Secularisation

Question 1

What is secularisation?

Answer 1

Wilson defines it as the process by which religious beliefs, practices and institutions lose social significance

Question 2

What was church attendance like in Britain in the 19th century and why did this change?

Answer 2

• evidence from the 1851 census of religious worship made Crockett estimate that in 1851, 40% of the adult population went to church on Sundays. This changed because of:
  1. A decline in the proportion of the population going to church
  2. A decline in the number of people holding religious beliefs
  3. An increase in the average age of churchgoers
  4. Greater religious diversity
  5. Fewer baptisms and church weddings

Question 3

What is church attendance in Britain like today?

Answer 3

• In 2015, 5% of the adult population went to church on Sundays
• Church attendance fell from 1.6mil in 1960 to less than 0.8mil in 2013
• in 1971, 60% of weddings were in church but in 2012 this fell to 30%
• Bogus baptisms; infant baptisms declined but older children got baptised to get into faith schools

Question 4

What is religious affiliation in Britain like today?

Answer 4

• the percentage of adults with no religion rose from 33% to 50%
• those identifying as Christian fell by 1/3
• those belonging to a non-Christian religion increased

Question 5

What is religious belief in Britain like today?

Answer 5

Religious belief is declining along with the decline in church attendance and membership

Question 6

What are religious institutions in Britain like today?

Answer 6

• The church influence on public life has declined
• the state has taken over many of the functions the church used to perform
• the clergy has dropped from 45k to 34k
• Bruce says if these trends continue the Methodist church will fall by 2030 and the Church of England will be a small voluntary organisation

Question 7

What is rationalisation?

Answer 7

Weber: the process by which rational ways of thinking and acting replace religious ones. The Protestant reformation started this process by undermining the religious worldview of the Middle Ages and replacing it with a scientific worldview.

Question 8

What is disenchantment?

Answer 8

Weber: God is seen as transcendent and not intervening in the world so events could be explained in terms of natural rather than supernatural forces. The Protestant reformation started the disenchantment of the world by squeezing out religious ways of thinking and enabling science to advance, giving humans more power to control nature.

Question 9

What did Bruce say about the technological worldview?

Answer 9

The growth of a technological worldview has replaced religious explanations of why things happen. Religions explanations only survive where technology is least effective eg incurable diseases.

Question 10

What is structural differentiation?

Answer 10

Parsons: a process of specialisation that occurs with the differentiation of industrial society. Religion used to dominate but the emergence of industrialisation led it to become a smaller and more specialised institution.

Question 11

What is disengagement?

Answer 11

Structural differentiation leads to the disengagement of religion. Its functions are transferred to other institutions like the state and it becomes disconnected from wider society.

Question 12

What is the privatisation of religion?

Answer 12

Bruce says religion has become privatised aka confined to the private sphere of the home and family. Religious beliefs are a matter of personal choice and religious institutions have lost their influence.

Question 13

What are the ideas surrounding social and cultural diversity?

Answer 13

• Wilson: shared values were once expressed via rituals but when religion lost its place in stable communities, it lost its hold over people.
• Bruce: industrialisation undermines the consensus of religious beliefs that hold small rural communities together.
• Bruce: the plausibilisierend of beliefs is undermined by alternatives and by individualism. The plausibility of religion depends on the existence of a practicing community of believers.

x Aldridge:
- religion can be a source of identity on a wide scale
- some religious communities interact through global media
- religious groups can flourish in impersonal urban areas

Question 14

What did Berger say about religious diversity?

Answer 14

• the Catholic Church used to have no competition, putting its members under a sacred canopy
• after the Protestant reformation, religious organisations, each with different versions of the truth, increased leading to a plurality of life worlds
• diversity undermines religion’s plausibility structure because people question all the alternatives of religion, which erodes the absolutism of religion.

Question 15

What is cultural defence and transition?

Answer 15

Bruce identifies these as two counter trends that seem to go against secularisation theory because they are associated with higher than average levels of religious participation:
- cultural defence: religion provides defence of many different identities against an external force eg a hostile foreign power
- cultural transition: religion provides support and a sense of community for ethnic groups

Question 16

What are criticisms of the religious diversity view?

Answer 16

x Berger: changed his views and argues that diversity and choice stimulate interest and participation
x Beckford: opposing views can strengthen a religious group’s commitment to its beliefs rather than undermining them.

Question 17

What is church attendance like in America?

Answer 17

• Wilson: churchgoing in America is an expression of the American way of life rather than of deeply held religious beliefs
• Opinion poll research suggests 40% of the population go church since 1940 but Hadaway et al’s research revealed that the level of attendance claimed by interviewees is 83% higher than the researchers’ estimates of church attendance in the country.
• this exaggeration may be because it is seen as socially desirable to go to church so people will say they do if asked in survey

Question 18

What is secularisation from within America?

Answer 18

Traditional Christian beliefs have declined and religion has become a form of therapy. There is less emphasis on seeking salvation in heaven and more focus on seeking personal improvement in the world.

Question 19

What is religious diversity in America?

Answer 19

Bruce identifies a trend towards practical relativism where people accept the view that others are entitled to beliefs that differ from theirs. This leads to the erosion of absolutism- living in a society where everyone has different views undermines our assumption that our own views are absolutely true.

Question 20

What are criticisms of secularisation theory?

Answer 20

• religion isn’t declining, just changing
• the theory focuses on decline and ignores the growth of new religions
• evidence of falling church attendance ignores people who believe but don’t go to church
• religion may have declined in Europe but not globally so it isn’t universal
• the past wasn’t a golden age of faith and the future won’t be an age of atheism
• religious diversity increases participation because it offers choice