The biophilia hypothesis (also called BET) suggests that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis in his book, Biophilia (1984). He defines biophilia as the "innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes". He argued that "to explore and affiliate with life is a deep and
complicated process in mental development. To an extent still
undervalued in philosophy and religion, our existence depends on this
propensity, our spirit is woven from it, hope rises on its currents". Wilson saw modern biology
as converging with biophilia: "Modern biology has produced a genuinely
new way of looking at the world that is incidentally congenial to the
inner direction of biophilia. In other words, instinct is in this rare
instance aligned with reason.... to the degree that we come to
understand other organisms, we will place a greater value on them, and
on ourselves".
Natural affinity for living systems
"Biophilia" is an innate affinity of life or living systems. The term was first used by Erich Fromm to describe a psychological orientation of being attracted to all that is alive and vital. Wilson uses the term in a related sense when he suggests that biophilia describes "the connections that human beings subconsciously
seek with the rest of life." He proposed the possibility that the deep
affiliations humans have with other life forms and nature as a whole are
rooted in our biology. Both positive and negative (including phobic)
affiliations toward natural objects (species, phenomenon) as compared to artificial objects are evidence for biophilia.
Although named by Fromm, the concept of biophilia has been proposed and defined many times over. Aristotle was one of many to put forward a concept that could be summarized as "love of life". Diving into the term philia, or friendship, Aristotle evokes the idea of reciprocity and how friendships are beneficial to both parties in more than just one way, but especially in the way of happiness.
The hypothesis has since been developed as part of theories of evolutionary psychology. Taking on an evolutionary perspective, people being drawn towards life
and nature can be explained in part due to our evolutionary history of
residing in natural environments, as only recently in our history have we shifted towards an urbanized lifestyle. These connections to nature can still be seen in people today as people
gravitate towards, identify with, and desire to connect with nature. These connections are not limited to any one component part of nature,
as people show connections to a wide range of natural things including plants, animals, and environmental landscapes. One possible explanation is that our ancestors who had stronger
connections to nature would hold an evolutionary advantage over less
connected people as they would have better knowledge and therefore
access to food, water, and shelter. In a broader and more general sense
research has suggested that our modern urban environments are not suited for minds that evolved in natural environments.
Human preferences toward things in nature, while refined through experience and culture, are hypothetically the product of biological evolution. For example, adult mammals (especially humans) are generally attracted to baby mammal faces with their large eyes and rounded features and find them appealing across species. Similarly, the hypothesis helps explain why ordinary people care for and sometimes risk their lives to save domestic and wild animals, and keep plants and flowers in and around their homes. In the book Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Investigations edited by Peter Kahn and Stephen Kellert, the importance of animals, especially those with which a child can
develop a nurturing relationship, is emphasized particularly for early
and middle childhood. The same book reports on the help that animals can
provide to children with autistic-spectrum disorders.
Physiological responses: fractal fluency
Fractal fluency is a neuroscience model that proposes that, through exposure to nature's fractal scenery, people's visual systems
have adapted to efficiently process fractals with ease. Fractals are
patterns that repeat at different scales. Examples in natural scenery
include clouds, mountains and trees.
This adaptation to fractal patterns occurs at many stages of the visual
system, from the way people's eyes move to which regions of the brain
get activated. Fluency puts the viewer in a ‘comfort zone’ so inducing an aesthetic
experience. Humans appear to be especially well-adapted to processing
fractal patterns with fractal dimension between 1.3 and 1.5. When humans view fractal patterns with fractal dimensions in this
range, these fractals reduce physiological stress and boost cognitive
abilities.
Biophilic fractals are patterns designed to induce the health and
well-being benefits associated with exposure to nature's scenery. These include stress-reduction and enhanced cognitive capacity.
Designers and architects incorporate biophilic fractals into the built
environment to counter the fact that people spend 92% of their time
indoors and away from nature's scenery. The Fractal Chapel designed by
INNOCAD architecture in the state hospital in Graz, Austria, is a
prominent example and recipient of the 2025 IIDA (International Interior
Design Association) Best of Competition Award.
Indigenous perspectives on the human-nature connection
Many Indigenous cultures do not draw a sharp distinction between humans and nature. In these traditions, humans may be understood as an integral part of the natural world rather than as separate from it. Human practices and ways of life may be seen to be based in
relationships of reciprocity involving all living beings and the
environment.
At the heart of such belief systems is the concept of kinship, which extends beyond human relationships and includes elements of the natural world. Humans, other animals, plants and soil are seen as dependent on each other for survival and health. For example, the Haudenosaunee people express this idea through a "Thanksgiving Address", a ceremony intended to honor all aspects of nature.
Indigenous and animist beliefs typically view nature as sacred. Specific sites, species, or phenomena holding deep significance. Emphasis is put on objectives such as reciprocity and balance. This may
imply an idea of nature restoration through sustainable practices,
rituals, and ceremonies. For instance, the Anishinaabe make offerings before harvesting wild rice.
In architecture, biophilic design is a sustainable design strategy that incorporates reconnecting people with the natural environment. It may be seen as a necessary complement to green architecture, which decreases the environmental impact of the built world but does not address human reconnection with the natural world.
Caperna and Serafini define biophilic design as that kind of architecture, which is able to
supply our inborn need of connection to life and to the vital processes.
Biophilic space has been defined as the environment that strengthens
life and supports the sociological and psychological components. These spaces can have positive health effects on people including reducing mental health issues in stressful spaces such as prisons, reducing chronic pain, improving memory, and lowering blood pressure. Examples of this being studied in medical settings include having a
window looking out to see living plants is also shown to help speed up
the healing process of patients in hospitals. Similarly, having plants in the same room as patients in hospitals also speeds up their healing process.
Biophilic fractals are patterns designed to induce the health and
well-being benefits associated with exposure to nature's scenery. These
include stress-reduction and enhanced cognitive capacity. Designers and
architects incorporate biophilic fractals into the built environment to
counter the fact that people spend 92% of their time indoors and away
from nature's scenery. ScienceDesignLab's Fractal Chapel in the state
hospital in Graz, Austria is a prominent example and recipient of the
2025 IIDA (International Interior Design Association) Best of
Competition Award.
Biophilia and conservation
Because of our technological advancements and more time spent inside
buildings and cars disconnects us from nature, biophilic activities and
time spent in nature may be strengthening our connections as humans to
nature, so people continue to have strong urges to reconnect with
nature. The concern for a lack of connection with the rest of nature
outside of us, is that a stronger disregard for other plants, animals
and less appealing wild areas could lead to further ecosystem degradation and species loss. Therefore, reestablishing a connection with nature has become more important in the field of conservation. Examples would be more available green spaces in and around cities,
more classes that revolve around nature and implementing smart design
for greener cities that integrate ecosystems into them such as biophilic
cities. These cities can also become part of wildlife corridors to help with migrational and territorial needs of other animals.
Biophilia in fiction
Canadian author Hilary Scharper explicitly adapted E.O. Wilson's concept of biophilia for her ecogothic novel, Perdita. In the novel, Perdita (meaning "the lost one") is a mythological figure who brings biophilia to humanity.
Relatively little scholarly research was published on irreligion until around the year 2010.[2]
Overview
Over the past several decades, the number of secular people has increased, with a rapid rise in the early 21st century, in many countries.In virtually every high-income country and many poor countries, religion has declined. Highly secular societies tend to be societally healthy and successful. Social scientists have predicted declines in religious beliefs and
their replacement with more scientific/naturalistic outlooks
(secularization hypothesis). According to Ronald Inglehart, this trend seems likely to continue and a reverse rarely lasts long because the trend is driven by technological innovation. However, other researchers disagree (contra-secularization hypothesis). By 2050, Pew Research Center (Pew) expects irreligious people to probably decline as a share of the world population (16.4% to 13.2%), at least for a time, because of faster population growth in highly religious countries and shrinking populations in at least some less religious countries.Many countries may also be gradually becoming more secular, generation by generation. Younger generations tend to be less religious than their elders.
They might become more religious as they age, but still be less
religious than previous generations if their countries become more
affluent and stable. Nonetheless, secularization is compatible with religion since most versions of secularity do not lead to atheism or irreligion. Religious congruence, that is consistency between beliefs and behaviors, in individuals is rare. Religious incongruence is not the same thing as religious insincerity or hypocrisy.
The widespread religious congruence fallacy occurs when interpretations
or explanations unjustifiably presume religious congruence. This fallacy also infects "New Atheist" critiques of religion.
Estimating the number of irreligious people in the world is difficult. Those who do not affiliate with a religion are diverse. In many
countries censuses and demographic surveys do not separate atheists,
agnostics and those responding "nothing in particular" as distinct
populations, obscuring significant differences that may exist between
them. People can feel reasonable anxieties about giving a politically ‘wrong’ answer – in either direction. Measurement of irreligiosity requires a high degree of cultural
sensitivity, especially outside the West, where the concepts of
"religion" or "the secular" are not always rooted in local culture and
may not even be present.
The sharp distinction, and often antagonism, between "religious" and
"secular" is culturally and historically unique to the West since in
most of human history and cultures, there was little differentiation
between the natural and supernatural and concepts do not always transfer
across cultures.
Forms of secularity always reflect the societal, historical, cultural
and religious contexts in which they emerge, and distinctions are sharp
in religiously dominant contexts. Also, there's considerable prevalence of atheism and agnosticism in ancient Asian texts. Atheistic traditions have played a significant part in those cultures for millennia. "Cultural religion" must be taken into account: non-religious people
can be found in religious categories, especially where religion has very
deep-seated religious roots in a culture. Many of the religiously unaffiliated have some religious beliefs and participate in religious practices.
In 2016, Zuckerman, Galen and Pasquale estimated there were 400 million nonreligious or nontheistic people. A 2022 Gallup International Association
(GIA) survey, done in 61 countries, reported that 62% of respondents
said they are religious, one in four that they aren't, 10% that they're
atheists and the rest are not sure. In 2016, it found similar results (62%, 25%, 9% and 5%), also in 2014. People in the European Union, East Asia and Oceania were the least religious. In 2010, according to Pew, the religiously unaffiliated numbered more
than 1.1 billion, about one-in-six people (16.3% of an estimated 6.9
billion). 76% of them resided in the 60 countries of Asia-Pacific.China, officially an atheist state and considered to be the world's first or second most populous country, alone held the majority (62.2% or about 700 million). Shares were relatively similar in three of the six regions: Asia-Pacific (21.2% of more than 4 billion), Europe (18.2% of more than 742 thousands) and North America (17.1% of more than 344 thousands). Men, younger people, and whites, Asians, and people of Jewish heritage are more likely to be secular.
Etymology
Irreligion is either a borrowing from French or from Latin. The term irreligion is a combination of the noun religion and the ir- form of the prefix in-, signifying "not" (similar to irrelevant). It was first attested in French as irréligion in 1527, then in English as irreligion in 1598. It was borrowed into Dutch as irreligie in the 17th century, though it is not certain from which language.
Definition
According to the encyclopediaBritannica, the term irreligion is frequently characterized differently depending on context. Sometimes, surveys of religious belief use lack of identification with a religion as a marker of irreligion. This can be misleading: in some cases a person may identify with a
religious cultural institution but not hold the doctrines of that
institution or take part in its religious practice.
Some scholars define irreligion as the active rejection of religion, as opposed to the mere absence of religion. The Encyclopedia of Religion and Society
defines it as: "Active rejection of religion in general or any of its
more specific organized forms. It is thus distinct from the secular,
which simply refers to the absence of religion. [...] In contemporary
usage, it is increasingly employed as a synonym for unbelief [...]" Sociologist Colin Campbell also describes it as "deliberate indifference towards religion", in his 1971 Towards a Sociology of Irreligion.
The Oxford English Dictionary has two definitions, one of which is labelled obsolete (first published in 1900). It is want of religion; hostility to or disregard of religious principles; irreligious conduct.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary
defines it as "the quality or state of being irreligious" and
"irreligious" as "neglectful of religion: lacking religious emotions,
doctrines, or practices", also "indicating lack of religion".
Also for "religion", there is no universally agreed-upon definition, even within the social sciences.
Agnostic atheism is a philosophical position that encompasses both atheism and agnosticism. Agnostic atheists are atheistic because they do not believe in the existence of any deity and agnostic because they claim that the existence of a deity is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact.
Alatrism or alatry (Greek: from the privative ἀ- + λατρεία (latreia)
= worship) is the recognition of the existence of one or more gods, but
with a deliberate lack of worship of any deity. Typically, it includes
the belief that religious rituals have no supernatural significance and
that gods ignore all prayers and worship.
Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters.
Antireligion is opposition to or rejection of religion of any kind.
Antitheism is the explicit opposition to theism. The term has had a range of applications. It typically refers to direct opposition to belief in any deity.
Apatheism is the attitude of apathy or indifference toward the existence or non-existence of any deity.
Atheism
is the lack of belief that any deities exist; in a narrower sense,
positive atheism is specifically the position that there are factually
no deities. There are ranges of negative and positive atheism.
Freethought.
It holds that positions regarding truth should be formed on the basis
of logic, reason, and empiricism rather than authority, tradition,
revelation, or dogma.
Ignosticism, also known as igtheism, is the idea that the question of the existence of God is meaningless because the word "God" has no coherent, unambiguous definition.
Naturalism is the idea or belief that only natural (as opposed to supernatural or spiritual) laws and forces operate in the universe.
Nones can be used to refer to those who are unaffiliated with any
organized religion. This use derives from surveys of religious
affiliation, in which "None" (or "None of the above") is typically the
last choice. Since this status can be chosen because of lack of
organizational affiliation or lack of personal belief, it is a more
specific concept than irreligion. A 2015 Gallup, Inc. poll concluded that in the United States
"nones" were growing as a percentage of the population, while
Christians were declining and non-Christians also increasing but to a
much lesser degree, since the 1950s.
Post-theism is a variant of nontheism that proposes that the division of theism and atheism
is obsolete and that the God-idea belongs to a stage of human
development now past. Within nontheism, post-theism can be contrasted
with antitheism.
Secular ethics
is a branch of moral philosophy in which ethics is based solely on
human faculties, such as logic, empathy, reason, and ethical intuition,
and not derived from belief in supernatural revelation or guidance—a
source of ethics in many religions.
Secular humanism is a system of thought that prioritizes human rather than divine matters.
Secular liberalism is a form of liberalism in which secularist principles and values, and sometimes non-religious ethics, are especially emphasized.
Secular paganism is an outlook upholding the virtues and principles of modern paganism while maintaining a secular worldview.
Secularism
is used to describe a political conviction in favor of minimizing
religion in the public sphere that may be advocated for regardless of
personal religiosity. Sometimes, especially in the United States, it is also a synonym for naturalism or atheism.
"Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR) is a designation coined by Robert C. Fuller for people who reject traditional or organized religion but have strong metaphysical beliefs. The SBNR may be included under the definition of nonreligion, but are sometimes classified as a wholly distinct group.
Theological noncognitivism is the argument that religious language—specifically, words such as God—are not cognitively meaningful. It is sometimes considered synonymous with ignosticism.
In 1993, the United Nations Human Rights Committee declared that article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights "protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief." The committee further stated that "the freedom to have or to adopt a
religion or belief necessarily entails the freedom to choose a religion
or belief, including the right to replace one's current religion or
belief with another or to adopt atheistic views." Signatories to the
convention are barred from "the use of threat of physical force or penal
sanctions to compel believers or non-believers" to recant their beliefs
or convert.
A noted exception to ambiguity, explicitly allowing non-religion, is Article 36 of the Constitution of China
(as adopted in 1982), which states that "No state organ, public
organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not
believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who
believe in, or do not believe in, any religion." Article 46 of China's 1978 Constitution
was even more explicit, stating that "Citizens enjoy freedom to believe
in religion and freedom not to believe in religion and to propagate
atheism."
Women, when in the labor force, are similar to men in their religiosity. When out of the labor force, women tend to be more religious.
In many countries censuses and demographic surveys do not
separate atheists, agnostics and those responding "nothing in
particular" as distinct populations. Both "religion" and "secular" are Western concepts and are not universal across cultures, languages, or time.
In 2020, of the global atheist and non-religious population, 78%
live in Asia and the Pacific, while the remainder reside in Europe
(10%), North America (6%), Latin America and the Caribbean (4%),
sub-Saharan Africa (1.5%) and the Middle East and North Africa (.1%). Eleven countries have nonreligious majorities. In 2020, the countries
with the highest percentage of "Non-Religious" ("Term encompassing both
(a) agnostics; and (b) atheists") were North Korea, the Czech Republic and Estonia. According to the 2018 Chinese General Social Survey, China had the
largest count of unaffiliated people: about one billion adults. According to Pew Research in 2025, China alone makes up 67% of the global religiously unaffiliated demographic. Some broadly religious practices continue to play a significant role in
the lives of a substantial shares of the Chinese population. The Asia-Pacific region alone accounts for 78% of the global unaffiliated demographic.
Determining objective irreligion, as part of societal or individual levels of secularity and religiosity, requires a high degree of cultural sensitivity from researchers. This is especially so outside the Western world, where the concepts of "religious" and "secular" are not necessarily rooted in local culture or even exist. "Cultural religion" is a vivid reality.It must be taken into account when trying to ascertain the numeric strength of atheism and agnosticism in a country. It is generally not considered more important than self-identification measures. Non-religious people can be found in religious categories. And many of the unaffiliated still hold religious beliefs or practices. This is especially the case where religion has very deep-seated
religious roots in a culture, such as with Christianity in Europe, Islam
in the Middle East, Hinduism in India, and Buddhism in South-east Asia. For instance, Scandinavian countries have among the highest measures of nonreligiosity and even atheism in Europe. For example, 58% of the Swedish population identify with the Church of Sweden. Yet, 47% of atheists who live in those countries are still formally members of the national churches. In much of East Asia, ritual behavior holds greater salience than belief. China has state atheism and is a Leninist religious state, which maintains dominance over all other religions. About 85% of its population practice various kinds of religious behaviors with some regularity. Many East Asians identify as "without religion" (wú zōngjiào in Chinese, mu shūkyō in Japanese, mu jong-gyo in Korean), but "religion" in that context refers only to Buddhism or Christianity. Most of the people "without religion" practice Shinto and other folk religions. In the Muslim world, those who claim to be "not religious" mostly imply not strictly observing Islam, and in Israel, being "secular" means not strictly observing Orthodox Judaism. Vice versa, many American Jews share the worldviews of nonreligious people though affiliated with a Jewish denomination, and in Russia, growing identification with Eastern Orthodoxy is mainly motivated by cultural and nationalist considerations, without much concrete belief. In the United States, the majority of the "Nones", those without a
religious affiliation, have belief in a god or higher power, spiritual
forces beyond the natural world, and souls. Even 23% of self-identified atheists believe in a higher power, but not a god as described in the bible. A 2024 report by Pew on Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and
Vietnam found that though many in those countries are not affiliated
with any religion, many of the unaffiliated still have beliefs in gods
or unseen beings and engage in religious practices. According to Pew in 2023, many unaffiliated Chinese believe in deities
or other religious beliefs and participate in religious practicies.
Secular people are complex and not always devoid of religious or spiritual involvement. They persist in various forms of religiosity and spirituality. "Secular churches" or "atheist churches" such as Sunday Assembly
and others have emerged in multiple countries (e.g. USA, Britain,
Australia) which deal with community needs that religious services often
provide. Atheists are diverse with some engaging spiritual practice and others
having strong beliefs in that they seek to evangelize to others. Nontheistic religions
such as Buddhism, Jainism, along with atheistic schools in Hinduism,
and other Indian schools like Carvaka, Ajivika have played a significant
part in Asian cultures for millennia. Anthropologist
Jack David Eller states that "atheism is quite a common position, even
within religion" and that "surprisingly, atheism is not the opposite or
lack, let alone the enemy, of religion but is the most common form of
religion." In the Czech Republic, one of the most secular countries in the world,
most nonbelievers are not atheists but are more religious skeptics
fulfill their spiritual needs outside of traditional religion.
In 2014, Zuckerman, Galen and Pasquale estimated there were 400 million nonreligious or nontheistic people. In their 2013 essay, Ariela Keysar and Juhem Navarro-Rivera estimated
there were about 450 to 500 million nonbelievers, including both
"positive" and "negative" atheists, or approximately 7% of the world
population. These estimates come from the International Social Survey Programme 2008 survey in which 40 countries took part. In 2010, the religiously unaffiliated numbered more than 1.1 billion
(around 1,126,500,000 persons), about one-in-six people (16.3% of an
estimated 6,9 billion world population), according to Pew Research Center. In Pew reports, "unaffiliated" are atheists, agnostics, and people who checked "nothing in particular". 76% of them resided in one of the six regions: Asia-Pacific. A 2012 WIN/Gallup International
report on a poll from 57 countries reported that 59% of the world's
population identified as a religious person, 23% as not a religious
person, 13% as "convinced atheists", and also a 9% decrease in
identification as "religious" when compared to the 2005 average from 39
countries. A 2015 WIN/Gallup International poll found that 63% of the globe
identified as a religious person, 22% as not a religious person, and 11%
as "convinced atheists". Their 2016 survey found that 62% of the globe identified as a religious
person, less than 25% as not a religious person, 9% others as
"convinced atheists" and 5% others "Do not know/no response". Keysar and Navarro-Rivera advised caution with these figures since
other surveys have consistently reached lower figures for the number of
atheists worldwide.
Inverse association between intelligence and religiosity, and the inverse correlation between intelligence and fertility might lead to a decline in non-religious identity (contra-secularization hypothesis) in the foreseeable future. In 2007, sociologist Phil Zuckerman's
global studies on atheism have indicated that global atheism may be in
decline due to irreligious countries having the lowest birth rates in
the world and religious countries having higher birth rates in general. A Pew 2015 global projection study for religion and nonreligion,
projected that between 2010 and 2050, there will be some initial
increases of the unaffiliated followed by a decline by 2050. Some theorists think religion will fade away but Pew reveals a more complicated picture. Pew predicts the unaffiliated share of the world population will decrease, at least for a while, from 16.4% to 13.2% by 2050. Pew states that religious areas are experiencing the fastest growth because of higher fertility and younger populations.By 2060, Pew says the number of unaffiliated will increase by over 35
million, but the overall population-percentage will decrease to 13%
because the total population will grow faster. This would be mostly because of relatively old age and low fertility rates in less religious societies such as East Asia, particularly China and Japan, but also Western Europe.By 2019, 43 out of 49 countries studied continued to become less religious.
Relatively few unbelievers select ‘Atheist’ or ‘Agnostic’ as their preferred (non)religious or secular identity.Being nonreligious is not necessarily equivalent to being an atheist or
agnostic. Many of the nonreligious have some religious beliefs. Also, some of the unaffiliated engage in certain kinds of religious practices.
For example, "belief in God or a higher power is shared by 7% of
Chinese unaffiliated adults, 30% of French unaffiliated adults and 68%
of unaffiliated U.S. adults.Being unaffiliated with a religion on polls does not automatically mean
objectively nonreligious since there are, for example, unaffiliated
people who fall under religious measures, just as some unbelievers may
still attend a church or other place of worship. Out of the global nonreligious population, 76.2% reside in Asia-Pacific, while the remainder reside in Europe (12%), North America (5.2%), Latin America and the Caribbean (4%), sub-Saharan Africa (2.4%) and the Middle East and North Africa (0.2%).
2020 Population Estimate
Irreligious individuals constitute 24.2% of the global population,
with a total population of 1,905,360,000. 88.5% of this irreligious
population is concentrated in ten countries, ranked by the size of their
respective populations: China, the United States, Japan, Vietnam, Germany, Russia, Brazil, France, the United Kingdom, and South Korea.
China hosts more than 1,270,000,000; the United States more than
100,000,000; Japan more than 70,000,000; Vietnam more than 60,000,000;
Germany more than 30,000,000; and Russia, Brazil, France, the United
Kingdom, and South Korea each contain more than 20,000,000 irreligious
individuals.
Historical trends
An abandoned church in Australia
Since 2007, there has been a sharp trend away from religion.From about 2007 to 2019, 43 out of 49 countries studied became less religious. Past influential thinkers from Karl Marx to Max Weber to Émile Durkheim thought that the spread of scientific knowledge would dispel religion throughout the world. Industrialization also didn't cause religion to disappear.Political scientistsRonald Inglehart and Pippa Norris
argue faith is "more emotional than cognitive", and both advance an
alternative thesis termed "existential security." They postulate that
rather than knowledge or ignorance of scientific learning, it is the
weakness or vulnerability of a society that determines religiosity. They
claim that increased poverty and chaos make religious values more
important to a society, while wealth and security diminish its role. As
need for religious support diminishes, there is less willingness to
"accept its constraints, including keeping women in the kitchen and gay
people in the closet".
Prior to the 1980s
Rates of people identifying as non-religious began rising in most societies at least as early as the turn of the 20th century. In 1968, sociologist Glenn M. Vernon wrote that US census respondents who identified as "no religion" were insufficiently defined because they were defined in terms of a negative. He contrasted the label with the term "independent" for political affiliation, which still includes people who participate in civic activities.
He suggested this difficulty in definition was partially due to the
dilemma of defining religious activity beyond membership, attendance, or
other identification with a formal religious group. During the 1970s, social scientists still tended to describe irreligion
from a perspective that considered religion as normative for humans.
Irreligion was described in terms of hostility, reactivity, or
indifference toward religion or as developing from radical theologies.
1981–2019
In a study of religious trends in 49 countries (they contained 60
percent of the world's population) from 1981 to 2007, Inglehart and
Norris found an overall, but not universal, increase in religiosity.Respondents in 33 of 49 countries rated themselves higher on a scale
from one to ten when asked how important God was in their lives. This
increase occurred in most former communist and developing countries.
Most high-income countries became less religious.
A sharp reversal of the global trend occurred from 2007 to 2019, when
43 out of 49 countries studied became less religious. This reversal
appeared across most of the world. The decline in belief was not confined to high-income countries and appeared across most of the world. In virtually every high-income country, religion has continued to decline. At the same time, many poor countries, together with most of the former communist states, have also become less religious.
From 2007 to 2019, only five countries became more religious, whereas
the vast majority of the countries studied moved in the opposite
direction. India is the most important exception to the general pattern of declining religiosity.The United States was a dramatic example of declining religiosity –
with the mean rating of importance of religion dropping from 8.2 to
4.6 – while India was a major exception. Research in 1989 recorded
disparities in religious adherence for different faith groups, with
people from Christian and tribal traditions leaving religion at a
greater rate than those from Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist faiths.
Inglehart and Norris speculate that the decline in religiosity comes from a decline in the social need for traditional gender and sexual norms,
("virtually all world religions instilled" pro-fertility norms such as
"producing as many children as possible and discouraged divorce, abortion, homosexuality, contraception, and any sexual behavior not linked to reproduction" in their adherents for centuries) as life expectancy rose and infant mortality dropped. They also argue that the idea that religion was necessary to prevent a collapse of social cohesion and public morality was belied by lower levels of corruption and murder
in less religious countries. They argue that both of these trends are
based on the theory that as societies develop, survival becomes more
secure: starvation, once pervasive, becomes uncommon; life expectancy increases; murder and other forms of violence
diminish. As this level of security rises, there is less
social/economic need for the high birthrates that religion encourages
and less emotional need for the comfort of religious belief. Change in acceptance of "divorce, abortion, and homosexuality" has been measured by the World Values Survey and shown to have grown throughout the world outside of Muslim-majority countries. Several very comprehensive surveys in the Middle East and Iran
have come to similar conclusions: there is an increase in
secularization and growing calls for reforms in religious political
institutions.
The human–canine bond is rooted in the domestication of the dog, which began occurring through their long-term association with hunter-gatherers more than 30,000–40,000 years ago. The earliest known relationship between dogs and humans is attested by the 1914 discovery of the Bonn–Oberkassel dog, who was buried alongside two humans in modern-day Oberkassel, Germany, approximately 15,000 years ago. For centuries, the phrase "man's best friend"
has commonly been used to refer to dogs, as they were the first species
and the only large carnivore to have been domesticated. This
companionship is most evident in Western countries, such as the United States, where 44% of households were found to be keeping at least one dog as a pet.
On average, female humans tend to have more positive attitudes towards dogs than male humans do, but studies have demonstrated that both dogs and humans release oxytocin while spending quality time together. This release of oxytocin is correlated with the formation of a strong social bond. Canines are capable of distinguishing between positive and negative human facial expressions and will react accordingly. Dogs appear in religions all over the world, particularly in Mesoamerican folklore and myth,
thus signifying the deep reverence that humans all over the world have
had and continue to have for them. Despite this relationship's
significance throughout history, it is not necessarily always a positive
one; dogs can be viewed in an extremely negative light, depending on
the region.
Attachment
A child pushing a dog in a carriage, early 20th century
Psychologists believe that the relationship between human and canine is a bidirectional attachment bond, which resembles that of the typical human caretaker/infant relationship, and shows all of the usual hallmarks of a typical bond. Some examples of behaviors that led scientists to this conclusion is
the display of proximity seeking behavior where the canine will seek out
its caretaker as a means to cope with stress, and consequently the absence of the caretaker will trigger separation anxiety to a varying degree. Another such behavior is the safe haven effect, which describes when
the canine more freely explores novel objects in the caretaker's
presence. Canines are capable of assessing humans' emotional states, as well as discriminating humans by levels of familiarity.
Studies have demonstrated that shelter dogs benefit from interacting with complete strangers. These interactions result in a reduction in plasma cortisol, which is correlated to an overall reduction in stress. These results demonstrate the canines' innate desire to form an
attachment with a human, and also demonstrate the positive health
effects for the canine associated with the relationship.
Upon loss, due to death or retirement, the majority of caregivers report intense feelings of grief.
Human–canine bonding was recognized by Boris M. Levinson, who greatly influenced the establishment of the field of study. Levinson accidentally discovered the benefits of assisted pet therapy
when he found that withdrawn and uncommunicative children would
interact positively whenever he brought his dog, Jingles, to their
therapy sessions. His discovery was further reinforced by Sam and Elizabeth Corson, who were among the first to research and evaluate pet-facilitated therapy.
In the early 1980s the term 'human–animal bond' was officially coined by Leo K. Bustad,
who delivered a summary lecture on the Human–Pet Relationship on
October 28, 1983, at the International Symposium in Vienna. This
symposium was held in honour of Konrad Lorenz,
and during his lecture, Bustad praised him for his work on the
human–animal bond and encouraged others to build on Lorenz's work on the
subject. In the early 1970s, Konrad Lorenz had developed the field of ethology with his landmark research on the imprinting of behaviors in geese.
Bustad and other pet therapy advocates formed the Delta Society, which was built on the earlier work of Levinson and Croson. In the 1970s and 1980s, national and international conferences led to
greater recognition of the human–animal bond. Since then, there has been
widespread media coverage of animal-assisted activity and therapy
programs and service dog training.
Types of relationships
Man with dog in India
Today
dogs are mostly kept as household pets, although there still remains a
sizeable population of working dogs worldwide. Working dogs today
perform a wider variety of jobs than ever before in history, working in
fields such as drug and explosive detection, therapy, hunting, and
invasive species detection. Dogs are used for service due to their highly developed sense of smell. Research shows they can smell human emotions. A strong canine-human bond is formed between the dog and the handler
while performing jobs together; a strong bond is required to safely and
quickly perform their jobs. Many of the people who work with a canine
partner will also live with them, which facilitates a strong bond
between both partners. Many military dogs have also been adopted by their former handlers once they have been retired. Canine-human jobs span fields including hunting, herding, military, medical, and search.
Pets
In the Western world, dogs are most commonly found as household pets. The overwhelming majority of American dog owners report that they feel as if their dog is a member of their family. Many Western owners allow their dogs to sleep in their beds with them and report lessened anxiety. Almost universally positive outcomes are reported among those who keep dogs as pets. The human-canine bond is strengthened, or diminished, depending on the
quantity and quality of the time spent with the canine and through
activities such as routine walking, feeding, grooming, and play.
In Muslim cultures the dog is regarded as unclean, and keeping a dog as a pet is generally seen as impure.
The herding dog has long worked alongside humans, with the start of
herding activities roughly being around the time of the domestication of
sheep. Today's herding dogs have evolved a unique set of traits and mannerisms that makes them ideal for the job. Herding dogs may generally fall into several categories: protectors, drivers, headers, and heelers. Herding dogs rely on many predator skills such as posture and eye contact rather than brute force.
Hunting is one of the oldest jobs that dogs have performed alongside
humans. Cave art dating back to the Neolithic age depicting dogs and
humans hunting together has been found. In particular, a mural discovered in Saudi Arabia that is more than 9000 years old depicts a domesticated dog being used for hunting. Today hunting dogs generally fall into one of three categories; Terriers, gun dogs, and hounds. Terriers are smaller dogs which can be used to hunt small animals such as birds and rabbits. Gun dogs are mostly used during upland and wetland hunting to retrieve downed game. Hounds
typically specialize in the chase and utilize a variety of noises to
flush out game, used in hunting larger mammals such as deer, coyote,
boar, and foxes.
A guard dog or watchdog is a dog used to watch for and guard people or property against unwanted human or animal intruders.
Dogs have been used as guardians since ancient times. The ancient Romans placed Cave canem mosaics at the entrance of homes to warn visitors and intruders of the presence of dangerous dogs at the property.
Dogs may be used to hunt vermin. A working terrier is a type of terrier dog bred and trained to hunt vermin including a badger, fox, rat and other small mammals. This may require the working terrier pursuing the vermin into an underground warren.
A ratter is any dog used for catching and killing rats and similar vermin. Specialized rat-catching breeds
are found in many countries. A typical ratter is small to medium-sized
and has a short and smooth coat, however a wide range of dog breeds and
landraces may be used.
Dog sledding began as a formal sport in North America in 1908,
however the practice of using dogs to pull sleds dates back to at least
6000 BC. Remnants of sleds and harnesses has been found with canine remains in Siberia which carbon-dated to 7800–8000 years ago. A dog musher will need to develop a close bond sometimes with as many
as 20 or more dogs in their kennel in order to keep a highly responsive
and loyal team. The musher will need to cultivate a particularly strong
relationship with their lead dog. The lead dog will ultimately decide
which path the team takes.
Canines are employed worldwide in various militaries around the world
where they perform a variety of jobs on land, sea, and in the air. In the United States of America the Army Veterinary Corps and the 341st
Training Squadron provide the training and logistics for many of the
handlers and canines. Lackland AFB has around 900 canines at any given time. The commander of the 341st Training Squadron, William Roberts, states
their mission is "to produce a dog that patrols and detects, either
narcotics or explosives". In the past, military working dogs in the US were often euthanized
after they retired, especially if they were deemed unfit for home life
or showed aggressive behaviors. However, today, the military makes every
effort to adopt out these dogs to qualified families. Only dogs with
serious medical conditions are euthanized.
In the UK the 1st Military Working Dog Regiment
provides trained dogs and handlers to support the armed forces in
various operations, comprising 299 Regular soldiers and officers with
the ability to surge to a maximum capacity of 384 Military Working Dogs.
The relationship between a soldier and his dog is often cited as
deeply rooted and unshakable, with the result being that the handler and
the dog can read almost imperceptible changes in each other's body
language. In the United States military, the working dog is traditionally one rank higher than his handler so that he is afforded the respect they deserve.
Because of their highly developed sense of smell, many canines today
work with their handlers to search for many things, including drugs,
invasive species, and people. The first search and rescue dogs were the Saint Bernards who were trained to locate lost or stranded travelers in the Swiss Alps.
Dogs and their handlers will have formed a close bond allowing
each other to interpret each other's body language correctly leading to
the successful detection of the desired object or person.Examples of body language to look for when the dog begins to "hit" on a
scent cone are small pauses, tail flicks, and puffing air with the
nose. Every dog is different and will present different signals that
will take lots of dedicated training from the handler to learn how to
correctly interpret.
People who suffer from isolation, depression, and other mental
illness to the point where it significantly interferes with day-to-day
life may find security in an emotional support animal, however it is
important to remember that usually dogs who fall into the emotional
support animal category do not require any specific training. As a result of the studies by Dr. Samuel Corson pets have become
commonplace in nursing homes where they can provide comfort and
affection to people. Therapy dogs are used in hospitals around the world where they can have a positive impact on a variety of diagnoses, including cancer.
Canines' social impact on humans is especially significant for those
who tend to be more isolated, such as children with no siblings or elderly persons. In this view, the animal is part of our community
and is an important determinant for psychological well-being.
According to self psychology,
an animal can be a "self-object" that gives a sense of cohesion,
support, or sustenance to a person's sense of self. Self-psychology
explains why some animals are so crucial to a person's sense of self and
well-being. Dog companionship often helps people to develop a daily routine and gives them something to look forward to each day. Studies also show owning a dog reduces stress, alleviates anxiety, and even can prolong a human's lifespan.
Despite the normally positive relationship, there are instances where dogs have turned on their owner or other humans. There are also instances where a normally positive relationship can
result in a human abusing their canine, either psychologically or
physically. The reasons for a human or a dog turning on their companion
are diverse and poorly understood, but may be generally boiled down to improper socialization or underlying mental health issues for either party.
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