Challenges of secularism Flashcards
challenges (18 cards)
secularisation
-theory that links the decline in religion to modernisation
Casanova
-‘rethinking secularisation’ identifies three ways in which people talk about secularisation
1. “the decline of belief and practice in modern society. some suggest this is a normal universal, human development process” – YES, according to 2014 British Social Attitudes Survey more people claim to be non religious than Christian
2. “the privatisation of religion… where religion should be private and should not be seen in public” – NO, major events such as remembrance day still involve religious organisations
3. “the secular separation of spheres of state, economy, science, which are free from religious institutions” – NO, king is still head o the state and Church of England and Bishops sit in House of Lords
the challenges of secularisation
-Bruce, sociologist of religion, describes Christianity in Britain as a pale shadow of its former self
-Heelas and Woodhead, sociologist of religion, identifies a growth in alternative spiritualities as Christianity declines
-1960s, sociologists suggested that Western Europe would lead the way in secularisation and the rest of the world would follow
-majority of the world’s population still claim to adhere to a religion
-due to immigration, this has brought new faiths to Britain
-Taylor, in ‘secular age’ suggests that the presumption that a government, state and the people will be Christian has been replaced with a plural religious situation
-means that number of people following Christianity = decreasing but secularisation of Britain isn’t happening due to many other religions being followed
Feuerbach quote
-“what yesterday was still religion is no longer such today; and what today is atheism, tomorrow will be religion”
-represents that religion is fluid, this has been the pattern throughout history
-religion adapts, changes and develops
Freud quote
-“religion is the process of unconscious wish fulfilment, where, for certain people, if the process didn’t take place it would put them in self-danger of coming to mental harm, being unable to cope with the idea of a godless, purposeless life”
-religion gives us purpose whereas we are actually just one human being in the grand scheme of an extremely long lifespan of earth, we have very little purpose
-religion is something we used to cope with that
sigmund freud
-“the religions of mankind must be classed as amongst the mass delusions” - civilisation and its discontents
-religion and modern religious beliefs are a delusion that exist to protect us from nature and fate (of damnation)
-religion provides information that humans crave about things that cannot be discovered through a study of reality
-concerned about psychological impact religious frameworks have on the mind, saw that religion was produced by anxiety about things beyond out control, create a divine force to replace uncertainty
-adapted and controlled God to help appease anxieties
-religion represses human desires, desires that are destructive to society, i.e sexual violence, theft, murder
-religious delusion = unreliable and unhealthy
Atheist bus campaign
-UK based advertising campaign launched in 2009
-organised by Sherine and supported by British Humanist Association and Dawkins
-aimed to promote secularism and counter religious advertising
-involved a slogan: “there’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”
-mixed reactions which sparked a public debate about religion and freedom of expression
-in the slogan, it uses “probably”
Dawkins quote
-“somebody else must be responsible for my well-being, and somebody else must be to blame if i am hurt. is it similar infantilism that really lies behind the ‘need’ for a God?” - the God delusion
Dawkins vs religion
-thinks life should be meaningful without reference to religion
-human need for God is infantile and an adult should be able to find meaning in life from other sources than religion
-religion is repressive such as religious dress codes
-example, Burqa, these not only ensure female submission but is also a metaphor for reducing our ability to perceive and understand things
-is religion the problem? or society?
indoctrination of children
-Dawkins, religion is something that everyone needs to escape from
-most concerned about how children are “hijacked by religious faith” causing them harm
-uses extreme examples to illustrate his points in ‘the god delusion’ such as sexual abuse, kidnapping and Irish nunneries
-children before age of consent, being considered religious is a form of long term psychological abuse
-quotes Humphry’s Amnesty lecture in 1997 – “in short, children have a right not to have their mind addled by nonsense, and we, as a society have a duty to prevent them from it”
-whats classed as nonsense?
is Christianity a major cause of personal and social problems?
-can be seen as a negative influence on society
-Dawkins, Christianity has played a part in the criminalisation of homosexuality and anything else that differs from their moral absolutes (example, KKK)
-it has a negative influence on the sanctity of human life and attempts to restrict women’s access to abortion/contraception
-Bush, Governor of Texas, oversaw 1/3 of executions in USA, whilst preventing medical advancements in using embryonic life
-difficult: when a generalisation to the whole faith is made, why ignore other examples like 19th century churches establishing schools for the poor, many critics use the most extreme examples always one-sided, these arguments lack any recognition of the good things that the churches have done
Jo Marchant
-a science journalist
-found compelling evidence to show how religion and belief are the source of well being
-religion and belief offer a sense of connection and meaning, which reduces stress and supports health
-“feeling part of something bigger… provides a protective effect”
-synoptic link: like Marchant, William James believed that spiritual experiences benefit mental health, even if the beliefs are provable
Christianity should play no part in public life?
-secularity = absence of Church in government and state
-means absence of religious involvement in governmental and public matters
-separation of Church and state is found in countries like France and USA (UK are still combined)
-key idea = religion should have no bearing or influence of the public world
-not that governments are neutral in matters of religion but any decisions that affect public matters are based on democratic and non religious foundations
education and religion
-strengths of religious schools: they promote moral and ethical development and create a strong sense of identity and support
-weaknesses of religious schools: can present religious doctrines as fact which limits exposure to diverse opinions and may exclude or marginalise students of different beliefs
-shouldn’t completely abandon them, just need to be reformed
-British Humanist Association campaigns against schools with religious character, “we aim for a secular state guaranteeing human rights, with no privilege or discrimination on grounds of religion or belief”, “young people of all different backgrounds and beliefs can learn with and from each other”
-Dawkins, religious schools replace evidence based approaches to understanding our world with superstitions
-argued that teaching evolution alongside other theories fails to credit evolution
defending religious schools
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government and religion
are spiritual values just human values?
secularisation theory
