Christianity and secularisation Flashcards
why dont people go to church anymore
Delay of Jesus’ return
Church no longer provides education or healthcare
Problem of evil
Alternatives to traditional Christianity
Scientific explanations
Militant atheism
What was the role of the Council of Nicaea (325)?
defined what made someone a christian
to did policies contribute to secularisation
Protestant Reformation made religious tolerance necessary
Removed incentives to belong to the state church
what social factor pushed secularisation
Government took over roles like schools, hospitals, and charity that were previously the church’s responsibility.
what is militant atheism
An aggressive form of atheism that attacks religion and promotes evangelical disbelief.
prosperity gospel
Belief that faith leads to wealth — all good Christians will be rewarded financially
Kenneth copeland
Steven furtick
Copeland
Kenneth Copeland (worth $300m)
Furtick
Steven Furtick (1.7m mansion, Elevation Church)
Catholics on wealth
Luxury (like the Vatican) displays God’s glory, but greed is sinful.
Aquinas on Wealth
Your telos is to love God and neighbour — keeping wealth selfishly is sin.
Dawkins on religion
Religion is bad science
“Faith is foolishness”
belief without evidence leads to irrationality
Christopher Hitchens
Religion always leads to violence
he was a journalist who saw war is NI, Balkans and Myanmar
Dennett on religion
it is silly
we are mindless machines with no free will
Sam Harris
Islam is dangerous
torture is okay if it saves lives
Hume’s Fork argument
You can’t get “ought” from “is” — science can’t make moral claims.
Non-overlapping magisteria
Science = how the world works
Religion = how to live meaningfully
Stephen J Gould
problems with liberation theology
Puts experience over scripture
Risk of isogesis (reading own ideas into the Bible)
Seen as too close to Marxism
Challenges Catholic Magisterium
what happened in Medellin 1968
Power shifted from Rome to local churches to help people fulfil primary precepts.
Where did liberation theology start
latin america in the 50s-70s
why did liberation theology start
Post-WWII Latin America saw poverty, inequality, and military dictatorships, many of which were backed by elites who claimed Catholic authority.
Gustavo gutierrez
Peruvian priest
Wrote A Theology of Liberation (1971)
Believed theology must be grounded in the experience of the poor
