"A Bachelor's Degree in Atheism"
'California's Pitzer College decides to investigate the phenomenon of
unbelief.'
by ALAN JACOBS
One could respond in several ways to the news that California's Pitzer College is starting
a department of "secular studies" and creating a major in the field. Religious believers
may see another sign of encroaching, well, secularism on American campuses.
Conversely, just as the rise of religious studies—as opposed to theology—happened
when religious belief was in precipitous decline among academics, perhaps the rise of
secular studies indicates that secularism is a fading enterprise.
The sociologist behind the new Pitzer department, Phil Zuckerman, clearly isn't telling a
narrative of decline: "There are hundreds of millions of people who are nonreligious," he
told the New York Times. "I want to know who they are, what they believe, why they are
nonreligious."
Certainly this phenomenon has not been sufficiently studied. Secularization—a long-term
decline in religious belief, at least in the form we know it in the West—doesn't have a
clear precedent in human history. And if scholars give sociological, political and cultural
explanations for the presence of religious belief, should we not expect them to treat
belief's absence in the same way?
It might be good for some secularists to think more historically and critically about their
own convictions. This can be a challenging experience—as it has been for many young
believers who have gone off to college and learned for the first time that beliefs that have
seemed obviously true to them are not quite so compelling to others. Some of these
believers change their minds, but many emerge from their college years with their beliefs
largely intact. Perhaps young secularists will be equally resilient.
This assumes that Pitzer's program in secular studies will bring a critical, analytical
approach to its subject. Mr. Zuckerman—who runs a website called "Phil Zuckerman's 65
Greatest Songs for Atheists and Agnostics"—might belong to a team and be inclined to
cheer for it. But that doesn't mean he can't be a fine scholar in his field, just as many
Christians are fine scholars of the history of religion.
Some of Mr. Zuckerman's scholarship acknowledges that secularism is far from dominant
or inevitable. In an article in "The Cambridge Companion to Atheism," he notes that "most
nations in Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia contain almost no atheists." And
while some societies are seeing increasing non-belief in God, "atheism overall may be in
decline, due to the demographic fact that highly religious nations have the highest 22
birthrates in the world, and highly irreligious nations have the lowest birthrates in the
world."
Pitzer's press release concerning the new program was less nuanced: "The creation of a
Secular Studies Field Group reflects an emerging interest in an awareness of the notable
growth of secularity in America and elsewhere." This is followed by bullet points listing
evidence only of secularism's recent growth.
Secularism is moving slowly in America, but the story of religious belief and practice here
looks even more complex if one takes a long view. More than 60% of Americans belong
to some formal religious body today. In the late 18th century, that number was less than
10%.
Any intellectually serious program in secular studies will avoid triumphalism and deal with
the complexity of secularism's history. It will know that the recent history of Europe,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand is not the history of all humanity. It will also
acknowledge that there is not merely one variety of secularism—some secularists have
strong beliefs in paranormal phenomena, which disgusts other secularists. A serious
program will also acknowledge that some of the best work on secularism has been done
by Christians, foremost among them the Catholic philosopher Charles Taylor.
A few years down the line, how can we know that secular studies at Pitzer is living up to
its promise? One sign: If some of its students come in as devout atheists or agnostics and
leave as religious believers.