began after the protestant reformation - the sacred canopy / shared sacred world view was undermined by the introduction of Protestant
The protestant ethic effect increased rationality which ultimately led to its decline.
Disenchantment - rational thinking displaces the magical.
Technological view - Bruce
Disenchantment
Technology has replaced religious explanations
When serious or life changing events occur we look for scientific and technological explanations.
Structural Differentiation - Parsons
Specialisation occurred following industrialisation
Religion has been disconnected from wider society
Disengagement - religion is disconnected from wider society.
Religious Diversity - Berger
The ‘sacred canopy’ has been undermined by many different faiths.
Creates ‘crisis of credibility’ undermining the plausibility structure.
Crockett -
a decline in the proportion of the population going to church
An increase in the average age of churchgoers
Fewer baptism and church weddings
A decline in the numbers holding traditional Christian beliefs
Greater religious diversity, including more non- Christian religions.
Wilson -
Church Attendance
only 6.3% of the adult population attended church on Sundays in2005
Sunday school attendance has declined further and only a small proportion of children now attend.
Baptisms of children fell to 55%
Religious Beliefs Today
people claim they hold christian beliefs than actually belong or goto church
religious belief is declining in line with the decline in church attendance and membership.
Religious Institutions Today
not only religious belief and attendance so has the influence
churches no longer have as much influence than the 19th century.
Wilson -
argues that preindustrial communities shared values expressed through collective religious rituals that integrated individuals and regulated their behaviour
Bruce -
sees industrialisation as undermining the consensus of religious beliefs that hold small rural communities together.
Diversity of occupations, cultures and lifestyles undermines religion.
The absence of a practicing religious community that functions on a day to day basis - religious belief and practice tends to decline.
Bruce - Cultural defence and Transition
Cultural Defence
Religion provides a focal point for the defence of national, ethic, local or group identity in a struggle against an external force such as hostile foreign power.
Cultural Transition
Where religion provide support and a sense of community for ethnic groups such as migrants to a different country or culture.
Beckford -
the idea that religious diversity will lead some to question or even abandon their religious beliefs is not inevitable
opposing views which question faith can have the effect of strengthening a religious groups commitment to its existing beliefs rather than undermining them.
Postmoderninm (Davie , Lyon and Harvieur - Leger)
religion has not declined it has simple changed and is now more diverse allowing individuals freedom and choice in how they express religion.
religion is a source of identity in an increasingly postmodern and global world.
Martin -
questioning if Britain was that religious in the first place.
question if individuals just attend church for socia standing, rather than religious belief.
the debate is ‘Eurocentric’ as Protestant countries attendance rates vary widely.
Heelas and Woodhead -
’a spiritual revolution’
increase interest in spirituality can be seen in the growth of a ‘spiritual market’.
investigate whether traditional religion has declined and if so how far the growth of spirituality is compensation for this. Distinguish between 2 groups:
The congregational domain: of traditional and evangelical Christianity
The Holistic milieu of spirituality and the new age