The conceptual placement of atheism in secularist and post-secularist conceptions of society

Abstract

This paper draws a comparison between the intellectual placement afforded to atheism in social contexts with a foundationally secularist reflex and in those that are now moving beyond such secularist impulses. Describing these two kinds of contexts ideal-typically, that is, by placing them phenomenologically shows that atheism can be seen as occupying either a default no-religion position, placed above faith orientations, or a religious orientation within available alternatives, hence placed amongst faith orientations. The relevance of this issue for Africa is that many of these underlying assumptions about the treatment of atheism remain unacknowledged in Africa.