Unbelievable: A Qualitative Study about the Experiences of Atheists in the Philippines

This study was conducted by Aira Don, Tiffany Go, Karla Lee, and Kayla Ruiz.

Introduction

Our study seeks to understand and bring awareness on the experiences of atheists to lessen any discrimination directed towards them by the community. Also, since there are few Western studies and almost none Asian studies found, the study seeks to contribute to the psychology community new researches and ideas through focusing on atheists in the Philippines and their social relationships.  Research on the study found that in a person’s journey towards being an atheist, knowledge from different worldviews and doubting of religion are important factors (Lynn, Harvey, and Nyborg, 2009; Alidoosti, 2009). Self-exploration is also important before a person truly accepts themselves as an atheist (Alidoosti, 2009). In some studies, family and friends are found to be one of the influences in their claim while in other studies, confessing to them often leads to negative reactions (Baker & Smith, 2009; Alidoosti, 2009). Different religion groups in turn are found to distrust atheist which causes prejudice and discrimination towards them (Gervais, Shariff, and Norenzayan, 2011; Gervais, 2011).  These cause atheists to feel excluded from the society and therefore tries to find a group where they would be accepted (Power, 2012; Alidoosti, 2009). With this, we formed our research problem, what are the lived experiences of atheists in the Philippines? With three sub-questions: (a) What are the lived experiences of an atheist when relating to close people to differing religious affiliations? (b) What are the experiences of an atheist in different religious groups? (c) How do atheists feel when finding a group of fellow atheists in a predominantly Catholic country?

Methods

The participants for our study are atheists who are part of the Filipino Freethinkers. They have the age range of 18 – 48. We did individual interviews as well as a focus group discussion using a semi structured interview to gather our data.  We analyzed our data by transcribing the interviews and focus group discussion and after that coding the necessary data for our study. We ensured the validity of our data by checking or clarifying with our participants the statements that they gave. Another thing that we did to ensure the validity is coding the transcribed interviews individually to make sure that we get the same meaning from the data that we have.

Results

Table 1:  What are the lived experiences of atheists in the Philippines?

The lived experiences of atheists in the Philippines covers a wide range of topics; from the religion they were originally born into, their self-exploratory process towards atheism, their newfound non-religious beliefs, their reactions towards their religious family members, and their perception on the continuous belief of the religious community.

Theme	Description/Definition	Exemplar Quote
Early Catholic life	The religious environment the participant grew up in and the religion being practiced by the participant’s family.	“Ever since I was young, I was (born) from theist to something like New Ager, to Deist, then Atheist.”
Aversive reactions towards family members	Negative reactions towards family members, often adversarial or avoidant	“She would end up shouting and getting really mad whenever we would discuss something as sensitive as religion… It’s rather tearing when their common response is usually breaking into fears, or demanding that the topic not be discussed. So there’s an unspoken agreement that I’ll go to church with them just to pacify them.”
Non-religious Beliefs	Beliefs that participants hold onto in lieu of a religious, deity-based belief	“I believe that good doesn’t come from god, it comes from morality that is based on how people should treat people.”
Assumption of indoctrination	Seeing religious people as having been indoctrinated, hence continued religiosity	“The biggest definition I can give to these people is that they’ve been indoctrinated. That these people are this way because they don’t know any other option”
Religious exploration	The process of exploring different religions and looking for a better religious standpoint	“I haven’t always been agnostic but I find myself to be in a constant questioning and searching for answers. And until I find something um, something to change what I believe in, then I can say that I am content with how I am now.”

Most of the participants in the study have come from Catholic backgrounds although not all of them were devoutly Catholic and not all of them practiced religious traditions. Because of their doubts towards religious belief, the exposure to other world views has created new non-religious beliefs that they live by instead of the traditional deity-based belief often found in the Filipino culture. The participants view religious people as having no choice to their religion due to the indoctrination they were subjected early on in their lives. At times, the lack of belief of these participants has resulted in avoiding their family members or sometimes arguing with them regarding religion.

Table 2: What are the lived experiences of an atheist when relating to close people to differing religious affiliations?

Due to the opposing beliefs of atheists and religious members of the participant’s social circles, the differing belief may at times cause familial or friendship friction.

Theme	Description/Definition	Exemplar Quote
Familial friction	Strain on familial relations because of participant’s atheism	“They’re extremely fundamentalist Christian that their religion has affected their opinion on things like homophobia, or birth control or general bigotry, so as I expressed dislike of their opinions on social media, they lashed back with religious conservatism on an extreme level, to the point where I was disowned by my aunt as a family member. So, to her, I’m like dead to her and her sisters”
Friendship friction	Difficulties caused by atheism of participant regarding friendships	“I had a hard time getting along with my officemates because I was always afraid of offending them, or saying something that would upset them. And at the same time, they were also a bit wary of me… And, I guess they didn’t really associate themselves with me that often.”

Some participants have expressed their issues and concerns regarding the difficulties and strains that their belief has caused on their relationships with friends and family members. Arguments between family members, avoidance from peers, denial from both family and friends are just some of the problems that the participants have experienced.

Table 3: What are the experiences of an atheist in different religious groups?

When interacting with people of different religious groups, the atheistic nature of the participants will allow them to act in only one of two ways.

Theme	Description/Definition	Exemplar Quote
Religious indifference	Not treating religious people differently simply because of religious differences	“In terms of getting along with them (theists), going out with them, working with them, I have no problem with that. I treat them like anybody else.”
Religious considerations	Atheists treating religious people and groups with more caution to avoid conflict	“I feel guarded. I always feel like I have to think very carefully about what I say, of course I want to be honest, as honest as possible and not lie for the sake of their comfort…. There still is that underlying tension and I’ll have to live with that”

 Firstly, atheists can treat the people with indifference wherein they treat the person just like anybody else, without taking their religious beliefs or traditions into consideration. Another way is for the atheists to remain be careful about the things they say or do so as not to offend, hurt, sadden, put someone ill-at-ease, or to cause conflict.

Table 4: How do atheists in a primarily religious country feel when they finally find a group of atheists?

As the Philippines is a very religious country with a dominance in the Catholic religion, atheists experience certain feelings such as surprise and curiosity once they have immersed themselves in the atheist community that they once thought would not exist in this country.

Theme	Description/Definition	Exemplar Quote
Surprise at numbers	Because atheists in the Philippines often assume there are not very many of them in the Philippines, the sheer number  of like-minded individuals shock them	“I mean I thought that there were very few of us, but it turns out that it’s a fairly large community or at least in my opinion, it’s currently growing, so I feel like I belong.”
Curiosity towards other atheists	Because of their lack of exposure to other atheists, finally meeting more atheists makes them curious and they often end up wanting to learn more about the religious histories of other people	“What I found really really nice about Filipino Freethinkers is how their discussions are… Howdo you say this? Very… Structured. Very multi-faceted. Yeah, you see a lot of sides. You see a lot of opinions… A lot ideas on one issue. Things you’ve never thought of before and things you will never think of. Which are quite interesting pa rin to actually know that there are a lot, like shitload of a lot of ideas out there that you find quite acceptable and very amazing and very intelligent na even you couldn’t have thought about in the first place. The people there… La lang. Very curious people. Very interesting personalities and whatnot.”

One of the things the participants said they felt was surprise; this surprise was caused by the initial discovery of the large and continuously expanding number of individuals in the atheist community. Another thing they reported feeling was curiosity regarding the religious journeys of the people in the community, as well as their different ideas and thoughts regarding certain issues.

Conclusion, Discussion, Recommendations

                The fact that the participants were born and raised in a predominantly Catholic country resulted in a vast majority of them having Catholic backgrounds and a vast majority of them admitted to having very staunchly religious family members. The more staunchly religious family members were more likely to distance themselves from the participants in a very drastic manner (Alidoosti, 2009) and this may be the reason why so many of the participants are so cautious and careful when talking to other religious people, for fear of offending them. It is natural for one to want to join a group and it is equally natural for the group to want to maintain consistency within its ranks and this may be why the participants would take such considerations when dealing with other people (Dewall & Baumeister, 2008). The participants all came from middle class families which allowed them to explore different belief systems. The predominantly religious setting, however, caused them to believe that they were the only ones who believed what they did when they had finally declared themselves atheist, hence their shock at the number of people in groups for non-believers.

                Due to the unique constraints of the study, some aspects may be probed further such as correlations between atheism and variables such as socio-economic status, age and the religiosity of the participant’s family. Also, because the study covered only very few participants, perhaps a more extensive study involving more participants would yield even more information on the topic.

References

Alidoosti, B. (2009), The Process and Experience of Deciding to Live Openly Atheist in a Christian Family: A Qualitative Study (Master’s Thesis) Retrieved from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12222009-140247/unrestricted/Alidoosti_B_T_2009_.pdf

Baker, J., & Smith, B. (2009). None too simple: Examining issues of religious nonbelief and nonbelonging in the United States. Journal For The Scientific Study Of Religion, 48(4), 719-733. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2009.01475.x

DeWall, C. N., Baumeister, R. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2008). Satiated with belongingness? effects of acceptance, rejection, and task framing on self-regulatory performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(6), 1367-1382. DOI: 10.1037/a0012632

Gervais, W. M. (2011). Finding the faithless: Perceived atheist prevalence reduce anti-atheist prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464-1480.

Gervais, W. M., Shariff, A. F., & Norenzayan, A. (2011). Do you believe in atheists? Distrust is central to anti-atheist prejudice. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 101(6), 1189-1206. doi:10.1037/a0025882

Lynn, R., Harvey, J., Nyborg, H. (2009). Average Intelligence Predicts Atheism Rates Across 137 Nations. Intelligence 37, p. 11-15

Power, M. (2012). Adieu to god: Why psychology leads to atheism. John Wiley & Sons Ltd: UK. Retrieved from http://www.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=N1u2YGTbMpsC&oi=fnd&pg=PA167&dq=Atheist+experiences+-+journal&ots=XzWKZ0ofHB&sig=KxfCoDOoTWK385FAAr_Cq26dRMc&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Atheist%20experiences%20-%20journal&f=false