Secularisation

What is secularisation?

The process whereby **religious belief, practice, and institutions lose social significance**

Crockett -- golden age

→ 40% of Brits went to church on Sundays in 1851

→ 19th century was a ‘**golden age’ of religiosity**

Church attendance today

→ 4% of adults go to Sunday church

→ Decline in Sunday school, baptism, church weddings

→ Since 1983…

• 40% fall in Christianity

• Rise from 1/3 to 50%+ people being non-religious

• Increase in Catholicism/non-Christian religion -- immigration/higher birth rates

Interpreting church attendance

→ In the past, church attendance was a sign of m/c respectability, and could be fined for not attending

→ Now, we do surveys once a year; not necessarily indicative of other times

→ Churches may over/underestimate the numbers in their congregation

• Catholicism; underestimate to pay less tax

• Anglican; overestimate to reduce risk of closure

Heelas - Kendal project

→ Showed a **decline in traditional Christianity**

→ Growth in ==NRMs== and the ==New Age==

→ Idea of ‘**resacrilisation**’

Bruce - decline of religious institutions

By 2030…

→ Methodism will fold

→ CofE will continue to shrink

Religious institutions today

→ Religion now only affects the **private, individual/family spheres**

→ State has **taken over church functions** e.g. schooling

→ Clergy is becoming smaller, population is growing

* Reduces church influence

Evaluation of secularisation in the UK

→ Increasing number of **faith schools**

* But these are state-funded mostly; still conform to state regulation

→ Secularisation **may not be universal**; not much decline in America

Explanations of secularisation

→ Age bias

→ Disengagement, rationalisation, disenchantment

→ Technological worldview

→ Structural differentiation

→ Social/cultural diversity

→ Religious pluralism

→ Cultural defence/transition

Disengagement

→ The loss of church power in other institutions

→ Separation of church and state

• Education now run by state, but still faith schools/Nativities

• Welfare now NHS, but Salvation Army

• Media/arts; sex/violence in films, but Songs of praise weekly

  • Law; Sunday Trading, but national debates on many issues e.g. homosexual consent (Hart v Devlin debate) + bishops in the lords

Weber -- disengagement/rationalisation

Western society has undergone **rationalisation**

→ Rational ways of thinking replacing religious ones

Disenchantment -- disengagement

→ Protestant Reformation brought new worldview; God is outside the world, world works according to laws of nature

→ Scientific explanations of the world give us reason rather than religion

Bruce -- disengagement/technological worldview

Technological worldview has **replaced religious explanations of why things happen**

→ Religious worldviews only survive in areas where tech is least effective

→ e.g. **praying for help when suffering a terminal illness**

Evaluation of disengagement

→ Disengagement **can be a good thing**; Church can focus on providing one goal

* Providing moral goals

→ Structural differentiation

Parsons -- structural differentiation

Structural differentiation = **industrialisation process where specialised institutions develop to carry out functions previously performed by one institution**

* e.g. the Church

→ Religion is now a **smaller, more specialised institution**

→ Church has less political power; **separation of church/state**

→ Even where religion is involved in school/welfare, **conforms to secular controls**

Bruce -- structural differentiation

→ Religion has become **separated from wider society**, privatised in the family

→ Traditional rituals/symbols have lost meaning

Wilson -- diversity

In pre-industrial society, local communities had **religious rituals to express shared values**

→ Industrialisation destroys stable local communities

→ And **destroys religion’s base**

Bruce -- diversity

Industrialisation creates **impersonal urban centres** with diverse beliefs/values

→ Diversity **undermines believability of religion**

Aldridge -- diversity

Community doesnt HAVE to be in a particular locality

→ Religion can be a **shared source of identity worldwide**

Berger -- religious pluralism

Religion diversity causes secularisation

→ Undermines religion’s **plausability structure/believability**

→ Alternate versions of religion make people question all of them

Bruce -- cultural defence/transition

→ Religion provides defence against external forces; e.g. Catholicism in Poland

→ And helps transition/provide community for ethnic groups living in different cultures

→ However, these dont contradict secularisation theory

• Religion exists here as a focus for group identity, not an expression of religious faith

• Once communism fell in Poland, church attendance declined

Wilson -- USA secularisation

American church attendance is **an expression of the American way of life**

→ America is still secular, because **religion there is superficial**

Bruce -- USA secularisation

Various sources of evidence

→ Declining church attendance

→ Secularisation from within

→ Religious diversity/relativism

Hadaway et al -- USA secularisation

Attendance level in USA churchgoers tends to be **exaggerated**

Secularisation from within -- USA secularisation

→ Emphasis on traditional Christian beliefs has declined

→ **Psychologising religion**; form of therapy

→ Religion is popular because it is LESS RELIGIOUS

* purpose has changed from **seeking salvation in heaven**, to **seeking personal improvement in the world**

Practical relativisism -- USA secularisation

→ **Practical relativism** among American Christians; accepting others can hold different opinions to you

→ **Absolutism** has been eroded, people hold different beliefs so this **undermines assumptions that our own views are absolutely true**