Assess the View That Britain Is a Secular Society

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Assess the view that Britain is a secular society? Secularisation refers to the decline in the importance of religion on society, Bryan Wilson argues that Western societies have been undergoing a long-term process of secularisation. There are many different theories for the view that Britain is a secular society but also does it just represent Christianity or does it refer to all faiths in Britain. In the last 50-60 years Britain has become a multi faith country, with Religions such as Islam and Judaism. 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. As well Davie argues that religion has become privatised and came up with the phrase ‘believing without belonging’. Gill et al renewed almost 100 national surveys on religious beliefs from 1939 to 1996. They showed a significant decline in a person’s belief in a personal god, as well as Jesus as the son of god but also the
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