New Beliefless Spirituality Project to investigate forms of spirituality underpinned by states other than explicit religious or spiritual beliefs

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The project is funded by the John Templeton Foundation, with additional support from the University of ºù«Ӱҵ.

  • The PI for the project is Ryan Byerly, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion at the University of ºù«Ӱҵ
  • The interdisciplinary project draws on the expertise of a core group of co-investigators from 11 institutions across the globe
  • The project aims to identify the religious/spiritual practices available to those who find it difficult to hold explicit beliefs in religious/spiritual realities

The Beliefless Spirituality Project is a 32-month, interdisciplinary research project generously funded by the John Templeton Foundation, with additional support from the University of ºù«Ӱҵ. We will be investigating forms of sincere religious or spiritual engagement that are underpinned not by explicit beliefs but by alternative cognitive attitudes such as assumptions, conditional attitudes, credences, or pretences. We aim to investigate which distinct types of beliefless spirituality there are, the (dis)value of these types of spirituality, and how they can be fruitfully studied in empirical research. The results of the project will be especially illuminating for understanding the options for religious/spiritual practice available to those who find it difficult to hold explicit beliefs in religious/spiritual realities, which may include spiritual-but-not-religious individuals, agnostics, atheists, and people of faith experiencing significant doubt.

The network of experts coming together on this project spans institutions across the globe. The PI for the project is Ryan Byerly (University of ºù«Ӱҵ). The core group of co-investigators consists of Laura Ekstrom (William & Mary), Philip Goff (Durham University), Daniel Howard-Snyder (Western Washington University), Elizabeth Jackson (Saint Louis University), Jonathan Jong (University of Oxford), Shieva Kleinschmidt (University of Southern California), Neil Van Leeuwen (Florida State University), and Daniel McKaughan (Boston College). There are also four advisors for the project: Julie Exline (Case Western Reserve University), Philip Ivanhoe (Duke University), Tanya Luhrmann (Stanford University), and Elizabeth Mancuso (Pepperdine University).

The project will host a capstone conference in its final year and will publicise a CFA for this in due course. A project website with additional details will be published very soon, and interested parties are welcome to contact Ryan Byerly with any questions.