Religion, Renewal And Choice Flashcards
What does G D argue about new forms of religion?
Grace Davies argues that there is a trend towards Believing without belonging.
She argues that religion is taking a more privatised form where people hold religious beliefs but don’t attend church.
Vicarious religion - where a small minority practice a religion on behalf of a supportive larger majority.
Religion now acts as a spiritual health service where much like a hospital it is there when people need it e.g for funerals
However BSA survey found that between 1983 and 2010 church attendance and belief in god were in decline, disproving this theory.
What does Danielle Hervieu-Leger argue about New forms of religion?
Daniel Hervieu Leger argues that there has been Cultural amnesia whereby a There has been a collective loss of memory as religious ideas have declined, in search of religiosity people have now become spiritual shoppers where religion continues with DIY religions.
What does L argue about new forms of religion?
Religion is now in a postmodern phase.
Lyon rejects secularisation as merely a meta-narrative arguing instead that religion is simply evolving:
Relocation of religion - as a result of globalisation there is increased flows of ideas across national and continental boundaries often via the internet.
Religious marketplace
Re-enchantment of the West - Recent decades have shown a growth of new religious movements in the west.
Critics argue that these types of religion are weak and demonstrate secularisation rather than continued authentic religiosity.
What did H and W find?
Heelas and Woodhead investigates Kendal to see if the new spiritual market was compensating for the decline in traditional religions.
They found that in one week in 2000 7.9% Of Kendal’s population attended church or what they called the congregational domain and 1.6% were taking part in the Holistic Milieu.
The CD was declining rapidly and the HM was expanding rapidly.
They found 3 reasons for this -
1) People wanted spiritual journeys rather than duty and obedience
2) Evangelical church attendance remained strong as they emphasised spiritual healing.
3) winners in the spiritual marketplace were those who catered for spirituality and not obedience.
What did Bruce argue about the weakness of the New Age?
Bruce and many others argue that the New Age is too weak to fill the gap left by the decline of traditional religion.
+ Scale : New age would have to grow much quicker to fill the gap
+ Socialisation : A belief system will only survive if it’s socialised from generation to generation, very few new agers kids in the Kendal study shared their parents belief.
+ Weak commitment : Serious commitment in NA beliefs are rare
+ Many NAMs have short life spans due to lack of structure and commitment.
What is religious market theory?
Strark and Bainbridge advocate religious market theory,
They criticise secularisation theory for its distorted view of the past and future, there was no golden age of religiosity and its equally unlikely that not everyone will be a virgin in the future.
S and B argue that religious market theory is correct as:
People are naturally religious as it meets certain human needs
People make rational choices based on the pros and cons of religion.
Religion is declining in Europe as there is little religious competition and thriving in the USA where there are many religions.
What is N and Is existential theory?
Norris and Inglehart cite Venezuela as a contradiction to S&Bs theory as Catholicism has a near monopoly in the county but the country remains very religious.
Religion meets a need for security and hence unstable societies have high levels of religiosity.
However N&I ignore when religion can influence lack of safety e.g the troubles.
Europe is becoming less religious as it develops larger welfare states in comparison to America.
Gill and Lundgaarde agree arguing that there is a correlation between welfare state spending and lower levels of religiosity.
