Secularisation

According to the 1851, what percentage of the British attended church on Sundays?

40%

What significant changes in religion in the UK have we seen since the 1850s? [5]

• A decline in the proportion of the population going to Church.

• An increase in the average age of going to Church.

• Fewer baptisms and church weddings.

• A decline in the number of people holding traditional Christian beliefs.

• Greater diversity, including more non-Christian religions.

Who argues that Western society has been undergoing a long-term process of secularisation?

Wilson (1966)

What does Wilson (1966) say about religion in Western society?

He argues that in Western society has been undergoing a long-term process of secularisation.

What is secularisation?

The process whereby religious beliefs, practices and institutions lose social significance.

About what percentage of the adult population attended church on Sundays in 2015?

5%

What does the English Church Census (2006) note about church attendance?

Attendances at large organisations have declined whilst smaller organisations still have a stable or steadily growing congregation.

How has the number of church weddings changed in the UK?

In 1971, 60% of weddings were in church, but in 2012 only 30% of weddings were in a church.

What is a new trend that has arised regarding baptisms?

There has been an increase in bogus baptisms where children get baptised at older ages to get into the good Catholic schools.

What is religious affiliation?

A person’s membership of or identification with a religion.

According to the British Socail Attitudes Survey (2015), how has religious affiliation among adults changed?

Between 1983 and 2014, the percentage of adults with no religion rose from around a third to a round a half.

How has the number of Catholics in the UK changed and why?

The number of Catholics increased slightly due to East European migration.

How has religious belief in the UK changed?

• Alongside church attendance and religious membership, religious belief is declining.

• E.g. surveys show a significant decline in belief in a personal God, in Jesus as the son of God and Christian teachings about the Bible and the afterlife.

How has the influence of religious institutions changed?

• The influence of religion as a social institution has also declined.

• The Church still has some influence on public life, though limited, e.g. 26 Church of England bishops sit in the House of Lords.

• The State has taken over many of the functions that previously belonged to the Church.

• Until the mid-19th century, it was the Church that provided education, now it’s the state.

How has the clergy changed over time? [5]

• During the 20th century, the number of clergy fell from 45,000 to 34,000.

• The number of Catholic priests fell by a third between 1965 and 2011.

• The clergy are also an ageing workforce.

  • Only 12% of the clergy are under 40.

• The lack of clergy has reduced the daily influence of the church.

Who argues that there is no longer enough members of the clergy to maintain religious institutions?

Woodhead (2014)

Who argues that although many Americans attended church in 1962, this was just because it was part of the American way of life?

Wilson (___)

What does Wilson (____) say about secularisation in America? [3]

• He found that in 1962, 45% of Americans attended church.

• But this was just because church going was part of the American way of life, not because of genuine belief.

• He claims that America was a secular society, not because they had abandoned the church but because their belief was superficial.

What three sources does Bruce (2002; 2011) use to prove secularisation in America?

• Declinig church attendance

• Secularisation from within

• A trend towards religious diveristy and relativism

According to opinion polls, what is the trend in church attendance in the US?

Church attendance has been stable at about 40% of the population since 1940.

Who criticises the statistics on church gained from opibion polls?

Hadaway (1993)

How does Hadaway (1993) criticise opinion poll statistics on church attendance?

• The opinion polls did not match the churches’ own attendance statistics.

• If 40% of Americans were going to church, they would be full - but they’re not.

Who conducted a study to investigate if polls exaggerated church attendance?

Hadaway et al (1993)

How did Hadaway et al (1993) investigate the attendance gap and what did they find? [6]

• They conducted head counts and interviews at a church in Ohio.

• They found that the level of attendance claimed by the interviewees was 83% higher than the researchers’ estimates of actual church attendance in the county.

• It’s believe that this tendency to exaggerate churchgoing is a recent trend.

• Until the 1970s, the findings of opinion polls matched the churches’ own estimates.

• Since then the attendance gap has widened.

• This gap may be due to the fact that attending church is still seen as socially desirable.

What does Bruce say about secularisation within? [5]

• Bruce argues that the way American religion has adjusted to the modern world → secularisation from within.

• Traditional Christian beliefs and glorifying God has declined and Christianity in America has become psychologised.

  • I.e. American religion has become stayed popular because it’s become less religious.

• The purpose of religion has gone from seeking salvation in heaven, to seeking personal improvement in this world.

  • This is evident in the fact that churchgoers are less strict in their adherence to traditional religious morality compared to the past.

How has religious diversity led to secularisation? [5]

• Growth in religious diversity has also led to more secularisation within and churchgoers becoming less dogmatic in their views.

• Bruce identifies a trend towards practical relativism among American Christians.

  • This includes the belief that others are entitled to hold their own beliefs.

• Practical relativism also goes hand in hand with the erosion of absolutism.

  • Now that people hold different views to us, it undermines the assumption that our own views are absolutely true.

Who’s study shows a shift towards practical relativism?

Lynd and Lynd (1929)

What does Lynd and Lynd’s (1929) study show? [3]

• Their study shows a shift towards practical relativism.

• In 1924, 94% of churchgoing youth agreed with the statement that “Christianity is the one true religion and all people should be converted to it”.

• However, in 1977 only 41% agreed.

What are criticisms of secularisation theory? [6]

• Religion is not declining but simply changing its form.

• Secularisation theory is one-sided and ignores the growth and revival of different religious movements.

• Evidence of falling church attendance ignores people who believe but don’t go to church.

• Religion may have declined in Europe, but not globally.

• The past was not a golden age of faith from which we have declined.

• Religious diversity doesn’t lead to secularisation, but instead increases participation in religion by offering choice.

What are the common explanations of modernisation? [3]

• Modernisation → decline in tradition and the emergence of scientific and rational thinking.

• Industrialisation → the break up of small communities that were held together by religion.

• The growth of religious diversity.

What is rationalisation?

The process by which rational ways of thinking and acting replace religious ones.

Who argues that the Protestant reformation started the process of rationalisation?

Weber (1905)

How does Weber (1905) explain secularisation?

• He argued that the Protestant Reformation started the process of rationalisation.

• The medieval Catholic worldview saw the world as an enchanted garden.

• It was believed that God and other spiritual beings were active in this world so people would try to influence them through prayers, spells, fasts, pilgrimages etc.

• However, the Protestant Reformation brought a new worldview that saw God as transcendent.

  • They did not believe that God actively interfered with the world and its events which meant that they began to see the world and events as the predictable workings of natural forces.

• Once they developed rationality, humans could understand and predict the world through science.

• There was no longer a need for religious explanations as the world was no longer an enchanted garden.

• Therefore, Weber believes that the Protestant Reformation began the disenchantment of the world

Who argues that our technological worldview has replaced religious explanations for why things happen?

Bruce (2011)

How does Bruce (2011) explain secularisation? [4]

• He argues that the growth of a technological worldview has replaced religious explanations of why things happen.

• E.g. when a plane crashes, we look at scientific and technological explanations rather than seeing it as the work of God or demons.

• This means that there is little room for religious explanations in everyday life.

• Bruce concludes that although scientific explanations do not challenge religion, they do leave little scope for religious explanations.

What is structural differentiation?

The process of specialisation that occurs with the development of industrial society.

What is the impact of structural differentiation?

This causes separate, specialised institutions to develop and carry out the functions previously performed by a single institution.

Who argues that structural differentiation has happened to religion?

Parsons (1951)

How does Parsons (1951) explain secularisation?

• He argues that structural differentiation has happened to religion.

• In pre-industrial society, religion dominated, but it has now become a smaller and more specialised institution.

• This has led to the disengagement of religion.

• It’s functions have been transferred to other institutions → religion becoming more disconnected from wider society.

Who argues that religion has become privatised?

Bruce

What does Wilson say about social change and secularisation?

• He argues that in pre-industrial communities, shared values were expressed through collective religious rituals that integrated individuals and regulate their behaviour.

• However, when religion lost its basis in stable local communities, it lost its vitality and control over others.

Who argues that industrialisation undermines the consensus of religious beliefs?

Bruce

What does Bruce say about industrialisation and secularisation? [3]

• He argues that industrialisation undermines the consensus of religious beliefs that held small, rural communities together. ‘

• Society is now made up of large loose-knit urban communities with diverse beliefs and values.

• The social and geographical mobility both breaks up tight communities and creates more diverse ones.

Who argues that religion can be a source of identity on a world wide scale?

Aldridge

How does Aldridge criticise the decline in religious communities? [4]

• They point out that a community does not have to be in a particular area.

• Religion can be a source of identity on a worldwide scale.

• Some religious communities are imagined communities that interact through global media.

• E.g. Pentecostal and other religious groups flourish in impersonal urban areas.

Who argues that another cause of secularisation is a trend toward religious diversity?

Berger (1969)

How does Berger (1969) explain religious diversity? [9]

• There is a trend towards religious diversity.

• In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had an absolute monopoly so everyone lived under a sacred canopy of set beliefs.

• Thsi made their beliefs more plausible as they had no challengers.

• Since the Protestant Reformation, the number of different religious organisations has grown.

• Now no religious group can claim to have an unchallenged monopoly of truth.

• There is no longer a single sacred canopy, but instead a plurality of life worlds.

• Religious diversity creates a crisis of credibility for religious that undermines the plausibility structure.

• When there are multiple religions to believe in, people are likely to question all of them.

• Now religious beliefs are relative, rather than absolute.

Who identifies two counter-trends that go against secularisation theory?

Bruce

What counter-trends against secularisation does Bruce identify? [2]

• Cultural defence — Religion provides a focal point for the defence of national, ethnic or local identity in a struggle against an external force.

• Cultural transition — Religion can provide support and a sense of community for ethnic groups.

According to Bruce, why does religion survive? [3]

• He argues that religion only survives because it’s a source of group identity.

• Therefore, these examples do not disprove secularisation thoery, but shows that religion can only survive if it provides functions other than connecting individuals to the supernatural.

• E.g. religion loses its importance for migrants once they are integrated into the community.

How does Berger (1999) criticse secularisation theory?

He now argues that diversity and choice actually stimulate people’s interest and participation in religion.

• E.g. the growth of evangelicalism in Latin America show that religion is actually growing.

Who argues that diversity and choice actually stimulates people’s interest in the participation in religion?

Berger (1999)

How does Beckford (2003) criticise secularisation theory? [2]

• Religious diversity will lead to some people questioning religion, but it’s not inevitable.

• Sometimes, opposing views can strengthen religious groups’ commitment to its existing beliefs.

Who argues that religious diversity will not always lead to people questioning religion?

Beckford (2003)