Assess the view that religious beliefs and practices are changing to reflect a new era of diversity and choice

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Assess the view that religious beliefs and practices are changing to reflect a new era of diversity and choice

There is a view held by some that religion is in fact changing to reflect changes taking place in society, as opposed to declining. There have been numerous examples noted by sociologists to highlight the way in which religion may be changing in today’s society. Some believe that changes in religion occur due to changes in wider society, such as greater individualism and consumerism and a shift from modern to late modern or postmodern society.

 

One idea that sociologists use to back up the theory that religion is not declining is the “Believing without belonging” theory. This theory states that religion is not declining, where as it is taking different, more private form. An example being, people no longer feel that they have to go to church because it is “respectable” to do so. Thus although church going is declining has declined this is simply because attendance to church is now a personal choice and not something which is an expected practice. Believing without belonging is essentially people holding religious views but don’t go to church. This highlights a change from traditional church going religion to a more privatized form of modern religion.

 

The idea of believing without belonging and personal choice regarding religious practice is carried on by Danielle Hervieu-Leger, she agrees that there has been a decline in institutional religion in Europe, with fewer and fewer people attending church in most countries. Despite this fall in institutional religion, religion is self has not declined. Instead the concept of individual consumerism has replaced collective tradition. People today now feel that they have a choice as consumers of religion, they have become according to Hervieu-Leger “spiritual shoppers”. Religion is now individualized, we have now developed our own “do it yourself” beliefs that give meaning to our lives and correspond to our own interests and aspirations. Religion has become more of a personal journey, in which we choose or own personal elements that we want to explore. As a result of Hervieu-Leger argues that two new religious types are emerging, the new religious types being, pilgrims and converts. Pilgrims follow an individual path in the search for self-discovery and converts join religious beliefs that offer a strong sense of belonging usually based on a shared ethnic background or religious doctrine.

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David Lyon (2000) also agrees with Davie that believing without belonging is becoming increasingly popular. He argues that traditional religion is giving way to a variety of new religious forms, which highlight the continuing vigour of religion. As a post modernist he explains this in terms of a shift seen in recent decades from a modern to a post-modern society. Lyon holds a view in which he believes post-modern society has a number of features, which are changing the nature of religion. These include such things as globalization, the increased importance of the media and communications and the growth ...

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