To Become or Remain an Atheist a?? The Formation of Non-Religious Identities Among Members of Organizations of the Non-Religious and Atheists in Croatia

摘要

The phenomena of non-religiosity and atheism have been provoking the attention of sociologists of religion especially since the beginning of the 21st century. However, in Croatia they have not often been topics of scientific research in recent times. The aim of this paper is to acquire the first scientific insight into the process of forming of non-religious and atheistic identities. Starting from this objective, the paper will try to respond to the specific research question of how non-religious and atheistic identities are formed among members of organizations that gather the non-religious and atheists in Croatia. The paper is based on data collected by semi-structured interviews with 22 persons. The results obtained indicate that the formation of non-religious and atheistic identities among interviewees took place in several (intellectual) stages initiated by critical thinking that had its foundations in natural sciences. With regard to the (non)existence of a collective identity, two types can be differentiated among members of the organizations: the engaged and distanced non-religious and atheists.