Secularisation And Declining Religiosity Flashcards
It’s been found that more ______ attend ________ than _______ attend ________ in the U.K
Muslims, Mosque
Christians, Church
, this is Bierly’s research
However, there’s been a rise in late…
Baptisms, perhaps to get kids in schools
1/3 of Church of England priests are
Women
Christian Church membership has dropped from the 19__s to 20__s by
1930s to 2010s
By 5 million
There’ is however a symbolic role of the church in the U.K
Songs of praise, the house of Lords, the monarch’s affairs.
Is this worship of convention (or society itself) rather than faith.
Spiritual shopping theory is by
Glock and Bellah
There’s possibly a new spiritual revolution (Kendall project) expand on this, and who is responsible for the theory of consumerist religion
This comes from the comodifacation of religious rituals, tied to ‘spiritual shopping’
Practices are often mixed and self serving.
Davie: Religion is no longer an obligation but it gives people a sense of community, it means other practices outside of it are more palletable.
“Spiritual health service” said by
Davie: In times of tragedy, celebrations and disunity, the church steps in and sees numbers rise.
Eg: Public mourning of Princess Diana, and the presence at weddings of priests.
Postmodern religion is the idea of
Believing without belonging because of suspicion of the church, more accepted trust in science and the availability of alternative spiritual belonging.
Eg: because of globalisation, the sacred canopy (Berger) has confidence in it undemined, people are fragmented and cynical.
This idea of a spiritual journey being consumerist might come from the globalised culture of ….
Individualism and capitalism
Nancy Ammerman found what?
In her study in 1987, the Christian fundamentalists in America studied, reported being less specific about the church they attended, mixing them depending on their needs. Eg,
. Childcare
. Confessions
. Sermons
Stark and Bainbridge state that religion’s power works in a cycle because sometimes there’s an
Appetite for answers no one has yet, so it revives and declines.
The idea of the revival of religion being because of a lack of answers
(Eg: Stark and Bainbridge, the cyclical lifecycle of religious influences)
is undermined by the theory of civil religions by Bellah. How?
Conspiracy theory groups differ very little often to cults, which are in fact often just smaller religions.
The national institute of health in the U.S reported a massive Spike in conspiracy theories during the Covid 19 pandemic, of which governments made a point of explaining to the public.
In practice, conspiracy theory cultures and NAM are often intertwined.
For example, the theology and puesdohistory of Aliens influencing history is similar to the faith that guided ‘Heaven’s gate’.
Examples of happenings in the world to refute the argument of secularisation
- Hindu nationalism and belief in cultural superiority. ‘Hindu sciences’ like astrology, are being taught in Indian universities.
- Iran and the rule of Sharia law after the 1979 Iranian revolution
- The New right in the U.S
- NAM,
pick and mix, spiritual shopping theory, eg: Davie, the spiritual health service.
What is the cycle of secularisation?
According to who?
Stark and Bainbridge.
Secularisation > Decline > Revival > Decline ⁸
What is the example of poor research, that might bring into question statistics in relating to secularisation.
Explain the problem.
Hadaway et al
Tried to study church attendance rates by just counting the cars in the carpark, of which he would have had no clue why the cars were their and how many were in them.
It’s estimated that today __% of young people are not religious, abstaining from practicing faith.
65%
Half of all churches have no one under ___ attending
Under 20
What are the 3 base reasons for a decline in religiosity in recent generations?
Explain them.
Socialisation:
Fewer and fewer people are being socialised with their family’s faith, the fading of religious practices by the 2nd generation of immigrant (which is typical) gives this credence.
Pragmatism:
It is not always feasible with the work loads demanded of people today, to attend and practice regularly.
Relatability:
The church is seen as stuffy, outdated and emblematic of continued bigotry. The more socially aware young people therefore see their sympathy with relatively modern tolerance as incompatable with religious institutions.
Roof’s theory of the “___________ ________ _____________”
Is similar to Stark and Bainbridge’s “_________ __________ _______”
Expanding spiritual marketplace.
Religious market theory.
According to the theory of the expanding spiritual market place
…
And who’s theory is this?
Religiosity is declining within the population only in terms of consistency, but spirituality has been reduced to trend chasing and self exploration.
Roof’s theory
Rankin’s theory suggests what about young people’s relationship to their faith?
This is called by _______,
“_________ ________ ___________”
That young people are reluctant in a world where religion is seen as outdated, to identify as religious even if they’re sympathetic to it.
“Believing without belonging” - Davie
What’s cultural defence theory?
By who
By Bruce
The theory that religiosity has not declined so much for minority groups because it both symbolically resists assimulationism and physically welcomes and supports them in countries that are often xenophobic or suspicious.
