Secularisation
Secularisation is the process whereby religious thinking, practices and institutions lose social significance.
Marx predicted that with the move to communism, religion would completely die away as people would simply have no need for it, whereas Durkheim saw the future of religion as a diminishing one, although he did concede it might ‘ebb and flow’. He saw education as partly taking over the role of religion, for example, in the promotion of the collective conscience. Rationalisation , such as Darwin’s theory of evolution showed that many religious ideas taught for centuries as ‘truths’ were flawed. Rationalisation shows that religions are based on a ‘leap of faith’ rather than proof or evidence, while Weber argued that following a growth in disenchantment in an increasingly rational society, desacrilisation, the process by which sacred and supernatural forces are no longer seen as controlling the world and religious ideas, beliefs and institutions, would occur.
It is also suggested by sociologists, like Heelas et al. in their Kendal study, that the holistic milieu and increased participation in NRMs and New-Age spirituality is evidence of a resacrilisation of society. However, critics argue that actual numbers are a small proportion of the population and that such groups still only have a marginal position in society. Bryan Wilson argues that NRMs are almost irrelevant to society, with Peter Berger describing them as ‘islands in a secular sea’. The Kendal study would seem to support this with only 2% of the population engaged in New-Age activities and only half of these individuals viewing their activities as spiritual. This supports Bruce’s view that the rise of New Age is not a threat to secularisation.
Where religious pluralism, is concerned there is no longer a single religious voice or message. Instead there is a fragmentation, which Steve Bruce describes as a decline in ‘strong religion’ with religiosity becoming now a matter for personal choice from
Marx predicted that with the move to communism, religion would completely die away as people would simply have no need for it, whereas Durkheim saw the future of religion as a diminishing one, although he did concede it might ‘ebb and flow’. He saw education as partly taking over the role of religion, for example, in the promotion of the collective conscience. Rationalisation , such as Darwin’s theory of evolution showed that many religious ideas taught for centuries as ‘truths’ were flawed. Rationalisation shows that religions are based on a ‘leap of faith’ rather than proof or evidence, while Weber argued that following a growth in disenchantment in an increasingly rational society, desacrilisation, the process by which sacred and supernatural forces are no longer seen as controlling the world and religious ideas, beliefs and institutions, would occur.
It is also suggested by sociologists, like Heelas et al. in their Kendal study, that the holistic milieu and increased participation in NRMs and New-Age spirituality is evidence of a resacrilisation of society. However, critics argue that actual numbers are a small proportion of the population and that such groups still only have a marginal position in society. Bryan Wilson argues that NRMs are almost irrelevant to society, with Peter Berger describing them as ‘islands in a secular sea’. The Kendal study would seem to support this with only 2% of the population engaged in New-Age activities and only half of these individuals viewing their activities as spiritual. This supports Bruce’s view that the rise of New Age is not a threat to secularisation.
Where religious pluralism, is concerned there is no longer a single religious voice or message. Instead there is a fragmentation, which Steve Bruce describes as a decline in ‘strong religion’ with religiosity becoming now a matter for personal choice from