A2 BELIEFS, TOPIC 3 SECULARISATION

HOW HAS THE UK CHANGED SINCE 19TH CENTURY?

• decline in the proportions of weddings and baptisms
• a decline in the average age of churchgoers
• a decline in the numbers holding traditional Christian beliefs 
• greater diversity including more non-Christian religions 
• 60% of weddings were in church now only 30% in 2012 

SECULARISATION 

the process whereby religious beliefs, practises and institutions lose social significance

BOGUS BAPTISMS

Only higher performing faith schools will take on baptised children, baptism becomes an entry ticket to a good school rather than a sign of Christian commitment 

• by 2015 only 5% of the adult popluation attend church on sunday 
• evidence from 80years of survey shows that religious belief is declining along with church membership and attendence 
• religion once pervaded everyday life now it is confined to the private sphere of the family/home
• WILSON - 1966 - argued that western societies had undergone a process of secularisation 
• there is a declining clergy and catholic priests - new ordinations = 1/10 
• BRUCE - predicts that if the current trends contine the Methodist church will fold around 2030 and will become a small voluntary organisation 

RELGIOUS AFFILATION 

refers to their membership/ identification with a religion 

RATIONALISATION

refers to the process by which rational/ scientific ways of thinking and acting come to replace religious ones

• industrualisation leads to the breakup of small comunities that were held together by common religious beliefs 
• major explanations of secularisation is growth of social and religious diveristy 

WEBER - when the protestant reformation had begun 16th, it had started a process of rationalisation - this process undermined the religious worldview of the middle ages and replaced it with rational scientific ways of modern society 

• the catholic worldview dominated europe and saw the world as enchanted/ magical, God and spiritual beings and the devil were believed in however with the protestant reformationn it saw god as transcendental - existing above and beyond the world - the world ran according to its own laws of nature. All that was needed was rationality - power of reason and there was no need for religious explanations of the world 

DISENCHANTMENT 

squeezes out the magical and religious ways of thinking and starts off the rationalisation process that leads to the dominace of the rational mode of thought - undermines religious worldview and enables science to provide us with our basic knowledege. 

• Technological worldview has replaced religious and supernatural explanations - it does not challenge religion directly 
• we may pray in times of need and suffering but will not do this if technology and science has some cure 
• scientific perspective allows us to see the world differently, not making people atheists but encourage people to take religious less seriously - liberally rather than literally

Refers to the process of specialisation that occurs with the development of industrial society

• religion dominated pre-industrial society but with industrialisation it has become a smaller and specialised institution
• PRIVITISATION - religion has become more privitsed - it is in the home and family rather than in wider society, traditional rituals and symbols may have lost their signifcance 
• religion in society now is a personal choice rather than the state not having to be identified with one particular faith
• DISENGAGEMENT -structural diffrentiation leads to the disengagement of religion, the functions are transferred to other institutions such as the state and becomes disconnected from wider society eg education is helf by the state not the church 
• even where religions perform functions such as education or social welfare it must conform to the requirements of the secular state. 

decline of community - the move from pre industrial to industrial brings about the decline of community and contributes to the decline of religion, pre industrial societies - shared values are expressed through collective rituals - when religion is lost its basis in stable local communities it has lost vitality

industrialisation - Bruce sees industrialisation undermining the consensus of religious beliefs that hold small rural communties together, social geographical mobility not only breaks up communties but brings people together from many different backgrounds which creates more diversity

diversity of occupation, cultures and lifestyles undermine religion - the plausibilty of beliefs is undermined by individualism because plausibilty of the religion depends on the existence of practising community of believers 

• in the middle ages the church held a monopoly of truth - a shared set of beliefs because the truth was unquestioned. Since the reformation different versions of the truth came and perceptions of the world varied - religious diveristy created relative truths rather than absolute truths 
• BERGER - this creates a crisis, diversity undermines the plausibility structure - what is true or false bceomes a personal opinion and creates an option to opt out of religion 

CULTURAL DEFENCE - religion provides a focal point for the defence of a national, ethnic local group in a stuggle against an external force against power eg catholicicsm in Poland before the fall if communism 

CULTURAL TRANSITION - is where religion provides support and a sense of community for ethnice groups such as migrants to different countries

BRUCE - religion survives because of group identity can lose importance when adapting to a different culture 

• within america multiple religious beliefs exist which undermine the traditional sacred canopy, there has been a trend of PRACTICAL RELATVISM
• WILSON - 45% of Americans atteneded church on sundays - it is more of an AMerican way of life rather than deeply held religious belief , american was a secular society
• Opinion polls - exagerated attendace Hadaway studied a church in Ohio and found the level of attendance was 83% higher than the researchers estimated = the attendance gap has widened and was exaggereated because it is seen as socially desirable to go to church so people have lied - lacks validity and representativeness
• pratical relativsim is the idea that multiple views exists- less dogmatic - we live in a society where this undermines the plausibility structure of our own religious beliefs - erosion of absolutism 

• churches have turned into community centres and religious language has been shifted - evil and sin has been replaced with unhappiness and alienation , religious values have also been removed from debates surrounding divorce and abortion, these topics may be seen as deviant 
• Religion in america has become psychologised turned into a form of therpay, it is more about personal fulfilment allowing individuals to find a personal satisfaction and peace 
• religion is declining as traditional and substantive views are losingn significance 
• purpose of religion has changed from seeking salvation to personal improvement in this world 

• Religion hasn't declined its a changing form 

• religious beliefs still exist around the world and are actually growing in significance 

• religion may have declined in europe but not globally so seculariation is not univeral

• evidence is primarily based upoj church attendece figures what about htose who believe but don't belong