'Modern Britain is now a Secular Society.' To what extent do Sociological arguments and evidence agree with this statement?

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"Modern Britain is now a Secular Society." To what extent do Sociological arguments and evidence agree with this statement?

  Secularisation has become more of an issue among Sociologists recently than it has been in the past, it is the argument of whether or not Religion is losing it's importance in today's Society. Bryan Wilson defined Secularisation as being "The process whereby religious thinking, practices and institutions lose social significance." This definition itself and not just the topic alone causes problems, it might be argued that it is not possible to measure the significance of such a personal thing as religion and if it is possible it may not even be true that Religion held such a significance in the first place. It may not be true that Modern Britain is a Secular Society or perhaps it is and it always has been. These are just some of the problems that arise with the discussion of Secularisation.

Functionalist Durkheim did not agree that religion was ‘doomed’ to total obsolescence.  He once commented that there was ‘something eternal in religion’ (Durkheim, 1961).  Nevertheless, he did anticipate that religion would be of declining social significance.  In an industrial society in which there was a highly specialised division of labour, religion would lose some of its importance as a force for integrating society.  Social solidarity would increasingly be provided by the education system rather than the sort of religious rituals associated with the more ‘simple societies’.

Weber too anticipated a progressive reduction in the importance of religion.  He thought that in general people would act less in terms of emotions and in line with tradition, and more in terms of the rational pursuit of goals.  ‘Rationalization’ would gradually erode religious influence.

Marx did not believe that industrial capitalism as such would herald the decline of religion, but he did believe it would set in motion a chain of events that would eventually lead to its disappearance (Marx, 1950).  Religion, according to Marx, was needed to legitimate inequality in class societies, but capitalism would eventually be replaced by classless communism, and religion would cease to have any social purpose.

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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 ...

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