religion renewal and change Flashcards
davie ‘believing without belonging’
argues that secularisation isn’t occurring. peoples religious beliefs aren’t being diluted but how we practice religion in a postmodern work means that people don’t have to go to church to believe and practice religion
criticsm of believing without belonging
voas and crockett argue that there is no believing or belonging. decline in church attendance and beleif in a god or religion
only 12% of country are religious
grace davie vicarious religion
argues that in the postmoden world going to church isnt very frequent due to lifestyle changes. incstead the church is used as a ‘spirtual NHS’ a place to go when you need something and other than that the leader of the church worships for you
criticism of vicarious religion
since the protestant reformation the idea of a church leader worshipping for you has become redundant the death of an interventionist god menas people can worship in their homes
spiritual shopping
herver-leger argues that in a post-modern consumerist society where peoples lifestyles are constantly changing there has been a rise of spiritual shopping where people take different aspects of different religions and new age movements and choose the bits that fit their lifestyle
criticsm of spiritual shopping
Bruce-
this idea has no longestivty, usuaully beleifs only survive if they are passed down by generations,
as many of the women who were partakingin thhollistic mielu were childless its unlikley that thi sis the enw way to be relgion that will last a long time
disneyfication
lyon argues that religion isnt declining but is changing to fit a mosre consumerist lifestlye
relocating to the sphere of consumption
people ahvent abandoned it they are just consuming it differently
for example hill song and televangelism are both exampled of religion changing to fit in with a post-modern society
religious market theory
people are natrually religious and religion meets human needs such as comfort
religon isnt declining but is in a cycle of renewal where the decline of religious churches in europe only means the rise of cults and sects instead
many churchs and religions increases religous beleif as people have more to choose from and competition drives up the stadnards of the churches
criticsm of religious market theory
berger argues that the most churches and ideology that is around the less people are religous due to the plausability stucutre of one religoin having a monology of the truth is broken down
existential security theory
norris and ingelhart argue that levels of religiosity differ between countries based on how insecure they are
countries with high welfare have lower levels of religously becuase there are less ‘what ifs’ in their lives.
whereas people in countries without sucha. welfare system may be more religious as there are more uncertainties about dealth and money that makes them need to rely on the comfort of a god to help them deal with that
criticism of the existential market theory
vasquez argues that noris and ingelhard only used quantative date about income to measure this and therfore makes the research rather redundant as they didnt factor in peoples views and defintion that they gave insecurity
