The Secularisation Thesis

Question 1

what is the secularisation thesis?

Answer 1

the idea that religious beliefs are becoming less plausible and less appealing so religion is declining in importance

Question 2

what is Wilson’s definition of secularisation?

Answer 2

‘the process whereby religious thinking, practice and institutions lose significance.’

Question 3

what is an exclusivist definition of religion?

Answer 3

sees it as involving belief in the supernatural

Question 4

what is an inclusivist definition of religion? and what does this definition mean for religion?

Answer 4

sees it as including a wide range of beliefs and activities to which people give sacred qualities. such a definition means religion is unlikely to decline

Question 5

what does Aldridge say about inclusivist definitions of religion?

Answer 5

such all embracing evidence for the continued existence of religion is not telling us anything it is ‘a mere trick of definition.’

Question 6

why is it difficult for secularisation supporters to show that society was more religious in the past?

Answer 6

• historical records about the strength of religion are sparse
• data collection wasn’t reliable
• there were no opinion polls
  most people 150 years ago couldn’t read or write so records that exist are about a small privileged section of society and tell us little about the religiousness of ordinary people

Question 7

the first census in …… found that …..% of people in england and wales attended church

Answer 7

1851

40%

Question 8

who said that in victorian britain church attendance was a socially necessary part of middle class respectability

Answer 8

Martin

Question 9

what does Davie say about believing without belonging?

Answer 9

that religion can be private and people increasingly believe without belonging meaning religious people aren’t included in statistics

Question 10

the ….. census asked ‘what is your religion?’ …% answered with a religion.
what is the assumption this question makes?

Answer 10

2011
68%
that people should have a religion

Question 11

a YouGov study in …… asked ‘are you religious?’ and only …..% said yes
what is this question open to?

Answer 11

2011
29%
the possibility that people may not have one

Question 12

why are statistics on religion difficult to interpret? 4 reasons

Answer 12

• what counts as practicing may vary for different groups
• information about small groups often unavailable and some may exaggerate to increase image of importance
• lots of practice isn’t recorded e.g. christian housechurch movement
• different denominations use different criteria for membership so apparently similar figures may be recording different things e.g. the church of england record who is baptised, whether they attend etc while Jehovah’s witnesses only record the people who show the high commitment demanded

Question 13

what could be causes of secularisation? 6 reasons

Answer 13

• declining attraction
• many functions religion used to carry out have been taken over by the welfare state
• traditional religions have faced challenges to teachings and growth of science
• changing leisure patterns
• decline in trust of metanarratives
• religious pluralism means religion can no longer command respect from the whole of society

Question 14

who argued that the growth of scientific explanations for why things happen has undermined religious belief?

Answer 14

Bruce

Question 15

the …. census found …. people in england and wales had no religion

Answer 15

2011

1/4

Question 16

who suggests religious beliefs are now a last resort concerned with areas of life which science cannot control?
give a quote

Answer 16

bruce

‘when we have tried every cure for cancer, some of us pray.’

Question 17

what does Bruce argue about Davie’s idea of believing without belonging?

Answer 17

that it is a halfway house

Question 18

churches used to disapprove of divorce, cohabitation etc but are now forced to accept it and water down beliefs what does this show?

Answer 18

a decline in strength of religion in society and influence on people’s actions

Question 19

what does Berger argue is a cause of secularisation?

Answer 19

the trend towards religious diversity. society is no longer unified under a single sacred canopy so beliefs can be questioned while in the past the churches version of the truth remained unchallenged

Question 20

who argues metanarratives have lost their power to influence how people think, interpret and explain the world so people are less willing to be told be religious authorities what to believe

Answer 20

Lyotard

Question 21

what does Bruce point out about NAM involvement?

Answer 21

that it is shallow and barely goes beyond reading a few books and they are usually more secular therapies

Question 22

who says that although many still claim to believe in a spirit or life force this is actually an indicator of growing secularisation not continuing religiosity, what does it represent?

Answer 22

a halfway house, where people are moving away from religious beliefs but afraid to say that they are non believers

Question 23

what did Dawkins find about those who identified with Christianity?

Answer 23

60% had not read the bible

Question 24

in 2007, …% of the population attended religious services on most sundays while in …., …% of the population did

Answer 24

2%
1851
40%

Question 25

How many marriages now contain a religious ceremony?

Answer 25

1/3

Question 26

who found that believing and belonging is falling at a similar rate they found that the majority of people who are ......... do not consider themselves religious or have any belief in god

Answer 26

voas and crockett | unchurched

Question 27

any growth of sects, cults and NAM's is insignificant to the membership loss of the major denominations so this is not a sign of ....

Answer 27

a spiritual revolution as heelas suggested

Question 28

Bruce argues the influence of sects, cults and NAM's is marginal so cannot be seen as taking the place of established religions in society and are not a sigh of....

Answer 28

Heelas' spiritual revolution

Question 29

who regards sects as the last outposts of religion in society and what does this show about religion?

Answer 29

Wilson | that religion can only survive in isolation from the secular influences of society

Question 30

Who points out in the middle ages the church was the dominant social institution of Europe and exercised power in terms of the secular areas of life like law making and education, religion therefore.......

Answer 30

Bruce affected many areas of life and was a major influence on how people saw the world while today religious institutions have become increasingly marginalised and no longer directly involved in important areas of social life so has lost significance and influence

Question 31

what is evidence that people can live their life untouched by religious institutions?

Answer 31

- less influence on social policy - rites of passage can be performed without religious ceremony - church buildings are crumbling, used to be kept elaborate and in past society even the poor donated - sunday schools nearly non-existent` (only 1/25 go while half a century ago all children went)

Question 32

explain martin's theory of how religious institutions have disengaged from society and use parsons ideas

Answer 32

they have withdrawn from many areas of life which Parsons saw as a proccess of structural differentiation which is the way new, more specialised institutions take over functions once performed by a single institution. e.g. the welfare state now provides free education and the NHS care for the sick reducing the significance of religion in peoples lives.

Question 33

who said that even when people hold beliefs the fact that they know others hold different ones so the plausibility of their own religion is questioned

Answer 33

Bruce

Question 34

what does aldridge say about religious diversity?

Answer 34

'the very fact of religious diversity introduces doubt.'

Question 35

how can ecumenicalism be a sign of religious weakness?

Answer 35

once powerful and independent institutions are now forced to compromise with each other to save themselves

Question 36

what is 'secularisation from within' and who came up with it? why did he say that religious participation remains high in the USA?

Answer 36

Herberg the watering down of beliefs to fit into secular society e.g. most churches now accept cohabitation - they are so weak they can no longer set trends but have to follow them USA attendance remains high because traditional doctrines have been played down religious participation remains high as it has become almost a part of secular life

Question 37

who used the term disneyisation and explain it?

Answer 37

Bryman | where religion is simplified and trivialised to create a neutral product.

Question 38

Give Lyon's example of disneyisation and how disneyisation works

Answer 38

Harvest day crusade at disneyland enabling religion to interact with the artificial world making religion seem less serious. religion is now a product to consume and disneyisation increases its appeal in the spiritual supermarket

Question 39

the Eurobarameter found that while only ....% of people believed in a God, a further ... believed in a spirit or life force so up to ....% of people still have elements of religiosity in their thinking

Answer 39

37% 33& 70%

Question 40

What is Heelas' spiritual revolution?

Answer 40

while there may be secularisation in relation to traditional religions there is a process of resacralisation as people reorient themselves to a more individualistic spirituality

Question 41

what christian denominations are growing?

Answer 41

Pentecostalism and evangelical

Question 42

2009 citizenship survey shows that ..% of muslims practice their religion

Answer 42

79%

Question 43

who argued that declining church attendance doesn't necessarily mean declining religiousity but a search for a more personal religion what did davie call this?

Answer 43

Bellah | belief without belonging

Question 44

what may NRM's be a response to?

Answer 44

spirituality that people feel is lacking in traditional religions

Question 45

despite overall decline in attendance people still use rites of passage religious ceremonies ....% of funerals involve a religious ceremony of some kind

Answer 45

90%

Question 46

in some countries religion is growing, what do Norris and Inglehart point out?

Answer 46

the world has more people in it with traditional religious beliefs than ever before due to high birthrates in Chad and Rwanda where religious belief is high