On April 27, 2023, 3:00 pm to 11:00pm Manila Time (9:00am – 5:00pm Ibadan/Fribourg) an online workshop on ‘The Nons.’ The following are the relevant materials for the event.
Event Description
Secularisation seemed to be a temporary phenomenon. The fact that a larger number of people did not belong to any religious community, as in the Soviet Union or other communist countries, could be considered a phenomenon of the past after 1989. But sociological data suggest a different development: the number of “nons”, of people who do not belong to any religious community or see themselves as agnostics or atheists, is relatively stable – and their number is growing. And the conviction that this is a phenomenon only in Western countries, seems to be weakly substantiated either. Especially if – for example – this decline is related to general individualisation, one has to discuss whether such developments could then also increase outside Western countries.
We will explore these questions in the transcontinental workshop on the “nons”. On the one hand, the discussion will be about perceiving and interpreting developments in the sociology of religion in three countries: the Philippines, Nigeria and Switzerland. Then we will explore the fundamental question of whether these secularisation processes are regional or global developments. Fundamental assessments of the worldwide development of religions and their social significance depend on the answer to this question.
The event is also part of a programme of research on Global Catholicism, which is the largest single religious community in the world, but widely poorly researched.
Those who are interested to join the discussion may register through: https://bit.ly/CoMIF-TheNons.
Conference Poster
