Secularisation Flashcards
Comte
Religion will eventually disappear and science will dominate
Stats for secularisation (2)
Beliefs in ‘personal God’ halved between 1961-2000
Atheist grown from 31% to 51% in 2009
Stats against secularisation
53% believe in afterlife
Wilson- participation and belief (3)
Definition- how many ppl attend place of worship and hold religious beliefs
Evidence for secularisation- decline in church attendance
Evidence against secularisation- ‘sacred self’
Wilson- religious disengagement (3)
Definition- separation of church from state
Evidence for secularisation- same-sex marriage
Evidence against secularisation- fundamentalist Islamic states (ISIS)
Wilson- religious pluralism (3)
Definition- competing religions- claim monopoly of truth
Evidence for secularisation- crisis of meaning, traditional beliefs declining
Evidence against secularisation- Davie- ppl practice in a more personal way, believing w/out belonging
Wilson- desacralisation and rationalisation (3)
Definition- religious beliefs become less important and science beliefs prevail
Evidence for secularisation- disenchantment of the world
Evidence against secularisation- religious resurgence, NAMs
Wilson- secularisation of religious institutions (3)
Definition- churches moved from purely spiritual to more community based centres
Evidence for secularisation- Bruce- watered-down beliefs
Evidence against secularisation- fundamentalist groups
Evaluating Wilson’s measures (3)
Hard to operationalise religiosity :(
Substantive definition- some evidence for decline :(
Functional definition- wider range (NAMs) so growth :)
Contemporary views on secularisation debate (Davie) (2)
Davie- belief without belonging: believe in religion but don’t belong to an organisation
Davie- vicarious religion: minority are religious on behalf of a silent majority who appreciate their efforts
Heelas and Woodhead- Kendal project and spiritual revolution thesis
Definitions (2)
Secularisation theorists- decline in trad Christianity
Sacralisation theorists- growth in new age spirituality
Heelas and Woodhead- Kendal project and spiritual revolution thesis
Methodology (3)
Had to filter out certain groups- some yoga groups did not see it as spiritual
Kendal- m/c white older people- not very representative
Compared ‘congregational domain’ (churches) and ‘holistic milieu’ (cults)
Heelas and Woodhead- Kendal project and spiritual revolution thesis
Results (2)
Attendance at churches- 8% of Kendal pop.
Holistic milieu showed strong growth- 95 practitioners in 2000 compared to 3 in 1970s
Heelas and Woodhead- Kendal project and spiritual revolution thesis
Conclusion (2)
‘The spiritual revolution clearly has not taken place in Kendal’
If trends continue the revolution will take place in 20-30 years
Kendal project and the secularisation debate (2)
Suggest NAMs cannot be dismissed as easily as some theorists argue- evidence against secularisation as religion is still being explored but in less traditional forms