The Challenge of Secularism

Question 1

Is Britain becoming secular?

Answer 1

Not necessarily.
Whilst Christianity is decreasing, it doesn’t mean other religions are too. They are on the rise.

Question 2

Ways people talk about secularisation:

Answer 2

Casanova outlines three ways:

• Due to the ‘human development process’, through development, the requirement of religion isn’t so needed. Empiricism. Like Aristotle used to believe women didn’t have eggs.
• ‘Religion should be private and not seen in public’. But there are still huge events, like weddings.
• ‘The secular separation of spheres of state’, the Church is no longer relied on in law.

Question 3

Is secularisation really the case? Critics:

Answer 3

• Steve Bruce says England is a ‘pale shadow of its former self’.
• Linda Woodhead says there is a growth in other religions.
• Charles Taylor says we are in a ‘secular age’.

Question 4

Is globalisation global?

Answer 4

No.
We have religious radicalism/extremism now.
Some countries are very religious.
India still hunts witches.
- Immigration has also meant there are more religions.

Question 5

Feuerbach quote:

Answer 5

‘What yesterday was religion is no longer such today; and what today is atheism, tomorrow will be religion’.

It keeps changing according to trends.

Question 6

Freud quote about religion:

Answer 6

It is ‘wish fulfilment’.
Like OCD, ‘infantile neuroses’.

Question 7

What does Freud say religion is?

Answer 7

A coping mechanism.
We are trying to live up to our superego, which has developed due to behaviourism and conditioning.

‘The religions of mankind must be classed as amongst the mass delusions’.

Question 8

What does Freud say God is?

Answer 8

Due to Oedipus complex, we want to kill our father.
Our ego mediates this aspect of our Id, creates a cosmic father-like figure to worship.
Something we can control, to mediate the fear of the unknown.

Question 8

According to Freud, what does religion do???

Answer 8

Religion stops us doing evil things.

Can disagree, Sodom and Gomorrah, ‘brimstone and fire’.

Question 9

According to Freud, is religion healthy?

Answer 9

Unreliable and unhealthy.
Discourages people from taking responsibility for their own actions.

Question 10

Critiques to Freud’s view:

Answer 10

• Watts- religion is the ‘transformation from anxiety into laughter’.
• Jo Merchant- religion is healthy.
• Popper calls Freud a pseudo-scientist. He is trying to verify the subconscious, but according to logical positivists this cannot be done.

Question 11

Strengths to Freud’s view:

Answer 11

• According to RRR, religion has made God have male qualities, as seen through the trinitarian imagery of the ‘father, son and the holy spirit’.

Question 12

Charity example:

Answer 12

• Atheist Bus Campaign raised £150,000 to fund buses around the country.
• BUT, Oxfam in a year raised around £140 million and gave it to those in poverty.

Question 13

How does Dawkins refer to religion?

Answer 13

Calls it infantilism in ‘The God Delusion’.

Question 14

How does Hawkins describe the problem of religion?

Answer 14

• Thinks we should be able to live a life that is meaningful without religion.
• Religion is repressive, dress codes like the Burka.

Question 15

Dawkins and children:

Answer 15

• Says children are ‘hijacked by religious faith’.
• Uses the extreme example in his book, ‘God delusion’.
• Sexual abuse, Irish nunneries, forced baptism.
• Says being in religious schools is psychological abuse.

Question 16

Critique to his focus on children:

Answer 16

• Isn’t this just bad people, not religion?
• Is it not important for children to be taught about their religion, so that they can know about their history and who they are?
• Makes the term abuse superficial.

Question 17

What quote does Dawkins steal about children?

Answer 17

Nicholas Humphry.
‘Children have a right not to have their mind addled by nonsense’.

Question 18

Advantage to Dawkins take on children:

Answer 18

At a conference he said that there is no such thing as an ‘atheist child’ because indoctrination of any kind is wrong.

Question 19

Negative impacts of Christianity on society:

Answer 19

• Played a part in the criminalisation of homosexuality according to Dawkins.
• Restricts women rights, restricts contraception and abortion because of ‘imago dei’.

Question 20

Positive impacts of Christianity on a society:

Answer 20

• Good for mental health, as Jo Merchant says.
• Unites people, come together to worship.
• Provides hope, what is the harm in that??? God doesn’t have to be real.
• The religious extremism, small percentage in comparison to the bigger picture. Dawkins is cherry-picking.

Question 21

In what countries is there a separation between Church and State??

Answer 21

France
Turkey
USA

Question 22

Separation of Church vs State:

Answer 22

With pluralism growing, not everyone can be appeased.
State and Church should be two different matters.

Question 23

Example of why the separation is good:

Answer 23

In the Stuart Dynasty, Charles I prompted a Civil War due to his belief in Divine Right of Kings.

Question 24

Are Church and state separate in the UK?

Answer 24

No, unity through monarchy.

Question 25

Legal case of church vs State:

Answer 25

Eweida v Uk:
She wore a cross as a symbol of her faith, but was told it was a breach of policy by her employer.
She was suspended without pay.
The court upheld this.

Question 26

Religious schools:

Answer 26

Humanist association- ‘young people of all backgrounds and beliefs can learn with and from each other’.
- America does not teach RE.
- It is not common for creationism to be taught alongside science.
- Church schools are funded by Church’s and have a ‘Christian ethos’.

Question 27

Disadvantages to faith schools:

Answer 27

• Can encourage division.
• Surely school should be about education, not religion. But isn’t RE a HUGE part of history and schools are required to teach this.

Question 28

Advantages of faith schools:

Answer 28

• Professor Francis has accumulated evidence that shows those educated in Christianity are more open-minded.
• Different cultures encourages more respect.

Question 29

Those disagreeing with secular schools:

Answer 29

• Christopher Dawson- ‘The Challenge of Secularism’ says an abstinence to religion is like communism.

Question 30

Where has the hijab been banned?

Answer 30

France in 2004.

2016, France, armed police forced a woman to take off a burkini.

Question 31

What is the secularisation theory?

Answer 31

As technology advances, we lose a need for religion.

Question 32

People disagreeing with the reality of secularisation:

Answer 32

Luke Bretheron says ‘multi-faith London in full bloom’.

Question 33

Those who criticise the idea of secularisation being good:

Answer 33

Casanova says it can lead to brutality, it is used in things like fascism and communism (Red Terror in Russia).