This book, first published in 1991, examines the unreligious of America. Most sociologists of religion viewed religious belief and behaviour as having strong positive function for individual well-being - with the implicit assumption that unreligious individuals would lack meaning in life. This book applies statistical approaches to modelling causality as it analyses a controversial topic in American sociology.

Davenport, Thomas H.

1. Why Study the Unreligious? 2. Defining the Unreligious 3. A Sociological Profile of the Unreligious 4. The Psychological Well-Being of the Unreligious 5. Meaning and Purpose Orientations Among the Unreligious 6. Explanations for Being and Becoming Unreligious 7. Summary and Discussion of Roads Untaken