Religion, Renewal and Choice

Question 1

Aims

Answer 1

question whether religion is declining or just changing
question diversity and plausibility concern
point out that religion is only declining in Europe

Question 2

New forms of religion

Answer 2

reject secularisation theory, pointing out that new traditions emerge

Question 3

From obligation to consumption

Answer 3

Shown through infant vs. adult baptism

Davie - move from obligation to personal choice

Question 4

Believing without belonging

Answer 4

Religion has taken privatised form (but people still hold beliefs)

Question 5

Vicarious religion - spiritual health care

Answer 5

religion is practiced by active minority on behalf of majority
church is a service, there to use when we need it e.g. rites of passage
compared to tip of iceberg - what appears small is big
multiple modernities - all believe without belonging

Question 6

Neither believing nor belonging

Answer 6

Voas and Crocket - evidence from 5750 respondents show decline in beliefs too (Davie was mistaken)
Bruce - if people aren’t willing to attend church, shows a weakening of beliefs
Census - 72% identify as Christian (supports belief without belonging)
but Day found very few ‘Christians’ she interviewed mentioned God (identification was a way of describing their ethnicity)

Question 7

Spiritual shopping

Answer 7

Hervieu - Leger continues theme of choice
caused by cultural amnesia - religion is largely lost wen handed through generations
Trend towards social equality - undermined power of church

Question 8

New religious types

Answer 8

1. Pilgrims - follow own path in search for self - discovery e.g. spirituality
2. Converts - join groups which offer a strong sense of belonging (based on shared background)
   recreate community in a world that has lost it

Question 9

Postmodern religion

Answer 9

Importance of globalisation, media and consumerism
Lyon - agrees that believing without belonging is popular (traditional gives way to new religions - show continuing vigour)

Question 10

Globalisation, the media and religion

Answer 10

Growing interconnectedness of societies and beliefs
media play role of saturating us with global images (compresses time and space)
religious ideas have become ‘disembedded’ e.g. televangelism
Becomes de - institutionalised (detached from place)

Question 11

Online religion/religion online

Answer 11

1. religion online - top down communication to address people e.g. traditional church on YouTube
2. online religion - may have no religion outside. Virtual community.

Question 12

Religious consumerism

Answer 12

PM - construct identity through what we consume
pick and mix individualised religion
led to loss of faith in meta - narratives (things contradict)

Question 13

self - religions and the new age

Answer 13

Rejects idea of obligation to external authority

life of discovery, development and autonomy (linked to individualism)

Question 14

Re - enchantment of the world

Answer 14

Lyon criticises idea of religion replaced by rationality (now in process of new age)
Points to growth and resurgence of non - traditional

Question 15

Spiritual revolution

Answer 15

Christianity gives way to holistic spirituality

Heelas and Woodhead - congregational domain vs. holistic milieu (7.9% attended church vs. 1.6% in holistic milieu)

Question 16

Secularisation and security

Answer 16

Norris and Inglehart - reject religious market theory as it only applies to USA and fails to explain variations in religiosity

Question 17

Existential security theory

Answer 17

Idea that survival is secure enough that it can be taken for granted
Variations due to this
Poor societies - face life threatening risks (so high percentage of insecurity and religiosity)
Norris and Inglehart - global population growth undermines secularisation (poor have strong religion and high population growth)

Question 18

Europe vs. America

Answer 18

Western EU - trend towards secularisation
equal society with secure welfare
USA - most unequal of rich societies (inadequate welfare and dog - eat - dog values)
creates insecurity

Question 19

State welfare and religiosity

Answer 19

supported by Lundegarde - more a country spends on welfare, lower the level of religious participation
in the past, religion provided welfare but from the 20th century, the state began to do this

Question 20

Religious market theory

Answer 20

Stark and Bainbridge
critical of secularisation as eurocentric (fails to explain vitality in USA)
Puts forth distortion - no ‘golden age’ for religion
based on 2 assumptions
1. we are naturally religious
2. human nature to seek reward and avoid costs

Question 21

Compensators

Answer 21

When real rewards are unavailable, religion promises supernatural ones e.g. immortality
non - religious ideologies can’t compensate

Question 22

Cycle of renewal

Answer 22

renewal and revival e.g. established church declines which leaves gap for new sects

Question 23

Religious competition

Answer 23

churches operate by selling ‘goods’ in a ‘market’

competition leads to improvements

Question 24

America vs. Europe

Answer 24

demand increases when there is choice
religion thrives in US because there has never been a religious monopoly (lots of denominations)
Europe - most states have been dominated by an official church (lack of competition = decline)

Question 25

Supply - led religion

Answer 25

research supports idea of religion as influenced by quality
Hadden and Shupe - growth of ‘televangelism’ shows it is supply - led
responded to consumer demand for prosperity gospel
Fink - Asian immigration allowed new religions
megachurches - have lavish resources to meet diverse needs
Stark - Japan’s religious free market has high participation