Secular

Question 1

Secularisation theory

Answer 1

A theory linking a decline in religion to modernisation

Question 2

What is a new atheist

Answer 2

Vocal prominent figures who are atheist
Richard Dawkins
Steven Fry

Question 3

Religion as an illusion : Freud

Answer 3

Religion is a product of wish fulfilment
Adults can’t cope with the thought of not having rules and a purpose to life so a higher power giving out orders helps them live a better life
Religion is also used to repress human desires

Question 4

Dawkins on religion

Answer 4

Should be something for children to escape
Life should be meaningful without reference to religion
The human need for God is infantile and adults should be able to find meaning in life beyond God

Question 5

How does Bruce describe Christianity in Britain

Answer 5

Describes Christianity in Britain as pale shadow of its former self

Question 6

How does Dawkins see brining up a child as a Christian

Answer 6

A form of long-term psychological abuse
For example, he draws on conversations he’d had with a girl who had been sexually abused - the fear of going to hell was a greater pain then the abuse

Question 7

Jo Marchant thoughts on religion

Answer 7

Scientist who suggested their is compelling evidence for positive medical and psychological benefits arising from some beliefs
Doesn’t seek to defend religion but explores how a range of practices and beliefs bring about psychologically measurable benefits to participants

Question 8

Example of a specific study done by Jo Marchant

Answer 8

She cites a study by scientist who studies loneliness and found that social connections and belief in the transcendent were important features for living a happier and longer life.
These features were prominent in religious believers

Question 9

Is Marchant disagreeing with Freud’s analysis of why people are religious ?

Answer 9

Not necessarily, but the scientists she interviewed came to a radically different conclusion to the one Freud reached

Question 10

How did the French Revolution create a separation between church and state

Answer 10

Due to the enlightenment, people had more and more ideas about government and started to think for themselves
They decided that the “divine right of kings” is not convincing and they overthrew the monarchy and removed religion from established positions of power in France

Question 11

Dawkins thoughts on religion in schools

Answer 11

Worried about it
Suggests religious fundamentalism subverts science, replacing an evidence based approach to understanding the world with superstition, which leads to people missing the beautiful truths of evolution and science

Question 12

Dawkins concerns over teaching evolution and other religious theories like creationism in school

Answer 12

This fails to give credit to the evidence that supports evolution and places an interpretation of the Bible above robust scientific accounts
He is concerned that schools teach kids “from their earliest days” that unquestioning faith is a virtue

Question 13

Argument for the church being involved in schools (heritage argument)

Answer 13

In England, school system established by Christian Churches long before the national government was prepared to ensure education for all children
The relationship between the church and education is therefore, deep routed and this has led to what is called the ‘heritage argument’ in defence of religious schools

Question 14

Argument for religious schools (ownership argument)

Answer 14

Churches built many schools for the poor in England, and indeed continue to own large amounts of school property, and so removing schools from church control would be an act of robbery.

Question 15

Argument for religious schools (parents wants)

Answer 15

Parents who want their kids education shaped by religious ethos should have that option available to them
A plural and diverse society should have plural and diverse kinds of schools

Question 16

Argument for religious schools (diversity and ethnicity)

Answer 16

It is not clear that religious schools are necessarily less diverse than non religious schools when the measure is ethnicity
Catholic populations in England often have a greater proportion of poorer migrant families, and the resulting school populations may have richly diverse culture and linguistic traditions as a result
It is unfair to label religion as the only thing that segregates school pupils in England - many other factors like socio-economic and cultural ones also result in poor integration

Question 17

Evaluate the claim separate schools produce children less open to living in religious diverse societies and who are more prejudice against people from other religious backgrounds

Answer 17

Not supported by empirical evidence according to religious researchers at the University of Warwick
Professor Leslie Francis suggests there is evidence that young people, who are themselves committed to Christianity are more, not less, open to people from other religious backgrounds and that there is more committed Christian students in Church schools then other schools. Consequently, more positive attitude towards religious diversity in Chruch schools
He observes that church schools do have a greater concentration of Christian students but there’s no evidence that the schools themselves contribute to positive attitudes towards religious diversity in these schools - this is down to the pupils personal beliefs

Question 18

Dawkins argument about how schools should reflect society

Answer 18

If a secular state is defined as : not a de-religionised space, but as a radically plural soace containing many communities, many voices, multiple modernities, where different groups can experiment with different models of the good life, then school schools reflect this diversity

Question 19

Why does David Ford believe beginnings of secularisation led to important development in Western European thinking

Answer 19

The thirty year war (1618-48) consisted of terrible conflicts in Central Europe fuelled by religious difference
Experiences during the war allowed people to see a value in what Ford calls ‘minimal secularism’, which allowed communities to live in peaceful tolerance of one another
A concept of public good that wasn’t threatened by religious conference and that made space for religious minorities was born.

Question 20

Arguments for Christianity being a major cause of personal and social problems

Answer 20

Christianity can be seen as having a negative impact on society
Can be seen as patriarchal and sexist in a way that depicts women narrowly and limits their chances in life
For example, traditionally, only men have been allowed to take on leadership roles within Christian Churches and women have been defined exclusively in terms of motherhood

Question 21

Dawkins argument in how Christianity encourages infantile and unscientific views of the world

Answer 21

For example, Dawkins points to the role he says Christianity played in the criminalisation of homosexuality (legalised only in 1967)
Points to the American Taliban (evangelical Christians who say that Aids is God’s punishment on homosexuals) as an illustration of how upsetting ideas can be developed through religion
Problem with absolutist religion is that it exercises influence over the law to criminalise anything that differed to the moral absolutes it offers