Secularisation

Question 1

Comte

Answer 1

Religion will eventually disappear and science will dominate

Question 2

Stats for secularisation (2)

Answer 2

Beliefs in ‘personal God’ halved between 1961-2000

Atheist grown from 31% to 51% in 2009

Question 3

Stats against secularisation

Answer 3

53% believe in afterlife

Question 4

Wilson- participation and belief (3)

Answer 4

Definition- how many ppl attend place of worship and hold religious beliefs
Evidence for secularisation- decline in church attendance
Evidence against secularisation- ‘sacred self’

Question 5

Wilson- religious disengagement (3)

Answer 5

Definition- separation of church from state
Evidence for secularisation- same-sex marriage
Evidence against secularisation- fundamentalist Islamic states (ISIS)

Question 6

Wilson- religious pluralism (3)

Answer 6

Definition- competing religions- claim monopoly of truth
Evidence for secularisation- crisis of meaning, traditional beliefs declining
Evidence against secularisation- Davie- ppl practice in a more personal way, believing w/out belonging

Question 7

Wilson- desacralisation and rationalisation (3)

Answer 7

Definition- religious beliefs become less important and science beliefs prevail
Evidence for secularisation- disenchantment of the world
Evidence against secularisation- religious resurgence, NAMs

Question 8

Wilson- secularisation of religious institutions (3)

Answer 8

Definition- churches moved from purely spiritual to more community based centres
Evidence for secularisation- Bruce- watered-down beliefs
Evidence against secularisation- fundamentalist groups

Question 9

Evaluating Wilson’s measures (3)

Answer 9

Hard to operationalise religiosity :(
Substantive definition- some evidence for decline :(
Functional definition- wider range (NAMs) so growth :)

Question 10

Contemporary views on secularisation debate (Davie) (2)

Answer 10

Davie- belief without belonging: believe in religion but don’t belong to an organisation
Davie- vicarious religion: minority are religious on behalf of a silent majority who appreciate their efforts

Question 11

Heelas and Woodhead- Kendal project and spiritual revolution thesis
Definitions (2)

Answer 11

Secularisation theorists- decline in trad Christianity

Sacralisation theorists- growth in new age spirituality

Question 12

Heelas and Woodhead- Kendal project and spiritual revolution thesis
Methodology (3)

Answer 12

Had to filter out certain groups- some yoga groups did not see it as spiritual
Kendal- m/c white older people- not very representative
Compared ‘congregational domain’ (churches) and ‘holistic milieu’ (cults)

Question 13

Heelas and Woodhead- Kendal project and spiritual revolution thesis
Results (2)

Answer 13

Attendance at churches- 8% of Kendal pop.

Holistic milieu showed strong growth- 95 practitioners in 2000 compared to 3 in 1970s

Question 14

Heelas and Woodhead- Kendal project and spiritual revolution thesis
Conclusion (2)

Answer 14

‘The spiritual revolution clearly has not taken place in Kendal’
If trends continue the revolution will take place in 20-30 years

Question 15

Kendal project and the secularisation debate (2)

Answer 15

Suggest NAMs cannot be dismissed as easily as some theorists argue- evidence against secularisation as religion is still being explored but in less traditional forms

Question 16

Spiritual revolution thesis

Answer 16

There’s a spiritual revolution occurring- a significant growth in NAMs

Question 17

Sacralisation theorists…

Answer 17

…argue that there is a growth in New Age spirituality

Question 18

Glock and Starck’s 5 core dimensions of religiosity

BPEKC

Answer 18

Belief- religious person will accept beliefs of a religion e.g. life after death, Davie- people believe without belonging, sec isn’t occurring
Practice- religious person will put commitment into practice e.g. pray, attending church seems to be in decline but not in all religions e.g. Islam
Experience- religious person will feel they have a direct experience with a supernatural force e.g. God, difficult to measure as relies on info from people
Knowledge- religious person has understanding of their religion’s origin e.g. Adam & Eve
Consequences- religious persons behaviour will be affected, they act and think differently