Assessing the View that Religion is in Decline in Modern British Society
For centuries now sociologists and great intellectuals have been
prophesising the end of religion and yet it remains a huge focal point
in society even today. However, although religion remains prominent in
society, it no longer holds the same enigma it once did. People no
longer practice their religion with passion, this however does not
mean that society has no religious beliefs; a lot of people claim to
believe in God, however not practice religious beliefs. Grace Davies,
author of "Religion in Britain since 1945" described the English as
"believing without belonging" - this shows that society still has
beliefs, however chooses not to practice them to the extent others
once did.
Evidence supporting a decline in religion emerged in the results of a
survey on religion completed by 415 respondents from KGV College in
2004. The data collected showed that 62% of respondents never attended
church regularly and 66% of respondents disagreed with the statement
"Religion makes life better". These results somewhat match national
statistics, only 33% of the British population actually consider
Religion to be important and 17% of the population responded that
religion was one of the most significant factors in their lives.
Peoples own experience, parents, education and friends come first.
From these statistics alone we can clearly see that society doesn't
value religion as being important. One problem with statistics that
have derived from polls is that the results can usually be false,
research has shown that people tend to lie on opinion polls -
comparing actual ...
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...ical evidence can be
used to argue both that secularisation 'is' or 'is not' occurring.
Luckmann (l983) argues, "To the extent that secularisation is a myth
rather than a reasonably objective sociological or historical
construct, it misdirects our observations of religion as a social
reality in late industrial society."
It is evident that Christianity is relentlessly declining in British
society, however this doesn't mean that religion as a whole is on its
way out. As we can conclude from research and the growth of imported
and new religious movements - Britain still very much values religion
one way or another - our movement into a multi-cultural society has
just lead to a more diverse selection of religions becoming available
to us. Religion is now up to an individual's own interpretation where
it once was not.
A high stress is placed on morals, beliefs and one’s religion which is fine but that starts to leak into the cracks of the democracy component associated with UK’s governing system. Another point to draw is what differentiates “other principal religions represented in Great Britain” from the almost bolded religion of Christianity. As a result, students are breed to be more uniformed. After a religious education, one will be able to give an opinionated justification of whether or not there is a God, whether or not the legalization of drugs should take place, whether abortion is moral for women (Strhan Pg.
Between 1947 and 1971, even if you did not practice your religion it was still expected that you would identify yourself as being a part of your/ your family’s religion. In 1947 the ‘no religion’ category made up only 0.3% of religious affiliation in Australia. A change in social values and attitudes has since seen a dramatic increase in people identifying as belonging to ‘no religion’ with the category reaching 6.7% in 1971, “The specific instruction 'if no religion, write none' included in the 1971 Census saw an increase in this response from 0.8% in the previous Census to 6.7%.”(Australian Social Trends, 2013). The chart below is a visual representation of the growth in the ‘no religion’ category.(sourced from Australian Social Trends, 2013).
The Variety of Religious Programs on British Television When television broadcasting began every channel had to broadcast a religious programme. This was normally on a Sunday between 10.30am-12pm (or 6-7pm). Church services and hymn singing was usually showed, which is now known as worship programmes (as they feature some sort of worship). The times that these programmes were on was called the 'God slot' - which means; the time dedicated to religious programmes. These programmes were all regarding the Christian faith, due to the majority of Christians in the country.
than it has been in the past, it is the argument of whether or not
middle of paper ... ... onclusion then we can say that sociological accounts of the role and functions of religious institutions and movements in contemporary society have, of necessity had to be modified to take into account the many changes which religion is undergoing in the twenty-first century. Traditional Functionalist theories emphasising the cohesive function of religion are as outdated as classical Marxist perspectives portraying religion as the ally of the ruling classes and a means of oppressing the working-class. Clearly society has moved on and the certainty of early, deterministic perspectives of religion (namely functionalist and Marxist) have been challenged by the apparent variety in contemporary social life - including the extent to which individualism and diversity is presenting a challenge to sociological Grand theory.
However for the purpose of this essay it will mean the decline of religion. There are many statistics that argue against the statement “religion is declining rather than changing”. Christian church membership in Britain between 1930 and 1990 has dropped from 9.
Introduction: Neither the resolve of patriots nor the labor of men freed Americans from the hands of tyranny. The fathers of this nation, as well as those who fought for her ability to prosper were united by their unwavering faith and trust in God. The future of this world lay heavily upon their shoulders, yet they carried the burden willingly for the duration of their lives and passed it down from generation to generation. As a result, a new nation was born and grew into one of the most powerful countries of the world. Although America began as a Christian nation, it has pulled away from the fundamental beliefs that held this nation together. Despite their ancient predecessor’s emphasis on faith and Christianity, the current government has taken a more secular path. The legality of abortion and the exclusion of religious references in public institutions are a couple of examples how morality has been corrupted within the government. Society itself also forsakes the religious path, twisting the concept of morality to fit the lifestyles they wish to lead. David Barton uses line graphs to demonstrate the decrease of morality since 1950. Violent behavior, the circulation of sexually transmitted diseases, and the birth rate for unwed girls, has drastically inclined while educational achievement and family stability have dropped at an accelerated rate (242). It is apparent through the government’s choices, the media, and the attitudes present in average society that Americans have drifted far away from the principles on which this country was founded. Without a genuine faith and trust in God, American society will continue to deteriorate until memories of a once great nation are all that remains.
The number of Australians who stated they had no religion in the census grew from 8.3 percent in 1976 to 18.7 percent in 2006, yet the numbers of Christian and Islamic schools are
In states overshadowed by continuous negative messaging, having abandoned many of the social systems of today’s society, can religion exist? While religion is present in numerous works, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and P.D. James’ The Children of Men offer alternative insights into what constitutes religion in their contrasting dystopian societies. Both works contain scenes and themes with religious connotations. The traditional beliefs of the world’s common religions are suppressed in both works by their monocratic governments or rulers and replaced by either a convoluted form of religion in the case of The Children of Men or by state-sanctioned replacements in Brave New World. Religious imagery is recreated in both works, such as in the sexual, Ford-praising solidarity service that parallels the Catholic mass and communion, as well as in the barn birth of Julian’s baby that is much like a modern nativity scene. Journeys propelled by faith are also prevalent in both novels and while the journey of The Children of Men’s protagonist, Theo is quite clearly intended by James to be highly spiritual, the journey of one of Brave New World’s protagonists can be seen as spiritually driven due to the ways in which he sacrifices himself for a sense of purity.
Atheism has been an enemy of Christians for centuries, but recently there has been a new movement of atheism who are more vocal than ever. The main difference between modern atheists and atheists from the past is that new atheists are more vocal with their beliefs that no one intelligent or educated could believe in God. They mainly use science and philosophy to argue their position.
Religious Fundamentalism is not a modern phenomenon, although, it has received a rise in the late twentieth century. It occurs differently in different parts of the world but arises in societies that are deeply troubled or going through a crisis (Heywood, 2012, p. 282). The rise in Religious Fundamentalism can be linked to the secularization thesis, which implies that victory of reason over religion follows modernization. Also, the moral protest of faiths such as Islam and Christianity can be linked to the rise of Religious Fundamentalism, as they protest the influence of corruption and pretence that infiltrate their beliefs from the spread of secularization (Heywood, 2012, p. 283). Religious Fundamentalists have followed a traditional political thought process, yet, have embraced a militant style of activity which often can turn violent (Heywood, 2012, p. 291).
precedent to go by for a woman to be in power. So Henry wanted to
Religion as defined in, You May Ask Yourself, is a system of beliefs, traditions, and practices around sacred things, a set of shared stories that guide belief and action (Conley 613). Meaning, religion, is the way people can navigate their world and distinguish right from wrong, and good from bad. Everyone has their own belief system and often that belief system does not go with the norm of the rest of society but, what happens when a person 's belief system based off of that of the social norm? That is what society considers religion. Religion, not only in America but also the rest of the world is the basis of not only peoples beliefs but also the way they choose to live their lives. Majority of all people in the western world
Religion as a Conservative Force Describing Religion as a 'Conservative Force' seems to imply that Religion is an inhibitor of social change and used as a means by which to maintain the existing order of Society and the Status Quo. Some Sociologists such as Durkheim and Marx would agree with this and there are others who would argue against such a claim. It is a debate, one side says Religion inhibits change and the other says it sets social change in motion. As already mentioned Durkheim believed that Religion acts as a Conservative Force. In more detail what he actually thought was that Religious worship is like worshipping Society, in other words the beliefs in religion actually strengthen the values of the Society from which Religion originates.
Religion as an Important Source of Moral Values in Contemporary Societies Over the past century there has been a great differ in the views of the people of how people see religion and how important and how influential it is to our modern contemporary societies today. Too a large extent in our infrastructure today religion does play a vital part in how society runs. Religion especially helps integration between people. Before the industrial revolution quite a vast population would integrate with each other through church services and would socialise through that agency. Even in contemporary societies such activities take place for example in the Gurdwara there are youth clubs and clubs for the elderly whereby people can get to know each other.