New from NYU Press: Society without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment

By Phil Zuckerman

Before he began his recent travels, Phil Zuckerman, associate professor of sociology at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, felt that humans all over the globe were “getting religion.” But most residents of Denmark and Sweden, he discovered, don’t worship any god at all, don’t pray, and don’t give much credence to religious dogma of any kind.
    Instead of being bastions of sin and corruption, as the Christian Right suggests a godless society would be, these countries are filled with residents who score at the very top of the “happiness index” and enjoy healthy societies that boast some of the lowest violent crime rates in the world, excellent educational systems, free health care, strong economies, and great beer.
    Zuckerman formally interviewed nearly 150 Danes and Swedes of all ages and education backgrounds over the course of 14 months, beginning in 2005. He was particularly interested in the worldviews of people who live their lives without religious orientation.  He found that nearly all his interviewees had little fear of death or worries about the hereafter, and this led him to wonder how and why it is that certain societies are nonreligious in a world that seems to be marked by increasing religiosity. Drawing on prominent sociological theories and his own extensive research, Zuckerman ventures some interesting answers.

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