From the study of religious “nones” to the development of the sociology of “non-religion”

To understand the modern religious situation and the whole palette of worldviews and pluralism, it is necessary not to limit oneself only to traditional and non-traditional religious views. Non-religiosity is such a poorly studied and constantly growing part of the religious landscape that it deserves no less attention. The article presents the stages of formation, development, and legitimation of “nonreligion” in the West as a new field of study of non-religiosity, in all its complexity, dynamism and diversity. The article shows the signs of institutionalization of nonreligion and “differentiation” of its subject and examines the concepts of the founders of the new subfield – L. Lee, S. Bullivant and J. Quack. Non-religion focuses on different types of interaction between the religious and non-religious, accumulates the comprehension of different levels and elements of non-religiosity, unbelief, and secularity in the aspect of beliefs, behavior, experience and belonging. The widespread growth and specificity of non-religious identities (having no identity, non-religious, having no religion, unaffiliated) are analyzed. Both standard substantial-binary approaches to the study of non-religion and alternative ones – relational and worldview – are considered. Interpretations of non-religious phenomena are presented through the prism of the concepts of the rise, decline and transformation of religiosity (secularization, desecularization, postsecularity). The trends of the last two decades have been symbioses of patchwork, fuzzy and unstable forms of individual religiosity and non-religiosity with an emphasis on the free pluralistic search for new secular-spiritual beliefs, practices, and identities. Keywords: non-religion (irreligion); non-religiosity; non-religious identity; unbelief; “nones”; “no religion”; “not affiliated”; secularization; individualization