JRFM 2027, 13/1 (May 2027); Deadline submissions: 1 May 2026

"To Believe or Not to Believe"
Atheism and Nonreligion in Media and Popular Culture

Research has clearly and repeatedly illustrated that media and popular culture can be an important resource for religious individuals and religious institutions, and for identifying contemporary attitudes to religion. These days, many learn about religion from media and popular culture, not via religious institutions, which is why the latter invest a lot of money and time in their social media presence and or support different cultural sectors. Media and popular culture can provide important insights about faith, religious traditions, and innovations in today’s world and function as resources and as a space of resonance for religious meaning making.

However, media and popular culture can also be an area for presenting critique of religion and provide spaces for the reflection and expression of atheistic and nonreligious worldviews. Scholarly work has illustrated the important role social media can play for nonreligious individuals looking for a community of likeminded people. Particularly YouTube-atheists have been explored in multiple studies highlighting their focal points and areas of conflict. Some studies have also investigated how atheists have been treated and presented in popular culture, particularly in American television series. Yet this is still an area in need of much more research.

In this upcoming thematic section of the Journal of Religion, Film and Media we wish to further explore what atheism and nonreligion looks like in media and popular culture today and in the past. How are atheist characters portrayed in film and television and how have these representations possibly changed over time? In what ways are nonreligious views expressed in popular music and music videos? What kinds of debates about religion are prevalent on YouTube or platforms like Instagram or TikTok? What kind of atheist-communities can we find online and what questions are essential for those active in these communities? How is atheism discussed in contemporary journalist outputs and represented in new media?

Suggested topics:

• Atheist characters in films or televisions series
• Atheism and/in documentary films
• Nonreligious themes in popular music
• Atheism/nonreligion in video games
• Atheist YouTubers
• Deconversion narratives online
• Nonreligious communities online
• Debating or critiquing religion online
• Lived atheism online
• Atheism in the news
• Journalism on atheism or nonreligion
• Atheist media campaigns

We invite scholars from a range of relevant fields, such as literature, film and media studies, theology, and the study of religion, as well as of sociology or political sciences, to contribute to this issue. The issue also includes an open section for articles on other topics in keeping with the profile of JRFM. The deadline for all submissions is 1 May 2026. The publication is scheduled for 15 May 2027. Contributions of 5,000 to 6,000 words (including notes) should be submitted for double-blind peer review through the journal website at www.jrfm.eu. We kindly ask authors to register and to follow the instructions for submitting contributions, especially taking note of the style guide.

For questions regarding this call for papers or the submission and publication process, please contact the editors of the issue, Natalie Fritz (natalie.fritz@evtheol.uni-muenchen.de), Sofia Sjö (sofia.sjo@abo.fi) and Teemu Taira (teemu.taira@helsinki.fi).

 

JRFM 2027, 13/2 (Nov 2027); Deadline submissions: 1 October 2026

Urbanity and Religion in Film

Iconic urban settings shape cinematic narration in unique ways. Landmarks like the Coliseum, the Forbidden City, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, or Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai serve not just as background to a film’s plot, but play their own part as expressions of cultural values, technical achievements, cultural exchanges and conflicts, or historical constellations. From drama to science fiction, from comedy to animation, from film noir to documentary, and also in productions that challenge any genre categorisation, urban centres are landscapes in which all kinds of narrative can unfold, ranging across all styles.

Cities appear in films and TV series as formations in which multiple places, cultural meanings, and social functions are interlaced, and people and groups interact in manifold ways. They assume symbolic values as a representation of the innermost world of characters, of power relationships, of hopes, desires, or disappointments. They foster cultural and technological progress, destruction and war, fragility of life and the end of the world.

Cinematic cities may refer to existing urban settings, highlighting concrete socio-political formations and dynamics. However, films can also unfold new imaginations of urban formation: utopias as well as dystopias are often developed as cities and explore the question of how urban formation may contribute to the ideal of the good life, or, vice versa, how cities can be transformed into hellish places of destruction and violence. Film depicts cities in dreams and nightmares, in otherworldly travels, as nostalgic reenactments of past communities or projections of futuristic high-tech cityscapes.

These manifold representations of urban phenomena in film are closely entangled with religious communities, institutions, traditions, practices, worldviews, or places. Cities provide the concrete material spaces in which religious institutions may be constructed and practices unfold, which on their part serve to symbolically and affectively enrich the filmic narratives.

In this JRFM issue, we explore the multilayered interactions between urbanity and religion in mainstream films, arthouse productions, TV series, or short films. Contributions may focus (among others) on the following topics:

• the role of religious communities and traditions in shaping filmic cities,
• the interrelation of urban and religious places and their functions in film,
• the cinematic representation of the entanglement of urban formations and ritual practices in diverse genres,
• processes of sacralisation of urban places in films, including natural elements within the city (vegetation, animals, water etc.),
• the representation of the tension between transcendent and immanent dimensions in urban practices,
• utopian and dystopian imaginations of urban formation in film in response to human and environmental existential needs and desires,
• the development of new cities and new religious practices in films.

The issue also includes an open section for articles on other topics related to the profile of the JRFM. The deadline for all submissions is 1 October 2026. Contributions should be between 5,000-6,000 words (including notes and references) and be submitted for double-blind peer-review through the journal homepage, www.jrfm.eu. We kindly ask authors to register and follow the instructions for submitting contributions. Manuscripts have to be formatted according to the JRFM’s style guide. Publication of this issue is scheduled for 15 November 2027. For any questions about the issue or possible contributions, please contact the issue editors: Prof. Dr. Stefanie Knauss (stefanie.knauss@gmail.com) and Prof. Dr. Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati (pezzoli@lmu.de).