Topic 4 - Age and Religion

Question 1

Why are the elderly more religious?

Answer 1

• Disengagement - Not as involved in the integrating mechanisms such as paid work, so growing privatisation, accenuated by loss of friends and partners.
• Loss - More aware of illness and death and more likely to seek religious explanations and comfort.
• Socialisation - More likely to have attended Sunday school, for schools to have a had a greater religious focus and for parents to have been religious.

Question 2

Why are the young less religious? - Privatisation

Answer 2

DAVIE - Believing without belonging.

Question 3

Why are young people less religious- Secularisation

Answer 3

Secularisation - Lynch, exercise faith via civil religions, i.e. interest in football and celebrities.

Question 4

Why are the young less religious? - Expanded Spiritual Marketplace

Answer 4

Cusack- Not socialised into religious beliefs. Expanded choice of religion means often choose to express identity via unique subcultures or transnational beliefs ie Pentecoastalism

ROOF- Expanded Spiritual marketplace

LYNCH- more exposure to and access to a greater range of beliefs through the media and immigration means more turn away from established religion.

Question 5

Why are the young less religious? - Pragmatic reasons

Answer 5

• Leisure is of increased importance and most leisure pursuits available on Sundays
• Greater demand for their time.

Question 6

Why are the young less religious? - Declining attraction of Religion

Answer 6

Religion seen as boring and old fashioned, alienated by the rejection of gay marriage, abortion, divorce, cohabitation etc.
Carey- the old lady that mutters away to herself in a corner.

Question 7

Why are young people less religious - Decline in religious education

Answer 7

BRUCE- Sunday schools declining at such a rate that by 2016 Sunday schools statistically should be non-existent. 50% 1914, 4% 2014.
Most schools ignore legal requirement to have a religious message in assembly or redirect it towards personal morals.

Question 8

Why are young people less religious?- Postmodernist

Answer 8

LYOTARD- Reject Metanarratives, pick and mix belief.

Question 9

Who is most religious?

Answer 9

50% say not religious, under 34’s least religious views
Only 2% of the 65+’s not religious.

HEELAS- Middle Aged most likely to participate in the NAMS

BRUCE- Gap of age between church goers and non church goers has widened dramatically in the last few years in all Christian denominations.

Islam is an exception.