Secularisation Flashcards
What are some explanations for the shift towards secularisation?
Give at least three examples.
At least three from:
- Rationalism
- Disenchantment
- Technological Worldview
- Structural Differentiation
- Diversity of Occupations, Cultures and Lifestyles
- Cultural Defence and Cultural Transition
What is disenchantment?
- The idea that events were no longer to be explained as the work of unpredictable, supernatural meanings, but as the work of natural forces. All that was needed to understand them was rationality (the power of reason).
- Using reason and science, humans could discover the laws of nature and predict how the world works and control it through technology. There is no longer a need for religious explanations of the world.
What is structural differentation?
- The process of specialisation that occurs with the development of industrial society. Separate, specialised institutions develop to carry out functions that were previously performed by one institution.
Complete the following sentence:
Even where people continue to hold _____ beliefs, they cannot ______ knowing that many people around them hold ________ beliefs.
- Religious
- Avoid
- Different
What are some of the reasons for secularisation in America?
Give at least three examples.
At least three from:
- Declining Church Attendance
- Secularisation From Within
- Religious Diversity
Complete the following sentence:
Opinion poll research asking people about ______ attendance suggests that it has been _____ (at about _____ of population) since _______.
- Church
- Stable
- 40%
- 1940
Complete the following sentence:
There is evidence that this tendency to _______ churchgoing is a ________ development. Until the ______, the findings of opinion polls _______ the churches’ own estimates, but since then, the ‘attendance gap’ has __________. For example, a study of attendance at Catholic mass in San Francisco found that in ______, opinion polls exaggerated attendance by ________ but by 1996, the exaggeration had ______ to 101%.
- Churchgoing
- Recent
- 1970s
- Matched
- Widened
- 1972
- 47%
- Doubled
Complete the following sentence:
The emphasis on _______ Christian beliefs and glorifying God has _________ and religion in America has become ‘psychologised’ or turned into a form of ____________. This change has enabled it to fit in with _______ society.
- Traditional
- Declined
- Therapy
- Secular
Complete the following sentence:
American religion has remained _______ by becoming ______ religious. The purpose of religion has _______ from seeking salvation in _______ to seeking personal improvement in the world. This decline in commitment to traditional beliefs, can be seen in people’s ______ and lifestyles.
- Popular
- Less
- Changed
- Heaven
- Attitudes
Complete the following sentence:
Churchgoers are now much _______ strict than previously in their _______ to traditional religious morality. For example, in 1951 ______ of people thought that smoking was morally wrong, whereas in 1982, only _________ thought that this was morally wrong.
- Less
- Adherence
- 93%
- 51%
Complete the following sentence:
The _______ of religious _______ has also contributed to ________ from within. Churchgoers are becoming less dogmatic in their views.
- Growth
- Diversity
- Secularisation
Overall, how can theories of secularisation be evaluated?
Give at least two examples.
Secularisation theorists put forward strong arguments and evidence to support their claims that religious beliefs, practises and institutions have declined both in Britain and America. However, secularisation theory has been criticised in several ways. Its opponents highlight the following points (at least two from:
- Religion is not declining but is changing.
- Secularisation is one sided. It focusses on decline and ignores religious revivals and 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 secularisation is not universal.
- The past was not a ‘golden age’ of faith from which we have declined, the future will not be an age of atheism.
- Far from causing decline, religious diversity increases participation because it offers choice. There is now overall downward trend. Religious trends point in different directions and people make use of religion in all sorts of different ways.
