Post modern theories of religion

Question 1

Decline in organised religion (big traditional dominant religions)

Answer 1

-christianity is the main religion in decline - specifically the church of england and the catholic church because there is a lack of social pressure when going to church
- however islam, hinduism, judaism is going up

Question 2

Globalisation - follow up from decline

Answer 2

• can impact decline as migration can lead to questioning much more as your meeting people with diverse religions
• it is difficult to accept anything without questioning
• many people have also replaced religion with science but it is still not as accepted so may return to political ideologies

Question 3

Decline in metanarratives - lyotard

Answer 3

• could be due to scandals e.g pedophilia in CofE, science etc
• shows that all these leaders are not truly following Gods word and do not represent what they should
• science may provide more reasonable explanations that people want to believe

Question 4

Religion is consumed but not individualised - Davie

Answer 4

-comes with the phrase ‘believing without belonging’
- means claiming religion but not always actively participating in it e.g not going to church, praying etc
- privatisation of religion
- can be through the internet e.g listening to sermons online, social media groups, bible apps

Evaluation
- bruce argues that we are still driven by consumerism which means that we still conform so we are not really an individual in the postmodern world
- argues that it places too much influence on individuality when we are still manipulated by capitalism

Question 5

Resurgence of religion - Lyon

Answer 5

-Re enchantment of the world
- science made the world very cold and boring - magic and mysteries are all gone because of scientific explanations
- more fundamentalists groups more than ever - with every single religion this has caused a resurgence of religion
- fundamentalist groups are groups that give a clear role in what you should do