Secularization and Religious Revival
Secularization: the process by which religion loses its influence over various spheres of social life
Dimensions:
1. Membership of religious organizations:
Debates I
Membership of a religious organization may not mean anything to the individual and says nothing about levels of participation of belief…
…but it is still a marker of identity and affiliation which may be a significant factor in social solidarity
2. Social influence, wealth and prestige
Debates II
The overall total of people in a society who are members of a religious organization says something about that organization’s authority to speak in political and moral debates…
…but increasingly in Western societies the traditional churches are losing membership and smaller Christian sects, new age groups, Eastern ethical religions and the religions of immigrant groups such as Islam and Hinduism are gaining membership. Religious pluralism may say something about levels of belief but something very different about the influence of religion in social life.
3. Religiosity
Debates III
You don’t need to be a member of a religious organization to believe in a God or afterlife…
…indeed, and ‘believing without belonging’ is a term which has been used to describe the situation in contemporary Britain. However, what is the social significance of these kinds of individualized beliefs? Cut off from social organization do they have any real significance in the organization and stability of the real world?
Religion within the UK
What is your religion? (2001 census, England and Wales, %)
Christian: 71.7 %
Muslim: 3.0 %
Hindu: 1.1 %
Sikh: 0.6 %
Jewish: 0.5 %
Buddhist: 0.3 %
Other: 0.3 %
No religion: 14.8 %
Not stated: 7.7 %
Christian Communities, 2005 (in millions)
Anglican: 28.2
Roman Catholic: 5.8
Orthodox: 0.6
Presbyterian: 2.9
Baptist: 0.5
Methodist: 1.2
Non-Trinitarian: 1.4
Total Christian: 41.9
Fundamentalism and Public Life
Fundamentalism: strict adherence to the literal interpretations of basic religious scriptures and texts and the belief that the doctrine they reveal should be applied to all aspects of social, political and economic life (Giddens 2004: 557)
Note - Do you think Giddens’ definition is adequate? Do all fundamentalist approaches adhere to literal interpretations? Do all fundamentalist view their messages to be applicable to all aspects of social, political and economic life? Further, how would we define traditionalist religious approaches, that may also view their religion to be applicable in social, political and economic life? To see the problems that may arise when attempting to define what fundametalism actually is, as opposed to other religious phenomena, have a read of Simon Barrow’s piece on the topic.
Christian Fundamentalism
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Belief in the divinity of Christ and in personal salvation through the acceptance of Christ as personal saviour
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Evangelical: to be ‘born again’ (in Christ)
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Rejection of liberal theologies
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In US growth in evangelical groups whilst mainstream ‘liberal groups’ show decline
Christian Fundamentalism II
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Response to rapid, globalized social change?
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Politically significant in issues to do with family, contraception, abortion and sexuality
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Politically significant in the re-election of President George W Bush
Download the seminar’s handout by clicking here…
Further resources:
I would recommend you visit the Speaking of Faith website. It’s a radio program that broadcasts on American Public Radio, but also streams online through their website (you can also download podcasts and listen to them through your IPods, if you want to listen to them offline). A lot of the programs are centred around discussions concerning religion and public life. Here are some episodes I would recommend:
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Globalization and the rise of religion (I recommend this episode, it’s an interview with prominent sociologist Peter Berger, a previous an advocate of the secularisation thesis)
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Beyond the God Gap
The theory of the “God gap”—often broadly suggesting that religious Americans are conservative and will vote Republican while non-religious Americans are liberal and will vote Democratic—has been prominent in press reporting and political maneuvering in the 2004 presidential race. At their recent conventions, both parties seemed to grapple with faith dynamics and respond to the perceived God gap in interesting, unexpected ways. Krista speaks with Steven Waldman, who covered the 2004 Democratic and Republican conventions for religious messages, images, and language. He says that, strictly speaking, the God gap is a myth. We’ll look beyond the headlines about the political gulf that reportedly separates religious and secular Americans.
Further Reading:
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“Christianity in Global Context: Trends and Statistics”
This paper provides a brief, and somewhat surprising, overview of the composition of Christians in the world. Tabular data illustrates the major shift of Christians from the European continent in 1900 to Africa, Asia, and Latin America in 2005 — a trend that is predicted to continue. -
Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs
Based out of Boston University and headed by sociologist Peter Berger, the institute focuses on political and social issues as they relate to the larger culture. -
Globalizing the Sacred: Religion Across the Americas. Religion across the Americas by By Manuel A. Vásquez, Marie F. published by Rutgers University Press
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The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics — Edited by Peter Berger. Published by Eerdmans Publishing Company (1999)
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Tom Humes
Hi,
I think the Baha’i perspective on religion can provide an interesting discussion for sociologists, in terms of the emergence of a world religion in an age often dismissed as becoming increasingly secular while it is clear that at the same time people are seeking a ’spiritual’ meaning/identity more then ever.
‘The Ethics of Globalization: A Bahá’í Perspective’
http://www.onecountry.org/e151/e15102as_Perspective_globalization.htm
‘One Common Faith’
http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/bic/OCF/ocf-2.html
Offical website
http://www.bahai.org/
We identify religion with adherence to doctrine, especially in the west. I think this makes our concept of what religion is less profound and makes it more difficult to identify and study genuine religiousity.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the feedback…That is a good point, especially when considering Christianity, compared to other religions such as Islam and Judaism, which are more praxis based religions. That is why it is difficult to apply terms such as ‘religiosity’, ‘traditionism’ or ‘fundamentalism’ to grounded reality, considering we are dealing with an array and often qualitatively different forms of religious phenomena.
However, despite Christianity being a dogma or creed based religion, many denominations still provide moral guidelines, if not detailed laws pertaining to divorce, marriage, inheritance, trading etc. These guidelines still provide a social vision, whether on the left of the political spectrum, where it has influenced many social justice movements e.g. Christian socialism, or on the right, where it has played a role in Evangelical groups such as the ‘Moral Majority’ in the United States. These views can and do influence elections in America and should be considered when we study religiosity and religious revival.
Hi Afshin,
Thanks for those links which offer a Baha’i perspective.
I would agree with your observation, that many people have become seekers, trying out and investigating different forms of religious beliefs/practises, in an increasingly fractured religious landscape. While many people may no longer belong to a ‘mainstream’ Christian denomination or attend a church (this applies more in western Europe), there is an increasing number of people who identify themselves as ‘believing without belonging’. See for example Grace Davie’s book ‘Religion in Britain Since 1945: Believing Without Belonging’:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TxXSJ7amaoYC
However, participation amongst Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Evangelical churches etc. continue to be dynamic. I would include Bahais here as well. Then there are NRMs or New Religious Movements. New forms of religious beliefs that have appeared in western countries, offering religious ideas to ‘mainstream’ established religion e.g. Jehovah Witnesses, Hare Krishna movements etc. There is a debate if whether the Bahai religion can be condidered a NRM or a world religion:
http://bahai-library.org/essays/nrm.html
Will this diversity push western Europe in the direction of America and most of the globe? There is much debate on that, however as you stated, people will continue to seek a ’spiritual’ meaning/identity more than ever — even if it is outside centuries old established churches in Europe. But will this spread to the main body of folk in say Britian, that often nominally identify themselves as members of the Catholic or CoE Church and use these churches as public utilities on special occasions? Will the diversification and pluralism of religious forms trigger active religiosity, as in America? Have a look at the transcripts of this event, which touches on many of these themes:
Believing Without Belonging: Just How Secular Is Europe?
http://pewforum.org/events/?EventID=97