 kişinin katılımıyla gerçekleştirilmiştir.
Bulgular, inançsızların çoğunluğunun “Tanrı’ya inanmıyorum” dediğini
göstermiştir. İnançsızların %85,6’sı Tanrı’ya inanmamakta, fakat %12,3’ü
“Tanrı’ya inanmıyorum” demek yerine Tanrı’nın varlığının bilinemeyeceğini
düşünmektedir. İnançsızların %88,07’lik kesimi kendisini ateist olarak
tanımlamıştır. “Bir Tanrı’nın olup olmadığını bilmiyorum ve bunun bir yolu
olduğuna inanmıyorum” diyenlerin yalnızca %60,8’i kendisini agnostik olarak
tanımlarken, bu kişilerin %60,2’si kendisini aynı zamanda ateist olarak
isimlendirmiştir. Katılımcıların %87,8’i ne dindar ne spiritüeldir. Fakat
inançsızların %2,07’si dikey aşkınlık anlamında spiritüeldir. Bu çalışma, bir
kişinin inançsız olarak tanımlanabilmesi için üç temel gösterge olduğu sonucuna
ulaşmıştır: Tanrı’ya inancın olmaması, ne dindar ne de dikey aşkınlık anlamında
spiritüel olma ve kendini inançsız, ateist, agnostik veya benzer bir biçimle
tanımlama.

References

  • Baker, J.O. and B. Smith (2009). None Too Simple: Examining Issues of Religious Nonbelief and Nonbelonging in the United States.
  • Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 48, 4, 719-733.
  • Brinkerhoff, M. and M. Mackie (1993). Casting Off the Bonds of Organized Religion: A Religious-Careers Approach to the Study of Apostasy. Review of Religious Research. 34, 3, 235-258.
  • Coleman, T.J., C.F. Silver and R.W. Hood Jr (2016). ‘…if the universe is beautiful, we’re part of that beauty.’ – A ‘Neither Religious nor Spiritual’ Biography as Horizantal Transcendence. Heinz Streib ve Ralph W. Hood Jr (Ed.). In Semantics and Psychology of Spirituality. Dordrecht: Springer, 355-372.
  • Cragun, R., J.H. Hammer and M. Nielsen (2015). The NonReligious-NonSpiritual Scale (NRNSS): Measuring Everyone from Atheists to Zionists. Science, Religion & Culture. 2, 3, 36-53.
  • Cragun, R.T., B. Kosmin, A. Keysar, J.H. Hammer and M. Nielsen (2012). On the Receiving End: Discrimination toward the Non-Religious in the United States. Journal of Contemporary Religion. 27, 1, 105-127.
  • Davie, G. (1994). Religion in Britain since 1945: Believing without Belonging. Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Eurobarometer. (2010). “Pillars of Truth: Religion and Science”, Europeans and Biotechnology in 2010. European Commission.
  • http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf (01.11.2014).
  • Fuller, R.C. (2001). Spiritual, But Not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Hadaway, C.K. (1989). Identifying American Apostates: A Cluster Analysis. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 28, 2, 201-215.
  • Hood, R.W.J., P.C. Hill ve B. Spilka (2009). The Psychology of Religion. 4th edition, New York: The Guilford Press.Hout, M. and C.
  • Fischer (2002). Why More Americans Have No Religious Preference: Politics and Generations. American Sociological Review. 67, 2, 165-190.
  • Hunsberger, B. and B. Altemeyer (2006). Atheists: A Groundbreaking Study of America’s Nonbelievers. New York: Prometheus Books.
  • ISSP. (2008). International Social Survey Programme 2008: Religion III (No: 4950). http://www.gesis.org/issp/issp-modules-profiles/religion/2008/ (10.10.2014).
  • Keysar, A. (2014). Shifts Along the American Religious-Secular Spectrum. Secularism and Nonreligion. 3, 1, 1-16.
  • Martin, M. (2007). Atheism and Religion. Michael Martin (Ed.). in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Oser, F.K., K.H. Reich and A.A. Bucher (1994). Development of Belief and Unbelief in Childhood and Adolescence. Jozef Corveleyn ve Dirk Hutsebaut (Ed.). in Belief and Unbelief: Psychological Perspectives. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
  • Rowe, W. (1979). The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism. American Philosophical Quarterly. 16, 4, 335-341.
  • Sherkat, D.E. (2008). Beyond Belief: Atheism, Agnosticism, and Theistic Certainty in the United States. Sociological Spectrum. 28, 438-459.
  • Sherkat, D.E. (2011). Beyond “Believing But Not Belonging”. Annual Meeting of SSSR, Milwaukee, ABD.
  • Silver, C.F. (2013). Atheism, Agnosticism, and Nonbelief: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study of Type and Narrative. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Knoxville: University of Tennessee.
  • Streib, H. and C. Klein (2013). Atheist, Agnostics, and Apostates. Kenneth Pargament, J.E. Julie ve W.J. James (Ed.). in APA
  • Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality. Vol.1, American Psychological Association, 713-728.
  • Vernon, G.M. (1968). The Religious “Nones”: A Neglected Category. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 7, 2, 219-229.
  • www.oxforddictionaries.com (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/non-belief), 17.05.2016.
  • Zinnbauer, B.J., K.I. Pargament, B. Cole, M.S. Rye, E.M. Butter, T.G. Belavich, K.M. Hipp, A.B. Scott and J.L. Kadar (1997). Religion and Spirituality: Unfuzzying the Fuzzy. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 36, 4, 549-564.

WHAT IS NONBELIEF? AN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON THE CONCEPT OF NONBELIEF

Year 2017, Issue: 4, 23 - 40, 04.12.2017

Abstract

Nonbelief
is a topic recently began to attract interest in the field of psychology of
religion. The number of studies on this issue have started to rise. However,
when we look at researches on nonbelief, it seems to have ambiguity on what is
nonbelief, and who is considered as nonbelievers. Are nonbelievers nonreligious
or nonspiritual? Does being an atheist mean to be a nonbeliever? In this study,
we aim to empirically examine the concept of nonbelief. The current study was
carried out with 2548 participants who -identify themselves with at least one
type of nonbelief in the United States in 2014. The findings indicate that the
majority of nonbelievers are estimated to say "I do not believe in
God", namely 85.6% of the nonbelievers do not believe in God and 12.3%
think the existence of God cannot be known; 88.07% identified themselves as
atheists; 60.8% of nonbelievers who say “I don’t know whether there is a God
and I don’t believe there is any way to find out” self-labeled themselves as
agnostic, while 60.2% of them self-labeled themselves as atheist at the same
time; 87.8% of them are nonreligious-nonspiritual; 2.07% of them are spiritual
in terms of vertical transcendence. The current study concludes that there are
three main indicators to consider in order to identify an individual as a
nonbeliever: absence of belief in God, being nonreligious-nonspiritual in the
sense of vertical transcendence, and self-declaration as nonbeliever, atheist,
and agnostic or else.

References

  • Baker, J.O. and B. Smith (2009). None Too Simple: Examining Issues of Religious Nonbelief and Nonbelonging in the United States.
  • Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 48, 4, 719-733.
  • Brinkerhoff, M. and M. Mackie (1993). Casting Off the Bonds of Organized Religion: A Religious-Careers Approach to the Study of Apostasy. Review of Religious Research. 34, 3, 235-258.
  • Coleman, T.J., C.F. Silver and R.W. Hood Jr (2016). ‘…if the universe is beautiful, we’re part of that beauty.’ – A ‘Neither Religious nor Spiritual’ Biography as Horizantal Transcendence. Heinz Streib ve Ralph W. Hood Jr (Ed.). In Semantics and Psychology of Spirituality. Dordrecht: Springer, 355-372.
  • Cragun, R., J.H. Hammer and M. Nielsen (2015). The NonReligious-NonSpiritual Scale (NRNSS): Measuring Everyone from Atheists to Zionists. Science, Religion & Culture. 2, 3, 36-53.
  • Cragun, R.T., B. Kosmin, A. Keysar, J.H. Hammer and M. Nielsen (2012). On the Receiving End: Discrimination toward the Non-Religious in the United States. Journal of Contemporary Religion. 27, 1, 105-127.
  • Davie, G. (1994). Religion in Britain since 1945: Believing without Belonging. Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Eurobarometer. (2010). “Pillars of Truth: Religion and Science”, Europeans and Biotechnology in 2010. European Commission.
  • http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf (01.11.2014).
  • Fuller, R.C. (2001). Spiritual, But Not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Hadaway, C.K. (1989). Identifying American Apostates: A Cluster Analysis. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 28, 2, 201-215.
  • Hood, R.W.J., P.C. Hill ve B. Spilka (2009). The Psychology of Religion. 4th edition, New York: The Guilford Press.Hout, M. and C.
  • Fischer (2002). Why More Americans Have No Religious Preference: Politics and Generations. American Sociological Review. 67, 2, 165-190.
  • Hunsberger, B. and B. Altemeyer (2006). Atheists: A Groundbreaking Study of America’s Nonbelievers. New York: Prometheus Books.
  • ISSP. (2008). International Social Survey Programme 2008: Religion III (No: 4950). http://www.gesis.org/issp/issp-modules-profiles/religion/2008/ (10.10.2014).
  • Keysar, A. (2014). Shifts Along the American Religious-Secular Spectrum. Secularism and Nonreligion. 3, 1, 1-16.
  • Martin, M. (2007). Atheism and Religion. Michael Martin (Ed.). in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Oser, F.K., K.H. Reich and A.A. Bucher (1994). Development of Belief and Unbelief in Childhood and Adolescence. Jozef Corveleyn ve Dirk Hutsebaut (Ed.). in Belief and Unbelief: Psychological Perspectives. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
  • Rowe, W. (1979). The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism. American Philosophical Quarterly. 16, 4, 335-341.
  • Sherkat, D.E. (2008). Beyond Belief: Atheism, Agnosticism, and Theistic Certainty in the United States. Sociological Spectrum. 28, 438-459.
  • Sherkat, D.E. (2011). Beyond “Believing But Not Belonging”. Annual Meeting of SSSR, Milwaukee, ABD.
  • Silver, C.F. (2013). Atheism, Agnosticism, and Nonbelief: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study of Type and Narrative. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Knoxville: University of Tennessee.
  • Streib, H. and C. Klein (2013). Atheist, Agnostics, and Apostates. Kenneth Pargament, J.E. Julie ve W.J. James (Ed.). in APA
  • Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality. Vol.1, American Psychological Association, 713-728.
  • Vernon, G.M. (1968). The Religious “Nones”: A Neglected Category. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 7, 2, 219-229.
  • www.oxforddictionaries.com (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/non-belief), 17.05.2016.
  • Zinnbauer, B.J., K.I. Pargament, B. Cole, M.S. Rye, E.M. Butter, T.G. Belavich, K.M. Hipp, A.B. Scott and J.L. Kadar (1997). Religion and Spirituality: Unfuzzying the Fuzzy. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 36, 4, 549-564.
There are 27 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Religious Studies
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Kenan Sevinç

Tuğba Metinyurt This is me

Thomas J. Coleman This is me

Publication Date December 4, 2017
Submission Date August 22, 2017
Published in Issue Year 2017 Issue: 4

Cite

APA Sevinç, K., Metinyurt, T., & Coleman, T. J. (2017). WHAT IS NONBELIEF? AN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON THE CONCEPT OF NONBELIEF. Türkiye Din Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi(4), 23-40.

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