In what ways has secularisation challenged the Christian church in Europe?

Introduction

·      The mission of the Christian churches has been very much affected by the rise of secularism and the increased influence of science in the 21^st century.

·      In light of these, there has also been a rise in the influence of atheism which has gone hand in hand to some extent with secularism.

·      Secularisation refers to the historical process by which religion loses social and cultural significance

·      According to Allen there are hallmarks of a secular society.

·      The influence of religion over people’s day to day lives, and decision making is diminishing.

·      Religion has no role in the public life

·      There are strong separation of church and state

·      Secularism is part and parcel of the cultural identity.

·      The most influential members of society, for example policy makers, academics and journalists, tend to be secularists thereby giving secularism increased influence.

·      Grace Davie use the phrase “Believing without belonging” to describe the phenomenon of Europeans claiming belief in God but not belonging to religious organisation.

·      Allen points out that, according to Davie, Europeans still tend to be ‘spiritual’ or even ‘religious’.

·      People are now developing their own spiritual and moral positions based on a ‘pick and mix’ of various religious beliefs.

·      Privatisation of religion means that religion has become a matter of personal choice, rather than a social obligation, and has influence on a personal level but not in any public sense.

·      In some countries church attendance and worship has more to do with an expression of national identity and custom than actual belief, for example, Eastern Europe and the practice of orthodox faith.

·      Bruce describes this as the ‘compartmentalisation of religion’ it has its place but does not inform aspects of everyday life.

·      ‘Vicarious’ religion is when people don’t belong to a religious organisation or believe, but see some value in religion for a society and want to see it continue for example, in the death of Princess Diana in England, when people turned to religion and worship for solace meaning.

·      Church attendance is low throughout Europe. Poland is the exception. In 2016 less than 2 percent of the UK population attend the Anglican Church on Sunday.

·      The dominant European attitude toward Christianity seems to be one of the bored indifferences.

·      ‘Patchwork religion is a tendency for people to assemble their own religion, taking bits and pieces form a variety of beliefs and practices across world religions. For example, in a European attitude survey many people who identified themselves as Christians said they also believed in reincarnation.

·      In Catholicism some call this ‘a la Carte’ or ‘cafeteria’ Catholicism.

·      Individualism is a rejection of external authority and the rise in the belief that only the individual has authority over one’s own life. An increased emphasis on self.

·      Moral relativism is the idea that there can be no absolute moral truth. The moral rightness of an action will vary from circumstance to circumstance.

·      The rise in atheism as seen an increase in a secular society.

·      Many atheists are also secularist, and are opposed to the idea that any special treatment be given to organised religion.

·      In terms of day to day living, atheists often follow the same moral code as religious people, but they do not believe that a moral code comes from God.

·      Atheists see religion as irrelevant to their lives or the problems of the life in the modern world.

·      The existence of evil and suffering make it impossible for them to believe that a God exists.

·      There are a number of other factors which have probably contributed to increased secularism throughout Britain and Europe.

·      The seeds of destruction may be within the church itself. Progression Catholics, for example, blame the church for the failure to roll out the changes of Vatican 11, saying that the Church has now become irrelevant and unattractive.

·      On other end of the spectrum, conservative Catholics would argue that Vatican 11, opened the Church too much to wordily influences.

·      There can be little doubt that a rise in levels of education has increased rationalism among the thinking ‘religious’ public. Lay believers ask challenging questions about the faith and they except convincing answers.

·      There is also a correlation between affluence and growing secularism. The most convincing evidence for this lies in the secularisation of the Republic of Ireland within the decade of rise of the Celtic Tiger. The Towers Watson Report found that between 2008 and 2014 there was an annual drop of 3.7% in mass attendance.

·      Furthermore, there has been a rise in the influence science has, particularly on the development of the modern atheistic thinking.

                       (no absolute truths) (miracles) (sometimes there is no answers)

·      There are a number of other factors which have probably contributed to increased secularism throughout Britain and Europe.

·      The seeds of destruction may be within the church itself. Progression Catholics, for example, blame the church for the failure to roll out the changes of Vatican 11, saying that the Church has now become irrelevant and unattractive.

·      On other end of the spectrum, conservative Catholics would argue that Vatican 11, opened the Church too much to wordily influences.

·      There can be little doubt that a rise in levels of education has increased rationalism among the thinking ‘religious’ public. Lay believers ask challenging questions about the faith and they except convincing answers.

·      There is also a correlation between affluence and growing secularism. The most convincing evidence for this lies in the secularisation of the Republic of Ireland within the decade of rise of the Celtic Tiger. The Towers Watson Report found that between 2008 and 2014 there was an annual drop of 3.7% in mass attendance.

·      Furthermore, there has been a rise in the influence science has, particularly on the development of the modern atheistic thinking.

                       (no absolute truths) (miracles) (sometimes there is no answers)