Secularisation in Britain

Question 1

What is secularisation?

Answer 1

• There are deep and controversial theoretical and methodological debates on what secularisation is, how to measure it and whether it’s occurring
• A common used definition comes from Wilson who claims it’s the process in which religious institutions, practices and beliefs lose their social significance

Question 2

What are the 3 aspect of secularisation identified by Wilson?

Answer 2

• Religious beliefs: the influences of religions on people’s values, such as the importance of religion in their loves and whether they believe in God or spirits
• Religious practice: the things people do to carry out their religious commitment such as the extent to which they take part in acts of religious worship like attending church
• Religious institutions: the extent to which religious institutions have maintained their influence in wider society, and how far they’re involved in day-to-day running of society

Question 3

How does the definitions of religion affect secularisation?

Answer 3

• Religion can be defined through the exclusivist model of religion which is a narrow definition of what constitutes ‘religion’ (substantive) or the inclusivist model of religion which is broader and include political movements and value system (social constructivist)
• The more broadly religion is defined, the less likely it’s to be seen to be in decline as there’s always likely to be some from of activity going on which fits this definition of the religion.

Question 4

What are the 2 approaches to studying secularisation?

Answer 4

• The institutional approach, which focuses on the church and church attendance
• The societal approach which studies the role and impact of religion on society and the individual

Question 5

Outline major changes in religion in the UK recently

Answer 5

• Decline in church attendance
• Increase in the average age of churchgoers
• Fewer baptisms and church weddings
• Decline in those holding traditional Christian beliefs
• Greater diversity, including more non-Christian religions

Question 6

Describe the secular change in church attendance

Answer 6

• In 2022, only 5.5 million attend Sunday services
• In 2018, while church weddings and baptisms were more popular than attendance on Sundays , they are also on the decline
• In 2022, 4/5 weddings were civil ceremonies
• There are more ‘bogus baptisms’ where the primary motivation to get a child baptised is to get them into a faith schools as they may only take baptised children.

Question 7

Describe the religious change in church attendance

Answer 7

• Not all churches are in decline
• In 2013-2020 there was a 25% increase in Pentecostal attendance and a 11% increase in Orthodox attendance

Question 8

Describe the change in religious affiliation

Answer 8

• Between 1983 and 2018, those with no religion rose from under a third to over half (British Social Attitudes Survey) and those identifying as Christian fell by 40%
• The number of Catholics increased slightly due to East-European immigration. Those belonging to a non-Christian religions (Islam) increased, partly die to immigration and higher birth rates

Question 9

Describe the change in religious belief

Answer 9

• Research shows that religious beliefs is declining along with church attendance and membership
• Surveys shows a significant decline in belief in a personal God, Jesus and in Christian teaching

Question 10

Describe the change in religious institutions

Answer 10

• The church’s influence on public as declined as the state as taken over many of its previous functions, making religion confined to the private sphere. e.g. church provided education but now it’s mainly provided by the state. While there are still ‘faith schools’ they’re mainly state-funded and conform to state’s regulations
• The number of clergy, during the 20c, fell from 45,000 to 34,000 and the number of Catholic priests fell by half between 1965 and 2020. The clergy are also an ageing workforce and in 2020 the average of Anglican priests was 52