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Secular Populations
 
17
1.
 
The Freethinkers in a Free Market of Religion
 Ariela Keysar and Barry A. Kosmin 
S
ecularity, like religion, takes many orms in American society. Also likereligion, it varies in intensity along the trajectories o what are oten reerred toas the “Three B’s,” belonging, belie, and behavior. Our recently published book,
Religion in a Free Market 
, shows that the American public does not subscribeto a binary system—religion or secularity. Our research ound sel-identiyingCatholics and Lutherans who say they don’t believe in God, Mormons whoclaim a secular outlook, and religious people who, despite their religiosity, arecomortably married to people o other aiths or no aith at all.In America, secularity is one option among many in a ree-market-orientedregime that has operated or two centuries. The boundaries between religion andsecularity, and between dierent religions, are not clearly fxed because, to quoterom
Religion in a Free Market 
, “the government has ound it is not equipped orinclined to provide a precise defnition o what constitutes a religion or religiousbelie or practice....This laissez-aire attitude by the state means there is plenty o organized religion around or Americans to consume and numerous optionsand places to do so.”
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 Secularity and secular people in America have gone largely unresearcheduntil now. Maniestations o secularity are difcult to distinguish and isolatein the U.S. because people are not compelled to opt into or out o “religion.”Many countries still operate either legally or in practice under a binary systemthat oers very limited choices between a monopolistic supplier o establishedreligion and outright irreligion.In contrast, in a ree market, secularism and maniestations o secularity cantake both positive (pro-secular) and negative (anti-religious) orms. It can oera range o alternative non-theistic belie systems as well as levels o irreligion andindierence to religion across the realms o belonging and behavior. Thus in theU.S. we can observe populations o “reethinkers” o dierent types, sizes and
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duponthumanite

The "Miracle" table is very comprehensive. The "None" group is probably most similiar to Buddhism. "A willingness to live alongside others who do not hold the same opinions is a form of secular behavior." How big is the freethinking population?

reply01 / 11 / 2011
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