“May Diyos nga ba talaga?” A phenomenological study on the transition process from religious to atheist of UP Manila students

Abstract

This research is primarily concerned with determining the processes involved in the transition from being religious to being atheists of UP Manila Students. It specifically aims to determine the facilitating and constraining factors that affect the said transition. Furthermore, it is hypothesized in the study that with these facilitating and constraining factors, UP Manila students thus make use of coping strategies to respond. The research made use of the hermeneutic-phenomenological approach to concretely describe the transition process. The hermeneutic-phenomenological approach was used as to make use of the advantage in which the researcher himself had first-hand experience to the phenomena. The study also primarily made use of in-depth interviews while using line by line coding for the data analysis. Fourteen individuals were interviewed with questions that were geared towards answering the five research objectives which are (1) knowing the concept of atheism, (2) knowing the facilitating and constraining factors in the transition process, (3) knowing the stages involved in the transitory process, (4) describing the processes involved in the transitory process and lastly (5) identifying the stress and coping mechanisms used by the transitioned individuals in their transition. Since the research was aimed at identifying the processes both at psychological thought and actual event levels, data obtained can be used to reconstruct institutional policies such as in educational facilities to cater to the psychological and emotional needs of the transitioning individuals. This then can lead to a more holistic social relational and psychological development of the said group.