Religion

Question 1

Faith & Modernity Content

Decline
vs.
Strength

Fundamentalism

Secularism

Answer 1

Enormous decline in the power and seeming relevance of religion in the western world - even in last 50 years, from about 7% of the population to less than 3% (Church of England own stats)

Strength of religion in other cultural settings however - in Nigeria 80% church attendance record - steadily increasing number of Christians and other religions in China despite government efforts to reverse the trend

Fundamentalism as a reaction to modernity - opposite of adaption - cults (Charles Manson, Jamestown, Scientology) still strong and if anything growing

Secularism as a goal of the Enlightenment - YET the US has strong laws protecting religion, France created a religion based around the Enlightenment, most of the ‘philosophes’ are regarded as religious

Question 2

Faith & Modernity Primary Sources

Africa Stats

Coventry

Nietzsche

Darwin

Gallup

Answer 2

Tolerance & Tension: Islam & Christianity in Africa
- stats on African Christianity and its strength

Sir Basil Spence on Coventry Cathedral - an embodiment of adaption and modernity in Anglicanism that rejects the old taboos around church architecture

Nietzsche on religion - a fundamental pillar of society that has disappeared and something will take its place
- Dostoevsky as coming to this realisation earlier

Darwin - the problems posed by evolution to Christianity, such as ‘Man in the image of God’, vicious nature of ecosystems, teleology

2004 Gallup Polls - more secular societies, e.g. Czechia (11%), have lower Church attendance rates vs e.g. Ireland (54%)

Question 3

Faith & Modernity Secondary Sources

Dawkins

Harari

Solzhenitsyn

Feuerbach

Blanning

Answer 3

Dawkins - religion and science as incompatible due to the lack of empirical evidence for the former

Yuval Noah Harari - religion is broader than we believe, liberalism, fascism, and communism are all religions and have replaced the deistic ones due to their ability to answer relevant questions in society

Solzhenitsyn - Nuremberg Trials as instantiating a universal morality akin to faith

Ludwig Feuerbach - religion as a reaction to the world at large and a comfort mechanism

TCW Blanning - Enlightenment rejection of scholasticism as a rejection of organised religion - spurs INDIVIDUAL spirituality - secularisation accompanied sacralisation and the veneration of art
- evidenced by immense increase in galleries and museums across Europe, resembling Temples