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The experience of the irreligious conversion: analysis of the spiritual transition toward skepticism from traditional religions in young adults residing in Santiago, Chile

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Abstract

This study investigates the narratives and meanings that individuals sustain as to the reason for their irreligious conversion, denoting the role that social relations played during their transformative process, the situational factors, and the consequences both in their personal well-being and in their social circles. This objective entails the research intention of problematizing how (ir)religious denominations are being queried in surveys, in addition to strengthening the subdiscipline of secularism in contemporary societies. Using semi-structured interviews with young adults living in Santiago de Chile, a mixture of discourse and narrative analysis was conducted to build knowledge that would rescue the multiple meanings that the participants attribute to their (ir)religious/spiritual metamorphosis. The presence and confluence of four explanatory mechanisms converging in secular alternatives were identified—rationalization and emotionality, criticism of religious contradictions, personal development, and mundane elements for irreligious conversion. Consequently, the processes of loss and simultaneous construction of meaning, which were mobilized by the interrelation of these mechanisms for transition, were highlighted. Here, spirituality is fundamental in replacing the function of religion so that the individual can cling to reality from personalized paradigms that were configured based on their lived experience. This is materialized in the schematization of a model that explains the reasons for irreligious conversion.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Notes

  1. The concepts of ‘none’ and non-religious will be used indistinguishably, the former is most utilized in the Anglo-Saxon literature and the latter in Hispanic literature.

  2. It is for this reason that I propose the concept of ‘irreligious conversion’ as a better one, in the sense of presenting a greater representative potential in terms of the lived experience of people.

  3. For more information concerning the sample, please refer to Table 1 in the first section of the appendices.

  4. All quotes are translated from Spanish.

  5. Expressed as skepticism to varying degrees.

  6. In Chile this Catholic ritual is usually performed between the ages of 9 and 10.

  7. A beatified Chilean child, venerated by the Roman Catholic Church. She represents the patron of abuse victims.

  8. It should be noted that they’re all men.

  9. Coming from the social sciences.

  10. Both ex-Catholics and currently atheists.

  11. https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/2015/10/07/las-verdaderas-razones-de-la-vergonzosa-cancelacion-del-show-de-iron-maiden-en-1992.shtml.

  12. Only in KP’s case did the levels simply drop.

  13. Only two interviewees—MS and DC—claimed to have experienced a sudden irreligious conversion, but in any case, it’s difficult to estimate transition times.

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  1. Instituto de Sociología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Consuelo Calderón Villarreal

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The author completely contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by C.C.C.V. The first draft of the manuscript was written by C.C.C.V., and the previous versions of the manuscript were commented on by the author and a group of colleagues from her affiliated institute. The author read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Consuelo Calderón Villarreal.

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This research involved human participants and was approved by the Scientific Ethical Committee in Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities (CEC-CSAH-UC) of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. The CEC-CSAH-UC is governed by its own Rules of Procedure and by the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Declaration of Principles Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the Declaration of Principles, the General Statutes, the Regulations on Scientific Ethical Committees of the Pontificia Universidad Católica and other regulations in force at the University. It must also ensure compliance with the principles proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, 1948; the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (UNESCO 2005); the Belmont Report: Principles and Ethical Guidelines for the Protection of Human Research Subjects (1979); as well as other international conventions ratified by Chile that serve as guidelines in research with human subjects, heritage, and environment.

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Participants were provided with an informed consent form reviewed by the Scientific Ethical Committee in Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities (CEC-CSAH-UC) of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Therefore, informed consent was obtained from all participants for their participation in this study.

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Calderón Villarreal, C. The experience of the irreligious conversion: analysis of the spiritual transition toward skepticism from traditional religions in young adults residing in Santiago, Chile. SN Soc Sci 4, 66 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-024-00861-5

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