Religion, renewal and choice

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New forms of religion

Believing without belonging:

  • Davie - Church attendance declined because people no longer feel like they have to go. Believing without belonging - holding religious beliefs but not going to church.
  • People still use churches for baptisms, weddings, and funerals - 'Spiritual health service'.
  • Modernity affects societies differently, e.g. why USA and UK have different patterns of religion.
  • BUT British Social Attitudes survey shows church attendance and belief in God declining.

Spiritual shopping:

  • Cultural amnesia - people losing religion that was passed down through generations.
  • People are now spiritual shopper, we develop out own beliefs.

Postmodern religion:

  • Lyon - globalisation, increased importance of media and consumerism are changing religion. 
  • Relocation of religion through media and televangelism, religious consumerism.
  • Loss of faith in meta-narratives, religion not declining but evolving into new forms.
  • Criticism of secularisation theory.
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New forms of religion 2

Self-religions and the New Age:

  • New Age emphasises personal development, autonomy and ones 'inner self'.
  • A key idea is individualism, everyone is free to decide for themselves what is true.

A spiritual revolution:

  • Heelas & Woodhead - Kendal Project. In a typical week, 7.9% of pop attended church and 1.6% took part in spiritual activities. Congregational domain declining, holistic milieu growing.
  • NAR growing because of a shift towards exploring one's inner self.
  • BUT this doesn't mean a spiritual revolution is taken place - the smaller growth of the holistic milieu hasn't compensated for the larger decline of traditional religion.

The weakness of the New Age - Bruce:

  • Scale - NAR can't fill the gap left by the decline of traditional religions.
  • Socialisation - In Kendal Project, only minority of NA believers children shared their beliefs.
  • Weak committment - Serious commitment to NA beliefs is rare.
  • Structural weakness - Cause of secularisation because of its individualism. Lacks cohesion because everyone has different beliefs.
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Religious market theory

Stark & Bainbridge - criticise secularisation theory for its 'distorted view' of past and future.

  • Based on the assumption that people are naturally religious and religion meets human needs.
  • People make rational choices based on costs and benefits of available religious options.
  • Religion is attractive because it provides us with supernatural compensators when real rewards are unobtainable, e.g. compensating for immortality with life after death.
  • Historical cycle of religious decline, revival and renewal. 
  • Competition leads to improvements in the quality of the religious 'goods' on offer.

American versus Europe:

  • In the USA religion is strong because a healthy market exists where religions grow or decline according to consumer demand.
  • But where there is a religious monopoly, e.g. Europe, lack of choice has led to decline.
  • Norris and Inglehart - high levels of religious participation exist in Catholic countries where the Church has near monopoly, contradicting this theory.
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Existential security theory

Norris & Inglehart - reason for the variation in religiosity between societies is different degrees of existential security, 'the feeling that survival is secure enough that it can be taken for granted'.

  • Groups and societies where people feel insecure have a high level of demand for religion.
  • Explains why the poor remain religious, while Western countries have become more secular.
  • BUT they only see religion as a response to deprivation and ignore the positive reasons people have for religious participation.

Europe vs. America:

  • Western Europe becoming more secular because these societies are relatively equal with welfare states reducing insecurity, whilst the USA remains religious.
  • American is the most unequal of the rich societies, with high poverty levels and a weak welfare system.
  • The more a country spends on welfare the lower its level or religious participation.
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