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Secularisation Arshad Habib.

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1 Secularisation Arshad Habib

2 Learning objectives What is secularisation thesis?
Who are the main proponents advocating this thesis? What were the causes that triggered secularisation? Secularisation thesis: A critical approach We will also carry out some individual and group activities Also what definition of religion is being used?

3 Secularisation Secular, Secularisation and Secularism
Group Activity: In your groups discuss for 2 to 3 minutes how do you understand these three terms. Also what definition of religion is being used?

4 Secularisation Secular, Secularisation and Secularism
Secular (Adjective): Not associated/related with religion i.e. worldly, non-religious, common, lay Secularism: An ideology that seeks and promotes the segregation of politics and religion Secularisation: A thesis that advocates the decline of religion Also what definition of religion is being used?

5 Secularisation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-AoRYoXMZM
Write at least three key facts/ideas

6 Secularisation Bryan Wilson(1966) defines it as:
‘The process whereby religious beliefs, practices and institutions lose social significance’. ( )

7 Three levels of analysis to measure ‘secularisation’
Group activity: In your groups discuss three levels of analysis to measure ‘secularisation’ i.e. beliefs, practices and institutions and give one example for each one of them

8 Three levels of analysis to measure ‘secularisation’: 1
Religious practice/function: People’s involvement/participation in activities/events associated with religion such as Church membership, attendance etc

9 Three levels of analysis to measure ‘secularisation’: 2
Religious organisation – To what extent the Church regulates/governs our society or exerts influence and control over the running of our society

10 Three levels of analysis to measure ‘secularisation’: 3
Religious thought/belief – Belief in the supernatural such as the concepts God, angels, good and evil, hereafter, heaven and hell.

11 Recap 1 In your respective groups create a list or diagram and address the following points 1. What is secularisation? 2. What are the three levels of analysis identified by Bryan Wilson?

12 Decline of religion: a statistical review
Individual exercise

13 Secularisation: What do statistics suggest?
Decline in belief in God: Analysis of various opinion polls included questions such as ‘Would you describe yourself as being of any religion or denomination?’ From 23% in 1950 to 43% in 1996

14 Secularisation: What do statistics suggest?
Decline in ‘practices’: Church attendance from 40% in mid 19th century to 10-15% in 1960s to 6.3% in 2005 in UK.

15 Secularisation: What do statistics suggest?
Decline of religion as an institution: losing the authority to regulate people’s lives and act as a guiding social force. Fall in the number clergy in UK from 45,000 in 1900 to in 2000. Multiple social functions now performed by the state such as education

16 Secularisation Was Bryan Wilson right?
Robin Gill et al (1998) and Steve Bruce (2002) ‘Steady and unremitting decline’ and the final fall is imminent

17 Causes of secularisation
But how did it happen? What were the causes? Is religion a ‘thing’ of the past? Group activity: discuss in your groups for 5 to 8 minutes what were the potential causes that can explain this declining trend of religion. Lets create a list... Also what definition of religion is being used?

18 Causes of secularisation
Decline of religion??? August Comte ( ) Three necessary stages of human society Also what definition of religion is being used?

19 Causes of secularisation
Three necessary stages of human society First Stage: Theological/superstitious /fictitious stage informed by religion Prometheus stealing fire from the god of all gods ‘Zeus’ and gave it to mankind, ensuring the survival of life. Also what definition of religion is being used?

20 Causes of secularisation
Second Stage: Philosophical/metaphysical/abstract stage informed by reason Also what definition of religion is being used?

21 Causes of secularisation
Third Stage: Positive/scientific stage informed by scientific thinking Also what definition of religion is being used?

22 Causes of secularisation
Karl Marx ( ) Religion is the opium of human society Communism will finally eliminate religion from human society Emile Durkheim ( ) Social solidarity will be provided by the specialised division of labour rather religion alone Also what definition of religion is being used?

23 Causes of secularisation
Max Weber ( ) The power of ‘Reason’ dislodged religion, minimized its importance in society and undermined its belief system. Rationalisation of human life and its processes Reliance of human faculties rather than sources of revelations Also what definition of religion is being used?

24 Causes of secularisation
How does he support his argument? The rise of ‘Protestants’ in 16th century and their preoccupation with ‘THIS WORLD’ unlike the Catholics Protestants claimed that the world and human society is regulated by certain laws and principles which can be understood through the power of logic....leading to DISENCHANTMENT Also what definition of religion is being used?

25 Causes of secularisation
Talcott Parsons ( ) Structural differentiation: The rise of specialised institutions such as the state and other voluntary spheres in modern industrial society Shift of functions from religion to differentiated spheres Also what definition of religion is being used?

26 Recap 2 Discuss and add following points to your list or diagram.
How did August Comte explain secularisation? What was Marx’s perception of secularisation? Who proposed that the rise of Protestantism contributed to the decline of religion? What is ‘disenchantment’?

27 Causes of secularisation
Steve Bruce (2002) built on Weberian model Religious explanations of life is undermined by the rise of science and technology and scientific knowledge Protestantism became its victim too

28 Causes of secularisation
Bryan Wilson (1966) and Peter Berger (1969) The shift from ‘community’ to ‘society’ From status to contract From unity to diversity Religious pluralism: Presence of alternative religious beliefs led to the overall decline of religion...the birth of religious relativism

29 Secularisation thesis: Do we agree with it?
Group activity: Discuss in your respective groups for 5 to 8 minutes: Do we agree with the secularisation thesis? What is the evidence today that may go against it? Read...

30 Secularisation thesis: Do we agree with it?
Social diversity may strengthen religion acting as one’s source of identity rather than undermining it (Beckford, 2003) Too much focused on ‘decline’: How are we going to explain the revival of religion in certain parts of the world? The ‘secularisation thesis’ is theoretically flawed: ‘Believing without belonging’ (Davie Grace, 1995) Also what definition of religion is being used?

31 Secularisation thesis: Do we agree with it?
The methodology that supports ‘secularisation thesis’ is flawed because: 1. Statistics ignored demographic variations such as age, class (David Martin, 1967) 2. Statistics cannot capture the true character of attendance Also what definition of religion is being used?

32 Secularisation thesis: Do we agree with it?
Human society is too complex to be seen through the strict lens of past and future i.e. Popularity of religion in the past and its decline in the future Religion is changing its form and character New Age beliefs: spiritualism is gaining importance rather than religion Spiritualism: exploring one’s inner self, self-help, self-healing for instance therapies, Yoga etc... The growth of spiritual market (Heelas & Woodhead, 2005) Also what definition of religion is being used?

33 Religion and Spirituality
Exercise: List key terms under these headings Religion Spirituality

34 Religion and Spirituality
Exercise: Check your findings Religion Spirituality Life as duty Life as discovery Self-sacrifice Personal development Deference Autonomy Conforming with external authority Connecting with your self Traditional values & discipline emotional bonds & self-expression Service to an organization Professional growth (Heelas & Woodhead, 2005)

35 Recap 3 How will you criticise secularisation thesis? List at least three points.

36 Next week ‘Task’ Prepare yourself to answer the following questions.
What is meant by ‘secularisation’? What are the famous three levels of analysis of secularisation? What is ‘disenchantment’? Present at least one criticism of secularisation thesis.

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