Many contemporary sociologists have followed in the footsteps of the founders. They have argued that science and rationality, the decline of traditional values, and the increasingly specialized division of labour, would tend to undermine religion in particular and faith and non-rational beliefs in general.
Modern societies are seen to be incompatible with the retention of a central role for religion. That is not to say that supporters of the secularisation thesis necessarily believe that religion will disappear completely. Instead they argue that in some sense religion will decline in significance. For example, Bryan Wilson defines secularisation as ‘the process whereby religious thinking, practise and institutions lose social significance’ (Wilson, 1966).
Continuing with Bryan Wilson, he believed that Secularisation was in fact occurring and that Religion holds less importance now than it had done in the past. Wilson used Positivist methods such as analysing statistics to support his claim. Apparently Wilson thought the significance of Relgion could be measured, and so he collected data from such 'Social Indicators' as church attendance, baptisms, weddings, closure of churches and growth in religious Sects. The results showed that there was a decline in Religious activity. For example, since 1979 the attendance of Institutional Churches has dropped from more than 5 million to less than 4 million. And a similar decrease has occurred in non- Institutional churches also.
David Martin however disagreed with Wilson and questioned both his methods and results. Martin argued that the statistics used as evidence were unreliable and that the data was open to interpretation.In the instance of measuring Church attendance there is always the possibilty of the size of the congregation being either overestimated or underestimated. Eg. In the Roman Catholic Church the number of congregation might be underestimated so that more of the Capitation can be kept for the Parish. It is also possible that more people may 'worship' as individuals or may not be able to attend church, surely this doesn't mean that they are not religious and therefore evidence that Secularisation is not occurring. Martin also argued that growth of New Religious Movements is not evidence of Secularisation, if more people find their beliefs in Sects or Cults then that should not count as proof that Relgion is losing significance but perhaps that Religion is developing a new form.
Sociologists such as Demereth and Hammond believe that religious beliefs cannot be measured by quantitative methods and should be studied by more qualitative methods. ie. Reliosity, which is the extent to which religious belief influences a person's actions and values. They thought that such social indicators as church attendance didn't measure religiosity. For example, there are some people that may attend church as it is considered the 'Done Thing' and not because they have any particular religious beliefs also a person may choose not to attend church because they prefer private worship but this does not mean that such a person is not religious. Demereth and Hammond might also point to the growth in smaller religious groups such as Jehovah's witnesses, Krishnah Consciousness.etc. These such groups are not included in Church statistics therefore they are lacking vital information.
Berger spoke from a Phenomenological perspective. This difficult concept in simple terms says that religion or a belief system is required for an individual's basis and source of knowledge. In pre- Industrialisation times religion provided the answers to all of our questions, it told us how life began and even provided us with a moral code by which to live by. Religion was our 'Universe of Meaning' (The framework which enables us to make sense of things). Berger says that now the Universe of Meaning is changing, religion is under threat by other religions, different religious beliefs and Scientific perspectives. All this leads to a decline in Institutionalised religions as they are no longer able to provide explanations to all questions, this forces religion to become privatised, creating a new 'crisis' Universe of Meaning by society. As Berger said "A sky empty of Angels becomes open to the intervention of the astronomer and eventually, the astronaut."
Membership of some non-Christian churches and other religious organisations has been increasing. Much of this increase is accounted for by the rises in the numbers of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and Scientologists (Cult?). Some other groups, including Theosophists, Unitarian churches and Spiritualists have declined. The number of Muslims has increased by 247,000, Sikhs by 200,000, Hindus by 35,000 and Buddhists by 28,000. There have been declines in some groups – for examples, Jews – but by some 545,000, or over 70 per cent. While much of this increase may be explained by births to parents following these religions, and by immigration, some has been due to conversions. For example, some people from a Christian background have converted to Buddhism.
One of the very first Sociologists, Emile Durkheim, anticipated Secularisation. He said that the Church and religion are being replaced by Government. What was meant by this is that, the role and functions that the Church once served are now being supplied by the Government. For example, morality is now the law and Police and education is now being recieved through schools. However Durkheim also said that the process of Secularisation could be reversed, this is inevitable as according to Durkheim all societies need a sacred symbol in order to survive.
Another early Sociologist, Max Weber thought that rationalism would be the end of religion, such rational things as science was taking away all the mystery in the world and there would be no questions left for religion to answer. The scientific explanations of such things as 'The Meaning of life' would begin to replace the religious ones. For example, Darwins 'Origin of the species' would begin to be accepted as the truth, thus replacing the former explanation, the creation story in Genesis. Weber's ideas here are not unlike the Pheneomenological perspecive and their theory of the new 'Universe of Meaning'.
The likes of Shiner, Thomas and Williams all spoke on behalf of the 'Golden Age' Critique. Larry Shiner disagreed with Sociologists such as Wilson who believe that religion is losing it's significance, Shiner said that there is "a problem in determining when and where we are to find the supposedly 'religious' age from which decline has commenced". More simply Shiner was asking the question, whether or not religion ever did hold such an influence over people's lives. On a similar note, KV Thomas said in reference to 16th and 17th century England that because we do not know enough about the religious beliefs and practices of this time that we cannot be sure that a decline has occurred. W Williams determined in study of Gosforth that church attendance has always been low. Parish records indicated that there was low church attendance for 400 years but new Anglican vicars had assumed that this was a recent trend. These Sociologists bring an important issue into the debate, if we are to believe their views then it will not be true that "Modern Britain is now a Secular society" but that it has always been this way.