Just putting this here, 'cos the story contains links to several relevant surveys regarding atheism and nonreligion dallasexpress.com/lifestyle/su...

Just got an email saying that The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics in Europe (eds by Fokas & Giorgi) has been published. 31 chapters, one of them cowritten by me. www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...

New day and a new piece for proofreading. Here's how this chapter begins ("Religionization of Minorities and Culturalization of Christianity: How to Study Boundary-Cases?").

Proofreading. This chapter begins with an anecdote.

Most UG students think that the point of study of religion is to examine deep individual experiences. They think that the danger of theories & methods is that we'll be distanced from such experiences. After graduation, some will think differently. But only some.

Food for thought for those interested in the (institutional) future(s) of the study of religion. An interview based on Russell T. McCutcheon's "Our Primary Expertise". newbooksnetwork.com/our-primary-...

Lancaster Uni rhetoric sounds fake to me: "To ensure our Gold-standard teaching develops with the needs of our students, we constantly review [..] our curriculum [..]. As part of this ongoing review, our Global Religions BA courses will not be running in 2026." www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/underg...

Some recently bought books. Started reading "Disbelief" (2024) by Gervais and now there's a number of commentaries and response in "Religion, Brain and Behavior". I should be doing something else, but this is quite fun. www.tandfonline.com/toc/rrbb20/0/0

"I do indeed think that the old work remains relevant today but, sadly so, since it signals that not much has changed in all of these years." – Russell T. McCutcheon reflects working on Manufacturing Religion (1997), second edition coming out soon. www.american-religion.org/back-pages/a...

A selection of Bloomsbury honorarium books. Finally here.

Proofing. This should be out later this year or early next year. See: www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...

The witch-hunt continues www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Now reading this. Traditionalism is "not a mass ideology", but if you look at the world today, many ideas that comprise so-called traditionalism definitely are quite common (more and less harmful forms).

Is this the only monograph on religion and prog rock?

A secular transition is happening in countries around the world. Detailed explanation🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41... Many Muslim-majority countries, Hindu-majority India in early stage. Countries with large Buddhist & Christian populations in later stages. Blog: www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

Many religious “nones,” which include atheists and agnostics, in 22 countries hold religious or spiritual beliefs, such as in an afterlife or something beyond the natural world. pewrsr.ch/3UNSxGf

Excellent interview by Russell T. McCutcheon on the academic study of religion. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WibL...

The 2025 Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network Conference in Bratislava takes place 8-10 September. All panels will be available to listen to virtually through Teams. See the link for more info. thensrn.org/2025-nonreli...

A stack of books I bought from the IAHR 2025 conference. There are still three days to go, but, regarding shopping, my luggage is showing its limitations.

Done with both rather experimental panels in IAHR 2025. In the first we watched a short film and then discussed. In the second we talked how and in what contexts our approach is seen as an irritant.

Things to do in conferences part 2: buy display copies. I bought five already. Here's my edited volume available too at a reduced price (Atheism in Five Minutes).

Things to do in conferences: meet the person who has translated your article (in Italian) (without you knowing that the piece is available in Italian). I'm talking about "After World Religions" (2016) that contains my contribution. www.morcelliana.net/collane-morc...

IAHR 2025 in Krakow ready to begin

In secularizing countries: 1. Younger adults are less religious than older adults. 2. The religiosity gap between young men and women may be shrinking. However, I recommend skepticism regarding claims of broad religious revival among young men. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I guess that it is ok to show the cover suggestion for the forthcoming volume I edited

Oh good. We've reached the "I don't have to be faster than the bear, I only have to be less woke than you" stage of faculty solidarity. archive.is/wGNDr

This is a great resource for people interested in atheism/nonreligion. There are also some nice words about my edited volume "Atheism in Five Minutes" (from 23 min onwards). www.youtube.com/watch?v=peTq...

The discussion on British religious revival continues. This by Stephen Bullivant. firstthings.com/just-how-big...

"God and Technology" (2025) by Heidi Campbell is available for free online until 20th August. www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Still always excited about the arrival of contributor copy.

CFP special issue on "Atheism and Nonreligion in Media and Popular Culture" (I'm one of the editors, please consider submitting) jrfm.eu/index.php/oj...

Eight books that explain the university crisis, primarily in the United States. www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

New issue of Nordicom Review focuses on media and democracy. There's one article on religion, media and democracy and several useful scoping reviews. Open access. sciendo.com/issue/NOR/46...

This new open access volume might be relevant for scholars of religion and media technologies. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

This volume is going to be published in early 2026. There's my contribution among others. Google AI summary says: "CR refers to an approach that questions the very category of religion itself, particularly its Western-centric and often essentialist understanding." www.bloomsbury.com/uk/practical...

Very interesting article by Marcus Moberg, just published in advance articles of Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. Nice to see my work utilized here. brill.com/view/journal...

I am sometimes using this platform as a public notebook to save links to something interesting. This post is an example – a link to books I might find useful to read at some point. mitpress.mit.edu/books-for-un...

Contributor copy arrived. This has 33 chapters and introduction, some are very interesting.

This is an interesting book from 1992: analysis of the argument and influence of ten formative British cultural studies books. This idea could and perhaps should be replicated in other fields and approaches.

NEW ANTHOLOGY OUT: what does popculture and Christianity has to do with each other - Well, quite a lot as we explore in a new volume on the topic. I am Particular deligthed to present a full analysis of the Jesus figure of South Park as a modern day “mythical” figure of American popular fiction.

A new book on religion and popular culture, apparently out now. It includes my chapter "Representing Atheism in Films" link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

"a grim story about modern Brazil and leaves it up to us to decide if there is a happy ending. It is about the country’s leaders’ addiction to rightwing Christian fundamentalism" I'm linking this review here, so I don't forget to watch the documentary. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ju...

I wonder if this happens to others: When you have some hours to write an article or a book, you spend most of the time drafting another article or completely new book project. Happens to me too often. Sometimes something comes up, sometimes they remain buried in the drafts-file.

The cover image and Table of Contents of "The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics in Europe" are available. The volume, to be published later this year, contains my coauthored chapter plus 30 more. www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...

This is interesting. The "impartiality" of the BBC was a bit of a joke even when things were less heated (and when I researched British media portrayals of religion 15 years ago) www.owenjones.news/p/bbc-staff-...

“Soc of religion has observed [..] a decline in ties to religion [..]. However, the dramatic declines across the world in recent years came as a surprise even to a secularization theorist like me – it is these trends that the new data in the book show.” Pollack & Rosta. idw-online.de/de/news85468...

Nowadays an important part of my summer tradition: reading in a hammock. I haven't had too many opportunities yet. And this book is quite good overview, covering many topics from music and other arts to theology, mythology, politics and social history.

My holiday season has started by proofing one article and writing another. I guess this is typical for academics, but not anything to be proud of. At least the three-year-old makes sure other things keep me busy.

Haven't read this, but why use the term "WR" if the intro immediately problematizes it? Marketing purposes? Publisher's request? Also, what is included in WR here is idiosyncratic – even that is mentioned in the intro but no rationale for the term is offered. www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edi...

Useful reading for all AI enthusiasts. www.wired.com/story/grok-c...