"In modern society religious beliefs and religious behaviors are changing rather than declining" Assess the argument for and against this view.
"In modern society religious beliefs and religious behaviors are changing rather than declining" Assess the argument for and against this view.
The term Modern Religion in this essay will refer to the religion in the 20th century (i.e. from the 1900's). Also to reduce confusion I will focus mainly on religion within the UK I will term the phrase religious beliefs and religious behaviors to be related with the exclusive definition of religion. Which means a belief in god or a high being and participating in religious practice.
There are many views on whether or not religion is declining in this essay I aim to outline and explain different ideas given for and against the idea. Bruce and Wilson agree with the statement and believe that religion is declining, however Davie and Shiner are just some sociologists that believe religion is changing.
In sociology there is a name attributed to the decline of religion, this is secularization however there is dispute between sociologists on the usefulness of this term as it can be much broader. However for the purpose of this essay it will mean the decline of religion.
There are many statistics that argue against the statement "religion is declining rather than changing". Christian church membership in Britain between 1930 and 1990 has dropped from 9.9million to 5.6 million, that's nearly a 50% drop, which shows a definite decline. However this only shows a decline in church attendance, not actual belief. It is a widespread view that as people are getting more choices in modern society they are making choice about how they want to follow a religion. This view is supported by the sociologist Grace Davie who called this "believing without belonging" and said that people where still believing in religion, but just not finding time or wanting to, go to church on a Sunday i.e. not wanting to belong. She felt that this concept had 3 elements, one being that all organizations that where relying on voluntary attendance are suffering, not just the church, she called this Secular parallels. Meaning that it wasn't just the church that was declining so attendance results should not be used. The historic churches - despite their continuing presence - are losing their capacity to discipline the religious thinking of large sections of the population (especially amongst the young "the second generation"). She said this change was neither good nor bad (value judgments). She also said that while there may be a decline in traditional religions where most stats are collected, at the same time, the range of choice widens all the time as new religious movements form, coming into Europe from outside. This is largely the result of increased social mobility that has lead to religions being brought into different societies. What until moderately recently was simply imposed, or inherited becomes instead a matter of personal choice. People go to church (or to another religious organization) because they want to there be no obligation either to attend in the first place or to continue to attend. Voluntarism (a market) is beginning to be established. She also introduced the idea of vicarious religion; she said religion was changing into an institution that preformed active services on behalf of the non-active majority. The non-active majority expected these services to be preformed on their behalf because they are to busy with working or too lazy to do them themselves. However, with the arguments Grace Davie makes about the church changing not declining, you cant help but notice that the "new Church" seems to be catering for lazy parishioners who want to "believe but not belong".
The term Modern Religion in this essay will refer to the religion in the 20th century (i.e. from the 1900's). Also to reduce confusion I will focus mainly on religion within the UK I will term the phrase religious beliefs and religious behaviors to be related with the exclusive definition of religion. Which means a belief in god or a high being and participating in religious practice.
There are many views on whether or not religion is declining in this essay I aim to outline and explain different ideas given for and against the idea. Bruce and Wilson agree with the statement and believe that religion is declining, however Davie and Shiner are just some sociologists that believe religion is changing.
In sociology there is a name attributed to the decline of religion, this is secularization however there is dispute between sociologists on the usefulness of this term as it can be much broader. However for the purpose of this essay it will mean the decline of religion.
There are many statistics that argue against the statement "religion is declining rather than changing". Christian church membership in Britain between 1930 and 1990 has dropped from 9.9million to 5.6 million, that's nearly a 50% drop, which shows a definite decline. However this only shows a decline in church attendance, not actual belief. It is a widespread view that as people are getting more choices in modern society they are making choice about how they want to follow a religion. This view is supported by the sociologist Grace Davie who called this "believing without belonging" and said that people where still believing in religion, but just not finding time or wanting to, go to church on a Sunday i.e. not wanting to belong. She felt that this concept had 3 elements, one being that all organizations that where relying on voluntary attendance are suffering, not just the church, she called this Secular parallels. Meaning that it wasn't just the church that was declining so attendance results should not be used. The historic churches - despite their continuing presence - are losing their capacity to discipline the religious thinking of large sections of the population (especially amongst the young "the second generation"). She said this change was neither good nor bad (value judgments). She also said that while there may be a decline in traditional religions where most stats are collected, at the same time, the range of choice widens all the time as new religious movements form, coming into Europe from outside. This is largely the result of increased social mobility that has lead to religions being brought into different societies. What until moderately recently was simply imposed, or inherited becomes instead a matter of personal choice. People go to church (or to another religious organization) because they want to there be no obligation either to attend in the first place or to continue to attend. Voluntarism (a market) is beginning to be established. She also introduced the idea of vicarious religion; she said religion was changing into an institution that preformed active services on behalf of the non-active majority. The non-active majority expected these services to be preformed on their behalf because they are to busy with working or too lazy to do them themselves. However, with the arguments Grace Davie makes about the church changing not declining, you cant help but notice that the "new Church" seems to be catering for lazy parishioners who want to "believe but not belong".
