“One Person's Apostate is Another Person's Convert”: What Terminology Tells Us about Pro-Religious Hegemony in the Sociology of Religion

Abstract

This paper analyzes terminology in the sociology of religion to illustrate proreligious hegemony and the construction of deviant identities for the non-religious. The paper begins by analyzing the current terminology used to refer to the non-religious and makes suggestions for less-biased terminology. The article then uses the “found” terminology to illustrate how language and definitions function to marginalize the non-religious and turn them into a deviant, denigrated category in the sociology of religion.