The Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network (NSRN) is an international and interdisciplinary network of researchers founded in 2008. The NSRN aims to centralise existing research on the topic of nonreligion and secularity and to facilitate discussion in this area.

The two concepts of nonreligion and secularity are intended to summarise all positions which are necessarily defined in reference to religion but which are considered to be other than religious (see Lee, in press). Thus, the NSRN’s research agenda is inclusive of a range of perspectives and experiences, including the atheistic, agnostic, religiously indifferent or areligious, as well as most forms of secularism, humanism and, indeed, aspects of religion itself. It also addresses theoretical and empirical relationships between nonreligion, religion and secularity.

The network was set up in November 2008 to publicise the increasing volume of research being conducted in this field, both for the use of fellow NS researchers and for a range of other users. Since 2008, the NSRN has expanded with the field. Its work now has several branches:

• Its directors manage the network and its events series (including the biannual conference , annual lecture series and research methods workshop series). The editorial team manage NSRN Online, the network’s online resource for academics, students and anyone interested in nonreligion and secularity.

• The new website features the NSRN’s established and most popular resources: its extensive bibliography of academic research published in the field; its directories of researchers, graduate research and supervision; its listing of academic events; and its Events Reports series. The new site, managed by a new editorial team was launched in December 2011. It has expanded even further, to include more NSRN publications and a new extensive collection of resources for teachers and students working in the area NS Studies.

• In partnership with the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture (ISSSC), the NSRN launched its journal, Secularism and Nonreligion, in July 2011. The first issue will be published in January 2012.

In addition, that NSRN continues to run two email lists, for the announcement of NS relevant events and publications and for anyone requiring specialist advice or discussion. To sign up to one or both of these, please visit www.jiscmail.ac.uk.

Lois Lee
Founding Director

14 December 2011

Cited work:

• Lee, Lois. 2012. Research Note: Talking About a Revolution for the New Field of Non-religion Studies. Journal of Contemporary Religion. 27(1): 129-139.