Theories Of Religion Flashcards

Question

What do stark and Bainbridge say about secularisation?

Answer 1

Critical and see it as Eurocentric and says there was no golden age of religion and they argue: - people naturally religious as it meets human needs so religion is constant - humans seek rewards and avoid costs, religion provides compensators for when real rewards are unobtainable eg CANT have immortality but religion offers life after death Put the idea of a perpetual decline and revival of religion eg religious revival in covid

Answer 2

Norris and ingleheart say religion varies between societies and based on **existential secruity** (survival can be taken for granted) Low income groups and society need this most as at risk from disasters explaining why they more religious while western countries are more secular Population growth of these low income countries actually grows religion as they have higher population rates than western countries

Answer 3

Davie says religion has become privatised and no longer belong to establish church called “believing without belonging” People do faith in own homes and individually especially in western countries as people use churches for rituals like baptisms or weddings

Answer 4

Davis says it’s where small number of proffeshinal clergy practise religion on behalf of lord of people Eg televangelists use tech to spread their word eg Kenneth Copeland

Answer 5

Bruce argues if people not going to church and engaging with that religion it is considered a weak fit of religion reflecting the strength of religion is declining supporting secularisation

Answer 6

In postmodern society peiple go spiritual shopping “cultural amnesia” has occurred as we don’t inherent religions passed down from generations Instead of being born to religion people choose what to believe and shop around for best religion that suits them But doesn’t apply to all counties alike Iran so not great

Answer 7

Lyon says religion coming disneyfied as it has to market as consumer product in postmodern society Eg electronic church on internet or televangaksim which has disembedded religious ideas putting them into virtual spaces which allows individuals to select and adapt them for their own use But hoover says these recourses don’t replace traditional churches and only supplements them

Answer 8

Science is open belief system as it governed by falsification and allows science to keep moving forward gilding on previous knowledge cumulatively However no theory can be established as absolute proof as someone could prove it false, this openness of science makes it diff from other ideologies as it open to questioning and falsifying Religions are closed beliefs as they rely on faith rather than facts

Answer 9

Most natrural sciences have shared assumptions called a “paradigm” telling us what reality is like and what to study and what counts as evidence If sceunctists challenge the fundamentals of it they are ridiculed and only in rare cases with lots of evidence is a paradigm changed triggering a scientific revolution (paradigm shift) then it goes back to the same Eg Dr Velikovsky published world collision theory and was mocked by scientific community who organised a boycott

Answer 10

Knorr-Cetina says new instruments like microscopes allow scientists to fabricate new facts and what scientist see in lab is constructed and removed from natural world as it is artificial environment eg use of specially purified water or specially bred animals Woolgar adds scientist are engaged in same process of making sense of world as everyone else and when given evidence they have to decide what it means and construct theories to persuade other to accept it So science fact is social construction where scientist able to persuade people and not objective fact Astronomy research in Cambridge showed this as they got message from radio telescope but dismissed it as a star however today we still don’t know what it wss

Answer 11

Marx saw world into 2 opposing classes with ruling class exploring working class by not paying them full labour, they couldn’t rely on brute force so had to control workers with ideas They spread their idea justifying how society is using ways like religion with God creating way world is and they should accept it, eventually class conscious will develop and working class will overthrow Neo Marxist Gramsci uses term hegemony to describe how ruling class keeps control by domination of moral and intellectual thinking by con te pulling media politcs and educaton Workers can develop dual consciousness of their own version of how society operates which leads to class consciousness led by proletarian intellectuals

Answer 12

Says nations are distinctive communties with own characteristics and history Every nation should be self governing National loyalty and identity shojld come before class or religion In contrast Anderson says nation is only “imagend community” rather than real one, it can bind millions of strangers creating common purpose. We can identify with it but not know most of its memebers

Answer 13

Sees all belief systems as partial and one sided worldview representing one group or intrest with two types: - ideological thought, justification of what things are and reflects privileged groups like captalists who benefit from status quo - utopian thought: justifies social change and reflects underprivileged groups and shows society that could be organised differently eg Marxism and radical feminism

Answer 14

Intellectuals only represent intrest of one group and only one sided views They should all come together to form free floating intelligentsia which combines all ideologies and bring end to conflict between groups arriving at utopian total worldview representing everyone

Answer 15

Marx was internationalist, nationalism was form of false class consciousness making ppl think they have more in common with capatkist of own country than workers if the world Functionalists see nationalism as secular civil religion integrating individuals into wider social/political life to make them feel greater than themselves, unlike religion united everyone under national community and often done through education

Answer 16

Merton tried to explain why science only developed recently, first occurred cause of Protestant reformation Science as institution needs ethos/norms to serve goal of increasing scientific knowledge, 4 norms which make science open belief system: - communism: scientific knowledge is not private property and to be shared - universalism; sceintitc knowlfge is judged by universal standards objectively like testing - disinteresteness: scientists must be open to discussing ideas for own sake and open to crotism Organised scepticism: no knowledge is sacred every idea is open to questioning This makes it diff to religion as science ooen to challenge whereas religion claims to have absolute truth

Answer 17

Studied Azande people in Sudan who believed in witchcraft and natural events not coincidence, did a ritual to determine who cursed who Closed belief system provided essential social functions for cooperation and believers trapped in own “idiom of belief” (way of thinking) and can’t challenge systems basic assumptions

Answer 18

- religious with clear notion of god - critical of oustide world - members must break with former life - conservative moral codes - popular with groups who feel marginalised or lacking power Examples include moonies, Branch Davdians, people’s temple (Jim Jonez)

Answer 19

Breakaway from mainstream churches like neo-Pentecostalists who split from Catholic Church Neither accept or rejects world, focus on worldly matters seeking to restore spiritual purity to religion

Answer 20

Lack conventional features of religion like collective worship and not highly organised but offer followers supernatural/spiritual powers - accept world and optimistic - tolerant of other religions but claim to have info that unlocks spiritual potential - Most are dukes and attract middle class members Examples like Scientology

Answer 21

Reject his idea of catergorsing these movements into typologies and we should just distinguish between degree of conflict between group and wider society, cults and sects: - sects offer Wordly benefits like place in heaven for poor or ethnic minoritie - cult offer benefits to people suffering psychic deprivation and spiritual deprivation or health problems so mainly middle class

Answer 22

Sects arise in groups marginal to society, like those who feel disprivledged They become marginalised from institutional religion and search for genuine ways of satisfying spirtirsl needs Sects offer **theodicy of disprivledge** which is religious explanation for their suffering, eg believing they are Gods chosen people with salvation as compensation for their suffering However many new groups like moonies have recruited from middle class white people

Answer 23

- audience cults: highly individualistic with little organisation and sustained through media eg UFO cults or astrology - Client cults: more organisation and offer services like therapy eg contract with dead or homeopathy - cult movements: organised and wide range of activities witj spiritual support and high personal involvement eg Scientology

Answer 24

Related to relative deprivation is idea of sects being product of social change This change can create anomie (sense of insecurity over social guidelines for beh) in response to insecurity over rapid changes peopke may turn to sects as solution For example the Industrial Revolution in Britain lead to Methodism which gave community, warmth with clear norms and values and recruited lots of the industrial working class

Answer 25

Response to social changes in modernisation and secularisation 20th century sects may be response to anxieties created by scientific rationalism and secularisation Makes ppl less attracted to traditional church and strict sects so people now go to cults

Answer 26

Sects often split from established church over disagreements but hey only exist for a generation causes they compromise with the world and become denomination by: - second generation: born into sect and lack commitment of their parents - death of leader: charismatic leader dying collapse sect or new leader transform it into denomination - hostility from wider society: Wallis argues sects die out due to moral panics over them brainwashing - Protestant ethic effect: sects that practice hard working and saving become prosperous and compromise with the world eg Methodists or moonies into unification church

Answer 27

- stage 1: schism between needs of deprived and privledged members - stage 2: initial fervour with charismatic leader and tension between sect and society - Stage 3: become denomination after Protestant ethic effect and 2nd generation less committed - stage 4: establishment, sect becomes more world accepting - stage 5: further schism when more zealous or less privileged members break off to form new sect

Answer 28

Heelas says there 2 themes: - self spirituality: new Agers seeking spiritual have turned away from traditional religions and look inside themselves to find it - detraditonalisation: new age rejects spiritual authority of external traditional things like priest or sacred text and values personal experience instead Beyond these new age varies with world affirming and world rejecting elements but heelas argues most offer both

Answer 29

Drane says appeal is due to shift to postmodern society, one feature of this society loss in faith of meta-narratives and claims to the truth Science promised better world wirh progress but instead given genocide and global warming People lost faith in professional like scientist and disillusioned with churches failure to meet spiritual needs so people turning to new age by looking for truth within

Answer 30

Growth of new age is phase of modern society not postmodernity, modern society values individuals like new age movements New age often softer versions of more demanding and self disciplined eastern religions luje Buddhism and have been watered down to meet self-centred westerners Explains why most new age activities are audience or client cults since don’t have demands of followers and Bruce sees new age as part of pick and mix spiritual shopping in late modern society

Answer 31

- disengagement: become detached from mechanism of society like workplace, firebds and family die so religion provides social support - religious socialisation: older people see religion more through education system and socialisation in family when they younger so they more religious when they older as they discover it - I’ll health and death: old people in Ill health or gonna die rely on religion for comfort and meaning when they are incredibly disengaging with real world

Answer 32

Less religious belief and lower participation in mainstream Christian religions, in developed countries young people less likely to identify with religion or attend services Catto suggest young people likely to rely on own conscience than religious rules with family, friends and social media having more impact on life’s than religion However not true among young Muslims who are more likely than older people to identify themselves according to religious beliefs

Answer 33

Yes although vast majority don’t participate in either as most middle age or older Doesn’t mean young people lacking spiritual beliefs but may be expressing them in private ways which hard to record on surveys (eg tik tok crystal ppl)

Answer 34

Mainstream religions unattractive to most young people, services seen as boring, old fashioned and full of old people Controversies in religion like issues over abortion, contraception, gay rights and women priest seem bizzarw to young people seeing the churches as uncool

Answer 35

Lynch who says young people turning away from conventional religion as thetr now ‘expanded spiritual marketplace’ Involves exposure to wide range of religious and spiritual ideas, now more sources on young peioke to build religious and spiritual beliefs and lifestyles Linked to spiritual shopping

Answer 36

Young peioke may be choosing to treat religion as mix of beliefs as a private matter Even if they have some beliefs they may feel they don’t belong to a particular religion and prefer not to make public display through involvement in religious organisations or admit to them in surveys

Answer 37

Lynch says young people may be diverted from religion as religious feelings are gained from secular life When they attached to objects or experiences or peioke like celebrities, clubbing or football they take on form of the sacred making them reflect on their life’s and it’s meaning So young people haven’t lost all religiousness but finding new forms to express it

Answer 38

Lesuire has become bigger part of life, shops clubs and pubs open for long hours including Sundays Young peioke have more interesting and enjoyable things to do and with it being seen as uncool to be religious it exerts social pressure not to be religious

Answer 39

Christianity decreased by 13% Islam increased by 1.6% No religion increased by 12% All religion declined by 5%

Answer 40

Main religion among them in Christianity, when they came to britain encountered racism and found established churches boring So joined more Pentecostalist groups with half of Pentecostalist churches being black in England and fastest growing Christian group Also Rastafarianism gives distinctive group identities with dreadlocks Modood found unlike Asians religion is less important in African carribeans as less important to their ethnic identify and is a matter of individual choice

Answer 41

Bruce says: Religiosity among ethnic groups could result in community solidarity rather then religious commitment and it acts a cultural defence of ethnicity which may be under threat Davis says: mosque and Sikh temples serve as community centres as well as worship places, providing minority groups focus for social life as well as protecting cultural values that may be under threat by the dominant culture

Answer 42

Younger British Asians forged hybrid identity called “braisian” by adopting elements of religion won’t personal choice like practicing Islam but making own choices over marriage partners

Answer 43

In all Christian faiths churchgoing is largely a middle class pursuit, those in higher social classes most likely to attend church regularly whilst manual worker class were least Poorest didn’t attend church cause of sickness unemployment and old age Many denominations appeal mostly to lower middle and upper worker class

Answer 44

Bruce says new age client cults and world affirming religious movements have greatest appeal to affluent members of middle class cause they like customers who spend money in these cults to fill spiritual void Heelas says new age ideas and spirituality like yoga and meditation appeal to middle class women who can afford it whilst astrology and fortune telling appeal to working class women

Answer 45

Not all sects follow that pattern as some sects have survived many generations like quakers, Mormons or Jehovah’s witnesses creating established sects that socialise children into higher level of commitment Sects like Jehovah’s witnesses await 2nd coming of Christ so stay separate from outside world and remind a sect

Answer 46

Brought rapid economic growth and new middle class, Nanda edcamjned tole of Hinduism the religion of 85% of the population Globalisation created new educated urban middle class working in IT and pharmaceutical companies, secularisation theory predicts these would be first to abandon religion however vast majority believe in supernatural 30% of Indians becoming more religious and nanda says this is cause of their uncertainty about newfound wealth as Hindu belief renounces materlisdm This is resolved by modern tele-gurus who preach that desire is not bad but is manifestation of divinity that motivates ppl to do things So modern Hinduism legitimates position of middle class allowing them to adjust to consumerist capatalism while being spiritually balanced

Answer 47

Pentecostalism in Latin America acts as functional equivalent to webers protestant work ethic Pentecostalist embrace work ethic similar to Calvinist, abstain from alcohol and maintain personal discipline Berger argues Protestant work ethic necessary for economic development and in Brazil and chile there new Pentecostalist middle class leading capitalist fevlopment Berger still says natural revolvers needed as south of Brazil with more resources is better off due to recourses and work ethic compared to north

Answer 48

Religion acts as cultural defence to unit community against external threat In these situations religion has significance for its followers as it symbolises groups collective identity and often gives it prominent role in politics

Answer 49

From 1945-1989 Poland was under Soviet Union, Catholic Church was suppressed but for many it continued to embody polish identiy Church served as rallying point against Soviet Union and helped bring about end of communism advocating for free trade

Answer 50

Opnion poll found church attendance at 40% since 1940 Hadaway wanted to test this as if 40% went to church churches would be full So he went to Ohio and found level of attende asked by interviewers was 83% higher than researcher head counts

Answer 51

Bruce says teadjontal Christian beliefs of glorifying god has declined religion in America and has become “psychologised” or turned into therapy to fit in with secular modern society This can be seen with hunters research when larger number of young evangelicals in the 50’s found activities like plating cards dancing and smoking were morally wrong whereas those in the 80’s did not

Answer 52

Bruce indetified trend to practical relativism among american Christians They accept others views and beliefs and we now live in society where people can hold view’s different to our own undermining individuals belief in own religion

Answer 53

Us and them: fundamentalists delegate themselves from rest of world and refuse to compromise with it, Davies says they seek to establish island of certainty against social/cultural chaos Fundamentalism proclaim relevance of biblical prophecies and say last days are upon us, faithful will be sent to heaven and rest will die

Answer 54

Conspiracy theories: often attracted to conspiracy theories and idea powerful hidden forces are control of human destiny like the Jews Hawley notes fundamentalist favour a world to control women’s sexuality and reproductive powers

Answer 55

Davie says fundamentalism occur when those who hold tradiontal belief/values see changes in modern terms like globalisation Giddens argues growth of fundamentalism is reaction to globalisation which undermines social norms like nuclear family and gender and in late modern society they are faced with risk and uncertainty Fundamentalism is attractive due to its dogmatic beliefs promising faith answers in uncertain world

Answer 56

Bruce says fundamentalist share same characteristics like belief in truth of scared text but makes distinction: some triggered by within own society and some are response to outside society: - in the west fundamentalist reaction to changes within society like diversity and the new rights opposition to it - changes in 3rd world is usally reaction to changes thrust upon them like western values and customs resulting in events like 1979 Iranian revolution

Answer 57

Huntington says rise of religious attacks like 9/11 have intensified since collapse of communism and are symptom of wider clash of civilisations After fall of communism political differences not as important Globalisation made nationstates less significant and contact easier making conflicts more likely These differences creating us v them relationships with competition for military power, religious differences harder to resolve and west is under threat from Islam and must assert its dominance

Answer 58

Armstrong says hostility ti west doesn’t stem from fundamentalist Islam but reaction to western foreign policy in Middle East as they meddle in their affairs and support Israel

Answer 59

- Increasing oppositin to women’s abortion in America eg roe v wade - despite India’s modernisation fundamentalist groups have made it difficult for gov to intervene - fundamentalist groups in Iran, Israel and Afghanistan committed to resinstating women’s traditional positions

Answer 60

Women’s higher religiosity due to them being involved in paid work, links this to secularisation as this has driven religion out of male dominated public sphere and into private sphere so religion become privatised making men religiosity decline more than womens

Answer 61

Davie says women are closer to death through childbearing and caring for elderly so brings them closer to ultimate question about Meaning of libe and more likely to see god as loving Women socialised to be passive and obedient so women attracted to religion for these qualities says Hoffman

Answer 62

Women suffer from organismic depravation: as women suffer more from pshycial and mental problems so seek healing sects offer They have social depreciation and lack prestige and status so look for it in a sect Ethical depravation: women tend to be more morally conservative and view the world in moral decline so attracted to sects

Answer 63

Feminism as women questioning gender roles of tradiontal religions and the churches attitude to sexual diversity seen as old fashioned Increased paid employment for women gives them alternate identity and a new thing to focus on Growing family diversity with more marriages and divorces which are disapproved by traditional churches

Answer 64

Troeltsch says churches are large organisations with bureaucratic hierarchie of priest and claim to have monolith of truth, universalistic and socially conservative and linked to the state Sects are small exclusive groups and hostile to wider society with high levels of commitment, usally drawing from poor and with charismatic leader. Only similarity is that they both claim to have monopoly of truth

Answer 65

Niebuhr describes denominations like Methodism as midway between Burch and sect Membership less exclusive bjut don’t appeal to all of society, not linked to state and broadly accept societies values Don’t claim to have monopoly of truth

Answer 66

An East Asian sect recruiting mainly middle class memebers and slowly changed into denomination of the “unification church”

Answer 67

Feminists argue almost all societies have been dominated by males allowing them to organise and run society This has been supported by patriarchal ideology which justify make power Examples like women can’t be priests or be in education

Theories Of Religion Flashcards

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