Christopher Cotter's text is an admirable contribution to the growing study of non-religion in its various forms.

Nova Religio

Christopher Cotter's The Critical Study of Non-Religion is an intelligent and innovative study of the porous boundaries between religion and non-religion, which charts a path through the complex interrelations of family, community and individual identity and how these interact with ideological blocs in society, such as nationalism, politics and religion. Cotter insightfully deconstructs monolithic notions of non-religion and demonstrates the overlaps and grey areas that exist between certain religious people and certain non-religious people, in the areas of assumptions, beliefs and praxis.

Carole M. Cusack, The University of Sydney, Australia

Christopher Cotter's interview subjects make it plain that identifying as religious-and, as he importantly argues, nonreligious or even indifferent to it all-is an act of identification taking place in a hectic social world. Cotter invites us to hear all of these claims as tactics by which social actors position themselves in relation to others, making The Critical Study of Non-Religion a coming-of-age moment for one of the discipline's newest subfields.

Russell T. McCutcheon, University Research Professor and Chair, Department of Religious Studies, University of Alabama, USA

An exceptional combination of textbook and original empirical study outlines the field of non-religion and shows the situational and contextual nature of our religion-related categories. It argues convincingly that non-religion studies would benefit from moving towards a critical discursive approach that does not reify non-religion as anything substantial.

Teemu Taira, Senior Lecturer, Study of Religion, University of Helsinki, Finland