Secularisation Flashcards
Bruce 2002
Predicts the decline of religion
Linked to E______ theory
It is linked to the enlightenment theory which seeks to favour science over religion
Wilson 2016
Decline in the social significance of religion
Philpott 2009
Secularism is an active opposition to religion
Weber states…
modern ideologies would replace religious ones
Wallace 1996: 266
“belief in supernatural powers is doomed to die out, all over the world”
Bruce 2002 statistic
in a period of 30 years the rate of mass attendance went down from 12% to 7.5% of the global population
Processes associated with modernisation:
1) urbanisation
2) science and technology
3) enlightenment and rationalism
4) competing political ideologies
5) literacy and education
Science and technology explained:
Spencer 2003 = mathematical achievements emphasised the idea that mankind is superior and able to manipulate nature
Enlightenment and rationalism explained:
Spencer 2003 = states that rationalism was thought to have rendered the central claims of the Church implausible, blowing away supersticious dogma in western europe.
Man has the ability to develop empirical ideas.
Competing political ideologies explained:
Keohane 2002 = secular thinking is also ensconsed in modern theories of international relations and comparative politics within political science
How will religion decline? (4 ways):
1) religions role in government
2) religions role in the public sphere
3) the power and public influence of religious institutions
4) personal religiosity
Questioning a secular age? Taylor quote (2007: 3) =
“a move from a society where belief in God is unchallenged…to one which it is understood to be one option among others”
what does questioning a secualr age mean?
- recognises the importance of both religion and secularity
- no world view is universally satisfactory
Science as reinforcing religion…
- Einstein said that science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind.
- Science and religion live side by side as modes of explaining the mysteries of life and the universe, and complete each other.
Asad (2003) supports this pluralisatic understanding:
within contemprary society, religion should not be viewed as the past, but should be something that societies use to theorise the future
Luchmann (2003) supports this pluralistic understanding:
states that religion is a constituent element of human life
State secularism is where…
the state/politics are not seen to endorse religion
Separationism =
- state neutrality on religion
- gives no preference to a particular religion and does not restrict the presence of religion in the public sphere
- e.g. USA
USA example…
Kuru 2009 = while there is a struggle between conservatives and liberals over the role religion should play, both sides support the expression of religion in public life
Absolute separatism =
Madeley 2009 = governemtn action should not help or hinder any religion more than another. Government action should always be neutral.
Absolute separatism x2 =
Esbeck 1998 = this allows governments to support or restrict religion as long as the outcome is equal for all religions
Laicism =
- declares that not only does the state not support any religion, but it also restricts the presence of religion in the public sphere
- these can include restrictions on public religion activity (clothing) and religious institutions (places of worship)
- seeks to restrict religious liberty
- seen in mostly modern democratic states
Laicism example =
Kuru 2009 = in Turkey, traditional muslim head-coverings for women have been banned in many public spaces including schools
How many critiques are there to secularism?
around 6
1) it is a new system for worldwide domination:
Nandy 1988 = to accept the secularist ideology is to accept western ideologies of modernity as the new justifications of domination
2) attempts to fix the ideal of a religious past and secular present
Thomas 2005 = secularisation is a myth created by western intellectuals based on their desires rather than empirical reality
3) we can see inconsistencies within countries governmental policies (against state secularism)
Fox 2008 France = france who’s government is based on laicism still has religious legislation that involves the continuation of historical practicies that predate the current regime of laicism.
Fox 2008 Nigeria = their 1999 constitution bans both national and local governments from adopting a religion as the state religion. However many of the countries muslim-majority states have begun to adopt sharia law as the state law.
4) does not allow the understanding of religion in contemprary society
Ebaugh 2002
5) it undermines equality
Taylor 2007 = states that when governments demand that citizens should be free from religion, it adopts an agnostic conception of the good
- this undermines equality for those citizens whose belief expresses in some ways religious commitment
6) there is actually little evidence for a decline - Berger 1999
found little evidence of religious decline around the world - only evident in western europe
6) there is actually little evidence for a decline - Casanova 1994
there is a higher number of bishops within secular communist poland than there was pre-communism
6) there is actually little evidence for a decline - Phillips 2004
within America there has been a rise in Mormons attending church as a way to preserve identity and solidarity against a secular state
