YR2 BELIEFS: secularisation Flashcards
define secularisation
the process whereby religious beliefs, practices and institutions lose social significance.
name 3 major changes in religion in Britain over the last few decades
- less regular Church attendance
- fewer baptisms
- fewer Church weddings
- increase in the average age of Churchgoers
- increase in atheists
- greater diversity of religions
give 2 statistics regarding secularisation in Britain from the 2011 and 2021 census data.
- just over a third of UK population = non religious
- 8% more non religious in 2021 than 2011
- 13% decrease of Christians
- 1.5% increase of Muslims
What does Wilson (1996) argue about secularisation?
Western societies have been undergoing a long term process of secularisation.
What 5 aspects of religion can be used as evidence to prove that Western societies have been undergoing a long term process of secularisation?
- Church attendance
- Bogus Baptisms
- Religious affiliation today
- Religious belief today
-Religious institutions today
give an example of how church attendance can prove that Western societies have been undergoing a long term process of secularisation.
-Sunday attendance in the Church of England fell from 1.6m in 1960 to to under 0.8m in 2013
give an example of how bogus baptisms can prove that Western societies have been undergoing a long term process of secularisation.
there are now more baptisms for other purposes that aren’t religious. such as for parties, as tradition, or so that children can be accepted into (better) religious schools.
give an example of how religious belief today can prove that Western societies have been undergoing a long term process of secularisation.
evidence from 80 years of survey shows that religious belief is declining along with the decline of Church attendance + membership
give an example of how religious affiliation today can prove that Western societies have been undergoing a long term process of secularisation.
- number of Muslims increased
- Church of England members more than halved
- 1983 - 2014: % of non religious adults rose from around 1/3 to around 1/2
give an example of how religious institutions can prove that Western societies have been undergoing a long term process of secularisation.
the state has taken over many of the functions that the Church used to perform like education, hospitals. During the 1900s, the number of clergy in the UK fell from 45,000 to 34,000
what are the 5 main explanations for secularisation?
1) Rationalism
2) Structural Differentiation
3) Social & Cultural Diversity
4) Religious Diversity
5) Cultural defence + transition
summarise the rationalism explanation for British secularisation.
WEBER / BRUCE
-Medieval Catholic worldview dominated society and saw the world as an ‘enchanted garden’ with spiritual beings active in our world.
-Protestant Reformation brought new views that spiritual beings were outside of our world + not active.
-Thus events couldn’t be explained as the work of spiritual beings and scientific reasoning started to take over
-‘disenchantment’ of the world. allowed science to thrive and dominate as well as technological advances.
-‘technological worldview’ that leaves little room for religious explanations
summarise the cultural defence and transition explanation for British secularisation. BRUCE
2 trends that seem to go against secularisation theory:
cultural defence - religion provides a focal point for the defence of national, ethnic or group identity, in a hostile environment
cultural transition - religion provides support and sense of community for groups when transitioning into a new culture
- religion survives in such situations only because its the focus of group identity. when religion is no longer need to perform these functions, its likely to decline. for example, second generation migrants tend to be less religious than first generation migrants
summarise the social + cultural diversity explanation for British secularisation. WILSON / BRUCE
- movement from pre industrial to industrial society brings the decline of community = decline of religion.
- pre industrial communities had shared values and religious rituals that integrated people. as communities become fragmented, religion loses its hold over individuals.
- large urban communities = diverse in beliefs and values. therefore industrialisation undermines the consensus of religious beliefs
summarise the religious diversity explanation for British secularisation. BERGER
- middle ages - catholic church held an absolute monopoly with no competition.
-everyone lived under one single ‘sacred canopy’ with one set of beliefs shared by all - this gave them greater credibility as they were never challenged.
- Protestant reformation brought a series of Churches and sects.
- since then the number and variety of different religions has increased, each with a different version of the truth
- religious diversity means that no religion can now claim an unchallenged monopoly of the truth - people disengage.
