Atheism in Five Minutes - Teemu Taira
34. Is Contemporary Atheism Leaning Politically to the Right or the Left?
Atheism in Five Minutes - Teemu Taira
Stuart McAnulla [+]
University of Leeds
Stuart McAnulla is an Associate Professor in Politics at the University of Leeds. He has research interests in the politics of contemporary atheism, ideological change in British
politics and social/political science meta-theory. Books include: The Politics of New Atheism, 2019 (co-authored with Steven Kettell and Marcus Shulzke), Routledge, and British Politics: A Critical Introduction, Continuum.
Description
Being an atheist does not necessarily mean that you will identify more with the political left than the right. However, atheism has often been considered to be a threat to the existing social order and thus associated more with left-wing worldviews. In recent times some of the most famous atheists have promoted views which dovetail with aspects of neoconservatism, yet many others tie atheism to wider struggles for equality. Indeed, in general, atheists tend to be more left-liberal in their political attitudes than those who are religiously affiliated.