Philip Joseph Zuckerman
(born June 26, 1969) is a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
of
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
and secular studies at
Pitzer College
Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. One of the Claremont Colleges, the college has a curricular emphasis on the social sciences, behavioral sciences, international programs, and media studies. Pitzer is k ...
in
Claremont, California
Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popul ...
. He specializes in the sociology of substantial
secularity
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
.
He is the author of several books, including ''Living the Secular Life'' (2014), ''What It Means to be Moral'' (2019) and ''Society Without God'' (2008) for which he won ''ForeWord Magazine's'' silver book of the year award, and ''Faith No More'' (2011).
Early life and education
Born on June 26, 1969,
to secular
Ashkenazi Jewish
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
parents in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, Zuckerman grew up in
Pacific Palisades and studied at
Santa Monica College
Santa Monica College (SMC) is a Public university, public, community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. Althoug ...
. He transferred to the
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
in
Eugene, and there earned a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
(1992),
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
(1995), and
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
(1998), all in sociology.
Career
Zuckerman is a professor of sociology and secular studies at
Pitzer College
Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. One of the Claremont Colleges, the college has a curricular emphasis on the social sciences, behavioral sciences, international programs, and media studies. Pitzer is k ...
in Claremont, California. He is also an affiliated adjunct professor at
Claremont Graduate University
The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate (Pomona College, Claremont McKenna Co ...
. He was a guest professor at
Aarhus University
Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...
in
Denmark
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in 2006 and 2010. He serves as the special series editor of the Secular Studies book series published by NYU Press. He is the Executive Director of Humanist Global Charity, formerly known as Brighter Brains Institute,
which works in 51 nations to fund secular education, humanist students, women's collectives, orphans, helplines, and offers internships in Africa and India Development.
Zuckerman is on the editorial board of ''Secularism and Nonreligion'' and is a convener of the ''Non-religion and Secularity Research Network'' Conference''.'' He is also on the editorial board for the journal ''Secular Studies.''
Zuckerman is research editor and a contributing writer at OnlySky, an online platform "dedicated to protecting America’s secular democracy through reality-based journalism, storytelling, and commentary."
His research interests are
secularity
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
,
atheism
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...
,
apostasy
Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that i ...
, and
Scandinavian culture
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swede ...
.
Published work
![Irreligion map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Irreligion_map.png)
Phil Zuckerman is the author of seven books, including ''The Nonreligious','' co-authored with Luke Galen and Frank Pasquale; ''Living the Secular Life''; ''Faith No More''; ''Society without God''; ''Invitation to the Sociology of Religion''; ''What it Means to be Moral''; and ''Strife in the Sanctuary''. His works have been translated into six languages, including
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, Korean and Turkish.
Phil Zuckerman's 2008 book ''Society without God'' notes that Denmark and
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, "probably the least religious countries in the world, and possibly in the history of the world", enjoy "among the lowest violent crime rates in the world
ndthe lowest levels of corruption in the world". Zuckerman identifies that Scandinavians have "relatively high rates of petty crime and burglary", but "their overall rates of violent crime—such as murder, aggravated assault, and rape—are among the lowest on earth". In 2009, ''New York Times'' columnist
Peter Steinfels
Peter F. Steinfels (born 1941) is an American journalist and educator best known for his writings on religious topics.
A native of Chicago, Illinois, and a lifelong Roman Catholic, Steinfels earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University and joined th ...
commented that ''Society Without God'' provides evidence that an irreligious society can flourish. ''Society Without God'' won a “Book of the Year Silver Award” by ''Foreword Magazine'' in 2008 and was featured in ''The'' ''New York Times'' in an article by Peter Steinfels.
Zuckerman's ''Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions'' was released in 2014 and reviewed in ''The New York Times'' by Susan Jacoby. ''Living the Secular Life'' was designated a "Best Book of 2014" by ''Publishers Weekly'' and was featured in a commentary by ''New York Times'' columnist David Brooks.
The
American Humanist Association
The American Humanist Association (AHA) is a non-profit organization in the United States that advances secular humanism.
The American Humanist Association was founded in 1941 and currently provides legal assistance to defend the constitutiona ...
has featured Zuckerman as a speaker on rising
irreligion in the United States
In the United States, between 8% and 15% of citizens polled in 2019 demonstrated nonreligious attitudes and naturalistic worldviews, namely atheists or agnostics.Robert Fuller, ''Spiritual, but not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America'' ...
.
Public commentary
Zuckerman has said that 20 percent of the United States are irreligious and 30 percent of citizens under 30 are. Zuckerman has commented that religion is often conflated with patriotism in the United States. He has stated that while "he applauds the passion and purpose" of
American Atheists
American Atheists is a non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to defending the civil liberties of atheists and advocating complete separation of church and state. It provides speakers for colleges, universities, clubs, and the ...
, they are a minority, as the majority of atheists in America "are not angry, do not hate religion and do not need a forum to vent".
Zuckerman has found that murder rates in Scandinavian countries lowered after abolishing the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
, and has opposed the use in the United States.
Zuckerman has found that the religiously unaffiliated tend to be more inclined to
progressive politics
Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, techn ...
, and the decline in Protestant Christianity in America is a blow to conservative causes. Zuckerman has commented on the rise of "Jews of no religion", people who identify as being wholly or partially Jewish while having no religion. Zuckerman commented that growing atheist movements in the United States were a response to the impact of the
Christian right
The Christian right, or the religious right, are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with t ...
.
Secular studies program
In 2011 he founded and currently chairs the first secular studies program. When the secular studies program was announced, the
Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture
The Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture (ISSSC) is located at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. ISSSC was established in 2005 to advance the understanding of the role of secular values and the process of seculari ...
at
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
noted it was the first program to offer a degree in secular studies. The program lets students major in secular studies, including in a core course "Sociology of Secularity". The first student to graduate from Pitzer College with a degree in secular studies was the first student in the United States with such a major.
Personal life
Zuckerman lives in
Claremont, California
Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popul ...
, with his wife and three children.
Bibliography
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See also
*
Religion in Europe
Religion in Europe has been a major influence on today's society, art, culture, philosophy and law. The largest religion in Europe is Christianity, but irreligion and practical secularisation are strong. Three countries in Southeastern Europe ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zuckerman, Phil
1969 births
Freethought
Jewish American atheism activists
American people of Czech-Jewish descent
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
Living people
People from Los Angeles
Pitzer College faculty
University of Oregon alumni
Santa Monica College alumni
People from Pacific Palisades, California
Aarhus University faculty