Beliefs - Secularisation - 5.3 Flashcards by Reegan Harrison

Secularisation

When religious thinking, practice & institutions lose signifcance

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Evidence of Secularisation in UK

> Religious Practice
Religious Belief
Religious Institutions

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Religious Practice - Evidence of Secularisation in UK

Less people attending churches, sunday schools & weddings & baptism all declining.

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Bogus Baptisms

Mostly now by older children to get in to faith schools fewer infant baptisms

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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

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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

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Criticisms of Faith Schools

Despite there being increased faith schools today, they are state funded & must conform to state regulations

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Secularisation in Britain - Key Sociologists

> Bruce (Decline of Churches)

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Bruce - Decline of Churches

Methodist church will fold by 2030 & COE will be a small voluntary orgnaisation with a lot of heritage property.

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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)

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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

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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)

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What does Hadaway & Wilson study show?

> Still socially desirable to attend church but holds little conviction as few attend regularly.

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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.

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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

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Berger - Religious Diversity

> Now acceptance by US Christians others entitled to different beliefs

> No longer assumption our own beliefs are fully true - increasing doubt

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Lynd - Religious Diversity

Early in 1900’s 94% of Christians agreed Christianity was the one true religion, compared with 41% in 1977.

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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

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Explanations For Secularisation - KS

> Weber (Rationalism)
> Bruce (Technological World, Privatisation, Reg Diversity)
> Parsons (Structural Differentiation)
> Wilson (Social & Cultural Diversity)
> Berger (Religious Diversity)

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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