Modern Britain is now a secular society. To what extent do sociological arguments and evidence agree with this view?

   There has been a dramatic increase in Sectarian Christianity such as Jehovah Witness where membership has grown from 80 thousand in 1975 to 130 thousand in 1992. Also orthodox membership, congregations and priests have increased membership increasing from 203,165 in 1980 to 320, 420 in 2000 whereas Church membership has decreased. Although indigenous religion has decreased in Britain religions such as Islam have not experienced such secularisation but there has been an increase in recent years in people who have converted from Anglican faiths to Middle Eastern religions. It must be therefore noted that Wilson’s thesis of secularisation is decidedly ethno centric. Secularisation theoretically occurs in modernised countries but USA has a vast religious population but it should also be argued that it is difficult to classify ‘modernised’.

   There has also been increased interest in NRM’s over the past few decades. Wilson describes this as further evidence of secularisation rather than a new religious revival as such resistances to secularisation as wimsiful. He argues that members have only short-lived interests who are attracted more to the lifestyle than to religion itself. Examples are Paganism and quasi-religious Scientology. Greely and Nelson argue that the growth of such organisations is a product of secularisation of the established churches who have become stale and boring and suggest that people have turned to evangelical Christian fundamentalism as a more exciting form of worship which is especially attractive to younger people.

      Durkheim a functionalist wrote in a more classical era of sociology that secularisation although brought about due to industrialisation is not irreversible (unlike Marx) as religion would reassert itself as sacred symbols and communal rituals are necessary for societies to survive. However Durkheim didn’t envisage the diversity of modern day Britain and the religious pluralism that exists today. A modern day example is football patriotism is like a form of religion and to some is like a religious following with Durkheim’s symbols and rituals. Many sociologists agree that secularisation does not have a common classification but Hamilton (1988) thinks that ‘here is a danger that religion may be defined so broadly that it can be found behind every stone’ which begs the question – has religion become watered down and is Wilson’s view that secularisation has occurred despite religious growth in other areas justified?

   Max Weber believes that the world has become less enchanted due to the development of scientific theory. For example we now understand the Darwian theory of evolution and do not have to rely upon the bibles theory in Genesis that the Earth was created in six days and on the seventh day God rested. Weber thinks that as the world has more scientific theory on phenomena that there is no place for religion in modern day society. However, critics suggest that there could be over emphasis on rationality. For example people still religious explanations for events such as the death of a loved one and they ‘go to God’ and surveys indicate that 70% of the UK population profess a strong belief in God. In addition it could be stated that in modern day society there has been a trend where people are unwilling to demonstrate their commitment to there believe. Membership to trade unions, political parties etc demand a high level of commitment to peoples time have decreased whereas low commitment organisations such as the Natural Trust has increased. It could be argued that the popularity of NRM/NAM’s has increased due to the low level of commitment demanded upon members.

   In conclusion it is clear that there are changes in institutional religion in the UK. However it is difficult to label whether these changes can be described as secularisation or not. As sociologists cannot agree on a universal definition of the measure of religious belief it is difficult to state whether or not secularisation has occurred. Quantifiable measures such as church attendances are too simplistic to measure true levels of religious belief. It is also important to note than Stark and Bainbridge argue that secularisation is most probably a cyclic process and that religion merely changes and adapts rather than declines.