Beliefs - Secularisation - 5.3 Flashcards
Secularisation
When religious thinking, practice & institutions lose signifcance
Evidence of Secularisation in UK
> Religious Practice
Religious Belief
Religious Institutions
Religious Practice - Evidence of Secularisation in UK
Less people attending churches, sunday schools & weddings & baptism all declining.
Bogus Baptisms
Mostly now by older children to get in to faith schools fewer infant baptisms
Religious Belief - Evidence of Secularisation in UK
> Atheism increased & commitment to christian beliefs has declined
> Smaller organisations have grown e.g. catholicism, due to EU immigration.
> Other non christian religions increased due to immigration and increasing birth rate in these groups
Religious Institutions - Evidence of Secularisation in UK
> Religion used to effect every part of life, but now just private spheres
> State taken over church functions e.g. schooling, but faith schools?
> Numbers of clergy fallen, whilst the population has increased - reduces church’s influence
Criticisms of Faith Schools
Despite there being increased faith schools today, they are state funded & must conform to state regulations
Secularisation in Britain - Key Sociologists
> Bruce (Decline of Churches)
Bruce - Decline of Churches
Methodist church will fold by 2030 & COE will be a small voluntary orgnaisation with a lot of heritage property.
Secularisation in US - Key Thinkers
> Wilson (Reg as Superficial)
> Hadaway (Declining Church Attendance)
> Bruce (Secularisation from Within)
Herberg (Secularisation from Within)
> Berger (Religious Diversity)
Lynd (Religious Diversity)
> Bryman (Disneyfication of Religion)
Wilson - Religion as Superficial
> 45% of Americans went church on Sunday, but was more expression of US way of life, not deep religious belief.
> US increasingly secular & religion is superficial
Hadaway - Declining Church Attendance in US
> Research showed 40% went church
> After headcounts, empty pews found in churches, reality didn’t match church attendance records (Exaggeration)
What does Hadaway & Wilson study show?
> Still socially desirable to attend church but holds little conviction as few attend regularly.
Bruce - Secularisation from Within
> American religion still exists as it’s less religious & focused on glorifying god
> But as form of therapy, wanting improvement in real life, not afterlife.
Herberg - Secularisation from Within
> Churches moving away traditional beliefs, so have to accept cohabitation, divorce etc
> Hide beliefs on miracles & hell as these scare people off
Berger - Religious Diversity
> Now acceptance by US Christians others entitled to different beliefs
> No longer assumption our own beliefs are fully true - increasing doubt
Lynd - Religious Diversity
Early in 1900’s 94% of Christians agreed Christianity was the one true religion, compared with 41% in 1977.
Bryman - Disneyfication of Religion
> Religion has become diluted & trivialised & more focused on keeping customers
> Fear they’ll leave if ideas are too scary or boring
Explanations For Secularisation - KS
> Weber (Rationalism) > Bruce (Technological World, Privatisation, Reg Diversity) > Parsons (Structural Differentiation) > Wilson (Social & Cultural Diversity) > Berger (Religious Diversity)
Rationalisation - Weber
> Due to industrialisation, people use science & rational ways of thinking not religion & supernatural, move from medieval Catholic worldview to modern Protestant worldview
Medieval Catholic Worldview & Rationalisation - Weber
> Saw world as magical garden, with supernatural forces present & active in the world
> Humans influenced supernatural through chants & charms
Modern Protestant Worldview - Disenchantment & Rationalisation
Saw God as transcendent & creator of world, but uninvolved left to laws of nature
Implications of Disenchantment - Weber
> Events no longer seen as work of God, but predictable workings of nature
> Understood through science, religious experiences no longer needed.
Bruce – Technological Worldview
> No longer see bad events as God’s punishment, but scientific explanations, reducing scope for religious explanations
> Religion only used when technology ineffective e.g prayer for incurable cancer
Implications of Technological Worldview
Science doesn’t turn people into atheists, but encourages people to take religion less seriously.
Parsons – Structural Differentiation
Church performed variety of functions eg. education, caring for sick & poor, but replaced by NHS & Education
Consequences of Structural Differentiation for Religion
> Disengagement
Privatisation
Controlled by State
Disengagement - Structural differentiation (Parsons)
> Church now disconnected from wider society
> People no longer engage with it on a daily basis
Privatisation - Structural Differentiation (Bruce)
> Religious belief privatised in home & family is now matter of personal choice
> Traditional rituals & symbols have lost meaning.
Controlled by State -Structural Differentiation (Parsons)
> Even where religion is involved in education/welfare, needs to conform to state controls
> e.g. teachers must have qualifications recognised by state
> Church lost political power, separate from state in modernity
Elements to Wilson’s Idea of Social & Cultural Diversity
> Decline of Community & Industrialisation
Diversity
Individualism
Decline of Community & Industrialisation - Wilson
Local communities shared rituals, reinforcing social solidarity. Industrialisation destroyed stability & religious basis for society.
Diversity - Wilson
> Created large urban society with diverse faiths & lifestyles, even where people hold religious beliefs
> Can’t avoid knowing people around them have different views
Individualism - Wilson
Replaced collective values, led to absence of practising religious community, functioning daily
Aldridge A03 - Criticisms of Wilson
> Religion can be source of identity on world scale e.g. Muslim & Jew communities
> Now imagined communities interacting through global media
> Pentecostal groups flourish in urban areas
Elements to Berger’s Idea of Reg Diversity
> Sacred Canopy
Implications of Protestant Reformation
Plausibility Structure & Implications
Sacred Canopy - Berger
In pre-industrial society, Catholic Church had no competition, all lived under same unquestioned shared beliefs.
Implications of Protestant Reformation - Berger
> Number of religious organisations has increased all with different versions of the truth
> Society no longer unified under single canopy
Plausibility Structure - Berger
> Plausibility of all religious views are undermined with multiple versions of the ‘’truth’’
> People fearful of choosing wrong truth so chosen none or create pick n mix of beliefs
Implications of Plausibility Structure - Berger
Religious beliefs become relative & personal opinion, not absolute so people opt out of religion.
Bruce & Religious Diversity
Hard to live in word with a number of incompatible beliefs with no evidence of one as fully true.
General Criticisms of Berger & Bruce (Religious Diversity)
Berger found diversity/choice creates interest & participation in religion
> e.g. New Christian Right in USA & Evangelism in Latin America, show religious vitality
Beckford A03 - Criticisms of Berger & Bruce
Contact with alternative views can confirm beliefs e.g. religious fundamentalism.
Explanations Against Secularisation - Key thinkers
> Bruce (Counter Trends, Cultural Defence & Cultural Transition)
> Bruce (Criticisms of Counter Trends, Cultural Defence & Cultural Transition)
Cultural Defence - Bruce
> Religion gives a focal point for defence of national identity in struggle with external forces e.g. hostile foreign power
> e.g. Catholicism in Poland before fall of communism
Cultural Transition - Bruce
Gives sense of community for Black, Asian and minority ethnic people living in a different country & culture e.g. Muslims in UK
Bruce - Criticisms of Counter Trends, Cultural Defence & Cultural Transition
> Don’t contradict secularisation theory, as religion only survives as form of group identity not faith
> e.g. church attendance fell after fall of communism in Poland
General Criticisms on Secularisation
> one- sided ignores growth of new religions & renewals & only focuses on Europe, secularisation isn’t universal e.g. Pakistan
> Falling church attendance ignores those who believe but don’t go Church
