BIS - T3 - SECULARISATION

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  • BIS - T3 - SECULARISATION
    • Secularisation in Britain
      • Crockett: increased church age + lower church weddings/ baptisms.
      • Wilson: Western cultures undergo long term process of secularisation - church loses influence.
      • church attendance today
        • 2015: 5% of pop attend church on Sunday
          • Church census: small organisations not decline as much as large ones but do not make up for it. Still decline
        • Bogus baptisms: entry ticket to good faith schools rather than Xtian commitment
      • Religious affiliation today
        • refers to person's religious commitment. Number of catholics = increased due to immigration
          • Non-Xtian religion increase due to immigration
      • Religious institutions
        • state take over functions religion used to perform (19th century) - e.g. education faith schools funded by state - have to conform to state
        • Woodhead: [Clergy] = ageing population of priests - lack of clergy = lack of influence in community.
    • Bruce: Secularisation in America
      • secular because religion became superficial. 3 sources of evidence to support claim:
        • Hadaway: Declining church attendance
          • study of Ohio church attendance - found level of attendance claimed by interviewees 83% higher than researchers estimate
            • until 70's opinion polls accurate to actual attendance. After gap widened - result of social desirability
        • Bruce: Secularisation from within
          • secular society makes religion 'form of therapy'. - American religion remains popular this way - no seeking salvation - seek personal improvement
        • Lynd and Lynd: Religious diversity
          • trend to [practical relativism]: acceptance of other beliefs to be true
            • [erosion of absolutism] - now live in society where acceptance of others views undermines our own
    • eval of secularisation theory:
      • no decline, change of form
      • ignores people who believe but don't attend
      • focuses on decline of trad. religion - ignores new religions
    • Explanations of:
      • Max Weber: rationalisation
        • rational thought replaces religious belief. Medieval catholic worldview dominated Europe saw world as God's magic garden
          • God, Angel, Devils present in world and intervening in it
          • Disenchantment
            • Prostantism saw God as transcedent. No intervention = events no longer supernatural - need rational thought to understand
          • Bruce: A technological worldview
            • Religion only work where technology + science don't explain events - e.g. ill family member. Science of plane crash - not supernatural cause
      • Parsons: structural diffrentiation
        • religion used to dominate society but industrialisation means it has got into smaller institutions
          • Disengagement: loses influence and functions transferred to state
          • Privatisation: confined to private family sphere - personal choce
      • Bruce: social and cultural diversity
        • Wilson - decline of community - religion loses influence on all
        • Bruce: Industrialsation - small knit community gives way to big scale connected one. - more diversity
          • religion can be source of identity in wide scale community
      • Berger: religious diversity
        • [Sacred canopy] - Catholic church held monopoly in middle ages. Now no monopoly = no sacred truth uniting society
          • Beckford: opposing views strengthen sense of community
      • Bruce: cultural defence and transition
        • [Cultural defence] - religion provides defence of culture/group/community from external forces
        • [Cultural transition] - provides support and sense of community for ethnic groups
      • modernisation, social change, diversity = undermine validity of religion

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