Describe and briefly explain the variations in religious beliefs in the British Isles today.

Using the work of Engle's, Turner argues that in each epoch there will be a development of two ideological social positions. These being the subordinate and the ruling classes.

He argues that religion does not simply unite the society into a whole based on a ruling class ideology of which everyone is a victim in a passive fashion. Instead, it contributes to individual class solidarity. He argues that different classes can get different functions from the same religion, as he argues that religion satisfies the need of the ruling class to feel in a privileged social position. However at the same time religion promotes the subordinate class, for comfort on this world for the ruling class, or revenge in the next for the once subordinate class.

Another study concerning social class was by Abercrombie and Turner. They argued that in feudal times the peasantry were separated religion due to educational purposes as the official church language was Latin, therefore it was only the educated ruling class that understood and took notice of religion.

Another view by the functionalist Talcott Parsons was that religion socialized people into acceptable ways of acting; patterns and norms developed within a culture which provided the basis of unity and social harmony. He believed that by doing this social order and class was created.

Ethnicity and new religious movements are based upon the multi culturalism of the British Isles. It describes the ethnic groups that their cultures that are new to our country. Weber described ethnic groups as a human group, which cherish the beliefs and traditions of the country of origin. Great Britain is seen as a multi-cultural society as that are many immigrants that have fled wars and (or) have come to Britain for better lives. Therefore their traditions of religion follow, bringing none-Trinitarian religion to the British Isles. These religions are such as Hinduism, Judaism and Rastafarianism.

Rastafarianism became a popular religion in the 70's and 80's for young West Indians. It developed in the Caribbean and was a belief concerning the idea that the West Indians were a lost tribe of Israel who had been enslaved by the whites. The way for black people to escape poverty was to recognise the biblical evidence of the emperor of Ethiopia who was the true messiah.

In the 1980's a plea was made for Rastafarianism to be looked upon as a true religion, and therefore the dress code such as dread locks were then accepted as part of the religion.

This demanded that the enslavement and poverty of the black man due to the British, was to be looked upon as positive and important to our society.

New religious movements are groups, which place particular emphasis on mystical or other beliefs. These beliefs are not always susceptible to scientific testing. Many of these groups have become more prominent in recent times, since they have attracted more followers. Most of these groups form as a cult, and if they survive later become a sect.

An example of a NRM would be the Moonies this was a mix of eastern religions, and was a group led by a Korean businessman who was known as the Messiah. The Moonie members tended to be from middle class backgrounds and in search of a sense of security. They believe they can serve the Moonie community as effectively as their parents served society.

Conclusion

This concludes that the ruling class as the minority of the social hierarchy, within Great Britain, tend to lean towards the Trinitarian churches and that the majority being the subordinate class tend to have little to do with religion. This is perhaps due to the lack of teachings and education into other available religions.

However in Ireland it seems that both the Trinitarian and the none-Trinitarian churches are well supported, and therefore religion is more wide spread and in greater numbers. Or this table could be built souly on the measurements of Trinitarian churches there fore discounting the none-Trinitarian groups and suggesting that Ireland has little in the way of new religious movements and none-Trinitarian churches.

The conclusion variations due to gender may have started in the feudal times when the burning of witches was at a high point. This turned religion and women against each other and may still be the case. Plus when studying the bible we can see that there are no female apostles and the language used with the bible is very male orientated.

Sexism within the church can still be seen today, but is in the process of being resolved with the introduction of female clergy members.

Also the introduction of new religious groups from other ethnic cultures would create variations of religion within the British Isles as the table may only be based around the measurements of Trinitarian group members, therefore explaining more of an multi ethnic society in Great Britain than in Ireland.

Perhaps with the increase of individualisation and transformation of religion is a popular way to worship in Great Britain and is a valid reason for variation as more people are choosing to worship at home rather that in a church. Therefore there would be no record of individual religion.

Examine some of the problems involved in measuring the extent of religious beliefs and activity in modern society

The word religion holds many definitions. Some argue that Religion constitutes superstition, the belief of lucky charms, as some football supporters may feel that by wearing their lucky footy shirt their team will win.

Edward Taylor defined religion as simply a belief of spiritual beings. Melford Spiro argued that religion is an institution consisting of culturally patterned interaction with culturally postulated superhuman beings.

One of the main problems with these definitions is that not all religions have a supernatural or super human being. Emile Durkheim's definition made a distinction between the sacred and the profane. He said that 'religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things'. This is a good definition as it recognises both religious practice and belief; it does not suggest a single God.

Milton Yinger offers a good definition of none-typical religion, being a believe in something such as communism, nationalism etc. He claims that this is used by unhappy individuals, it is an attempt to counter attack failures and isolation from society.

From this we can see that religion has no particular definition and therefore is too wide spread to be measured, as strong beliefs and worship of things such as idolized celebrities or football teams.

The information needed to gain accurate measurements on the decline or rise of religion in society is extremely difficult. This is because the church attendance and membership records are unreliable. This is due to many reasons such as how the attendance levels rise due to religious festivals such as Easter, Christmas etc.

The levels of transformation from the religious institutions to more privatised worship within the home have also risen, therefore the information needed to gain some kind of measurement of religious practice within the home are almost unattainable.

Finding out the information would have ethically low validity, as people may be offended when presented questions of their religion.

Bellah and Glock both suggest that it is a mistake to assume that religion has declined simply by looking at declines in it's public and communal forms. Instead, Bellah claims that a process of individuation has occurred. He argues that individuals are free to search for their own religion and beliefs, therefore straying from the Trinitarian churches.

Globalisation is also a key figure in the modern day measurements of religious beliefs. Globalisation concerns the growth and spread of religious groups throughout the geographical and cultural areas. Such growth of religions such as Christianity makes it hard to measure as it is constantly growing and is situated all around the world.