SECULRAISATION

Question 1

Secularisation

Answer 1

The decline in the importance of religion

Question 2

Evidence for secularisation

Answer 2

• Lower church attendance
• Decline in religious practices and baptisms
• Decline in the number of people who are affiliated with a religion or hold religious beliefs
• The decline in the influence of religion as a social institution

Question 3

Wilson
Lower church attendance

Answer 3

• Secularisation is the process whereby religious beliefs, institutions and practices have lost social influence.
• Western societies have been undergoing long term secularisation
• For example, church attendance in England and Wales had fallen from 40% of the pop in the mid 19th cent to 10-15% by the 1960s
• These identified trends have continued with Churchgoing in Britain having more than halved in 2015 since Wilson’s research in the 1960s.

Question 4

Hadaway et al, 1984
Lower church attendance

Answer 4

• Compared one church in Ohio’s claimed attendance level in opinion polls to the number of cars in the church carpark.
• Their attendance level was 83% higher than researchers actually counted.

Question 5

Church attendance
EV.

Answer 5

• The validity of these statistics should be questioned as poor methodology is used to derive these results (carpark).
• The reliability is probably also poor as data collection methods change and some religious organisations don’t keep records.
• There is also disparity between the results found.

Question 6

Religious practice

Answer 6

The things people do to carry out their religious commitment, such as the extent to which they take part in acts of religious worship and devotion, like attending church, mosque, or temple.

Question 7

Decline in religious practices and baptisms

Answer 7

• In 2012there were half the number of weddings held at a church than in 1971
• Infant baptisms have also fallen steadily.
• Though baptisms of older children have increased in recent years many have identified this simply as an entry ticket to faith schools which are often higher performing rather than a sign of Christian commitment.

Question 8

Religious thinking

Answer 8

• The influence of religion on people’s beliefs and values, such as the importance as the importance of religion in their lives, whether they see themselves as religious people, whether they believe in things like Gods, spirits, good and evil and life after death.

Question 9

British Social Attitudes Survey, 2015

Answer 9

Decline in the number of people who are affiliated with a religion or hold religious beliefs.

• Found that between 1983-2014 the % of adults with no religion rose from around 1/3 to around 1/2.
• In the same period, those identifying as Christian fell by 1/3
  HOWEVER
• The no. of Catholics increased slightly, due to East European immigration as did those belonging to a non-Christian religion partly due to immigration and higher birth rates.

Question 10

Decline in the number of people who are affiliated with a religion or hold religious beliefs

Answer 10

80 years of survey research shows that religious belief is declining e.g. the decline in the belief in a personal god, in Jesus as the son of God and in Christian teachings about the afterlife and the Bible.

Question 11

Bruce, 2002

Answer 11

“Whether we measure church membership, church attendance, the popularity of religious ceremonies to mark rites of passage, or religious belief, we find that there is a steady and unremitting decline.”

Question 12

Explanations of secularisation

Answer 12

• Rationalisation
• Structural differentiation
• Social and cultural diversity
• Religious diversity
• Cultural defence and transition

Question 13

Heelas and Woodhead, 2000

Answer 13

• Disappearance thesis - modernity is bringing about the death of religion. The significance of religion for society and individuals is declining until it disappears.
• Differentiation thesis - religion is declining in social significance as it no longer plays an important part in society.
• But religion does influence politics?
• Immigration has brought diversity of belief

Question 14

Religious institutions

Answer 14

The extent to which religious institutions have maintained their social influence in wider society, and how far they are actively involved and influence the day-to-day running of society.

Question 15

Exclusivist model of religion

Answer 15

A narrow definition of what constitutes ‘religion’

Question 16

Inclusivist model of religion

Answer 16

Much broader possibility including political movements and value systems like humanism, neither of which would be seen as religious by more exclusivist approaches.