Christopher Smith

Richard Cimino

"According to Cimino and Smith, the new upsurge of atheists is a reaction to the revival of religious fervor in American politics since 1980. Feeling overlooked and underrepresented in the public sphere, atheists have employed a wide variety of strategies--some evangelical, some based on identity politics--to defend and assert themselves against their ideological opponents. These strategies include building and maintaining communities, despite the absence of the kinds of shared rituals, texts, and laws that help to sustain organized religions. Drawing on in-depth interviews with self-identified atheist, secularist, and humanist leaders and activists, as well as extensive observations and analysis of secular gatherings and media, Cimino and Smith illustrate how atheists organize and align themselves toward common goals, and how media--particularly web-based media--have proven invaluable in connecting atheists to one another and in creating a powerful virtual community. Cimino and Smith suggest that secularists rely not only on the Internet for community-building, but on their own new forms of ritual."--Publisher's Web site.

Secular Activism and Community in America

Atheist Awakening

Can renewal and reform groups rekindle spiritual vitality andfervor in today's religious institutions? The call to revive one's faith fills more pages of the Christianand Jewish scriptures than any other theme. Today, reform andrenewal organizations and movements play a key role in mostdenominations, whether conservative, moderate, or liberal. In this fascinating book, Richard Cimino provides you with anin-depth look at six vibrant reform and renewal movements that arerevitalizing traditional faith communities from the inside out.Cimino walks you through how all the components of renewal andreform--the organization, the larger denomination, thecongregation, and the individual members--interact at both localand national levels, and answers the question of how effectivethese organizations and movements are within their traditions.Filled with interviews and case studies, Trusting the Spiriyconcludes by outlining strategies for renewal and reform that canbe put into practice in a wide range of religious contexts.

Richard Cimino

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