Miss
- Submitted by: jonesy225
- Views: 422
- Category: Other
- Date Submitted: 09/28/2011 05:21 AM
- Pages: 5
- Report this Essay
‘To what extent has secularisation taken place in Britain today?’
Secularisation is a term referred to when describing the process of becoming less religious. However there are disagreements on the actual definition by a variety of sociologist leading to a range of theoretical explanations. The secularization thesis acknowledges that industrialization and scientific knowledge can lead to the destabilization of religion. Functionalist Durkheim (1961) as cited by (Holborn, 2004) once commented that there was ‘something eternal in religion’ however he also argued that religion would become less of a social significance as other institutions such as the education system would take over. Durkheim (1912) as cited by (Holborn, 2004) also suggested that the industrialization and urbanization will make religion a more individual element as society divides.
A different view was that of Karl Marx and the Disappearance Thesis who predicted the death of religion as inevitable. Marx suggested that the capitalist society have become materialistic over spiritualistic. Max Weber (n.d) as cited by (Julie Cameron, 2008) believes that that the world is becoming less enthralled in the belief of a supernatural being due to science. Weber suggested that rationalism would lead to desacrilisation meaning to take away the meanings and explanations of the sacred. Weber believed that there was no place for myth and magic in a rational world. Scientific evidence to support rationality can be seen in the Darwinian theory of evolution as it gives a rational explanation to how the world was made, whereas the holy bible states that god made the earth, evidence for this can be found in the book of Genesis as cited by (The Holy Bible: King James) (p. 10).
Religion can be defined as a set of beliefs that people take part through practices of worship to a supernatural being, usually a leader of religion will determine a set of norms and values to its members and promote them as the way in which...
Secularisation is a term referred to when describing the process of becoming less religious. However there are disagreements on the actual definition by a variety of sociologist leading to a range of theoretical explanations. The secularization thesis acknowledges that industrialization and scientific knowledge can lead to the destabilization of religion. Functionalist Durkheim (1961) as cited by (Holborn, 2004) once commented that there was ‘something eternal in religion’ however he also argued that religion would become less of a social significance as other institutions such as the education system would take over. Durkheim (1912) as cited by (Holborn, 2004) also suggested that the industrialization and urbanization will make religion a more individual element as society divides.
A different view was that of Karl Marx and the Disappearance Thesis who predicted the death of religion as inevitable. Marx suggested that the capitalist society have become materialistic over spiritualistic. Max Weber (n.d) as cited by (Julie Cameron, 2008) believes that that the world is becoming less enthralled in the belief of a supernatural being due to science. Weber suggested that rationalism would lead to desacrilisation meaning to take away the meanings and explanations of the sacred. Weber believed that there was no place for myth and magic in a rational world. Scientific evidence to support rationality can be seen in the Darwinian theory of evolution as it gives a rational explanation to how the world was made, whereas the holy bible states that god made the earth, evidence for this can be found in the book of Genesis as cited by (The Holy Bible: King James) (p. 10).
Religion can be defined as a set of beliefs that people take part through practices of worship to a supernatural being, usually a leader of religion will determine a set of norms and values to its members and promote them as the way in which...