Assess the view that secularisation has been a feature only of modern European societies (33) Secularisation is a concept in which there are deep and controversial debates about what it is and how it can be measured. Wilson identified secularisation into three aspects which are: religious beliefs, religious practice and religious institutions. Religious beliefs are referred to as the influence of religion on people’s values and beliefs. Religious practice are the things that people do to carry out their religious commitment and religious institutions is to what extent religious institutions have maintained their social influence in wider society. Secularisation is the decline in the influence of religion but there are a lot of other ways that it can be defined also.
Most recent research conducted shows that attendance is projected to drop from 6.3% to 4.7% by 2015. This feature has also been reflected in the English Church Census that attendance in the Church of England and Catholic Church has declined. Secularisation is now not only just a feature in Europe as it has now featured in the USA, public polls have suggested that 40% of Americans attend church however research carried out by the church did not match the figure in the polls. If 40% of Americans were going to church, the churches would be full – but they were not. Therefore this tells us that secularisation has developed in other societies across the world not just in Europe.
Religions such as Islam are on the increase unlike Christianity which is declining at a rapid rate. However other factors such as in new religious movements and New-Age spirituality as evidence of a resacrilisation of society. Although opponents such as Bruce, argue that the actual numbers engaging with new religious movements and New-Age spirituality is relatively small and marginal to society. There is evidence that can prove the theory of secularisation, such as statistics show that only 6.3% of adults attended church on a Sunday in 2005, therefore churchgoing has halved since Wilsons research in the 1960’s and it is predicted to fall again to 4.7% by 2015, Sunday school attendance had declined as well and now only a small amount of children attend. However others may disagree with the view of Secularisation such as Martin who denies the view that there was ever a ‘golden age’ of religion and he argues that the reason for higher attendance of church in the past is due to the view that it was seen as respectable to attend church.
However it can be argued that just because the attendance of church members are declining does not mean that other Religious and Spiritual movements are taken their place as statistics show that there is still a lot of people that believe in God and still use the church for events such as baptism, weddings and funerals etc. It is hard to study the movements of cults and cults because they are neither official, nor registered therefore there isn’t any evidence to prove that Cults are Sects are replacing the
However, it is usually debated how much Clement Attlee actually transformed Britain. Many people believed that Attlee's government failed to transform Britain by 1951. Firstly, some people believe that the Labour government failed to look ahead; they spent too much time trying to solve the social and economic problems of interwar Britain rather than planning for a post-war world. For example they didnt encourage investment into new machinery or methods, nor did they try and modernise the constitution. Many believe they should have devoted scarce resources on industrial recovery rather spending them on the National Health Service.
They may feel more comfortable worshipping on their own in their own home. People are more entitled to their own beliefs and they also may see religious institutions as less important. As there is an increase in New Religious Movements, post modernists say that there is more choice of beliefs for people to follow, however, this means that religion as a whole
In most circumstances the society or the government would sought the advice of their most prominent religion in matters of ethics and even the authorisation of policy making. However in a increasingly secular society the role of religion is diminishing and it no longer holds much relevance that it once did. Most of us are guilty of celebrating another’s religious festival without truly understanding the significance of the celebration. For example, my family celebrates Christmas every year despite being born Hindus. We do this by decorating the Christmas tree and exchanging gifts with one another.
Secularism is a world view not usually associated with Christian or religious institutions. Increasingly however, it is evident that Christian institutions have fallen prey to the influence of secularism. The objective of this essay is to analyze various aspects of secularism that are becoming entrenched in Christian founded institutions, and to propose several ways in which this can be countered. The term secularism is derived from the Latin term “saecularis” meaning “of this world” or “of the present age”. The word was used in medieval Europe to describe clergymen who did not take monastic vows or live in seclusion with monks, but rather, chose to live and work “in the world” with the common people.
Also it cannot be argued that religion is not so significant in society today as sects and cults are becoming more and more popular in society , each portraying religious ideas, the fact that membership of such religious organisations are increasing suggest that religion has not lost its significance. However the fact that these sects and cults are only attended by only a minority in society despite the increase in attendance works against the idea that religion is still significant. It can also be argued that religion is not losing its significance in society today also because our judiciary system is based on the 10 commandments of the Christian religion which is used to judge the rights and wrongs of citizens in society and sanction them where appropriate. However it can be argued that in society today it is the fear of punishment not the religious origins of the law which stop them from committing crime, while others chose to still break the law, so much so that places in English prisons are now becoming limited. These points suggesting that although the English law is underpinned by religious suggesting it has not lost its significance in society the fact that people still break the law means the significance is lowered.
“Self-examination, then, was an essential component of higher education,” (Sharma, 2001). Over time, however, the secularization of schools and changes to the mainstream paradigm of life has largely silenced and even shunned spiritual learning in the American educational system. Daryl Gilley (2005) indicated, “with the exception of adult religious education, spirituality has been given little attention in mainstream academic adult education.” It is obvious that colleges and universities have tried to take the stance of neutrality when it comes to religion, but the unfortunate reality is that over time, higher education has become spiritually silent. Does this spiritual silence come as a detriment to today’s students, faculty, and to the