Core Research

The core research of the Explaining Atheism programme addresses two main questions: 1. what are the most powerful general causal factors that bring about atheism and other forms of non-belief? And 2. how do these general causal factors manifest in the lives and self-understanding of particular individuals?

We have been testing promising and popular theories of the causes of atheism and other forms of non-belief across diverse cultural contexts. Through our unique approach, we aim to do so in a way that does not conflate different meanings of ‘atheism’, to draw on the perspectives and methodologies of different disciplines, and to recognize the complexities of testing any causal claim.

Our method brings together a new series of survey studies conducted in Brazil, China, Denmark, Japan, the UK, and the US which examines general causal factors at national and international levels. Alongside this we are carrying out secondary analysis of hundreds of in-depth interviews with non-theists from these 6 countries who participated in the Understanding Unbelief programme, analyzing how causal factors may be playing out in the lives of individuals, and considering how this rich data may offer up new potential general causal factors.

Interim findings from the Core Research