Explanation of the Trends and Recent Changes in Spanish Society Regarding Belief in God: Atheism, Agnosticism, Deism, Skepticism, and Belief

This article deals with the different religious counterpoints or beliefs that traditions of philosophy and thought have fundamentally defined around five positions or options: atheist, agnosticism, deism, skepticism, and belief. The aim is to explore the sociological conditioning factors behind thes...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gonzalo Herranz de Rafael, Juan S. Fernández-Prados
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-11-01
Series:Religions
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/11/1086
Description
Summary:This article deals with the different religious counterpoints or beliefs that traditions of philosophy and thought have fundamentally defined around five positions or options: atheist, agnosticism, deism, skepticism, and belief. The aim is to explore the sociological conditioning factors behind these profiles, offering a meaningful explanation to help us understand the trends and recent changes in Spanish society. To this end, we analyzed two surveys, for the years 2008 and 2018, of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) on Religion in the context of Spain. The results highlight the variables of gender, age, and ideology to describe specific profiles, explain religious choices, and understand trends. In addition to the trend towards secularization, the results manifest an increase in the number of atheists and a decrease of believers, show increasing radicalization and right-wing ideology among believers, and a greater grounding of the meaning of life in the existence of God alone.
ISSN:2077-1444