Revision:AQA Sociology Religion -The Secularisation of religious institutions

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The Secularisation of religious institutions

THE SECULARISATION OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS IS WHEN THE CHURCH BECOMES LESS RELIGIOUS IN ITS BELIEFS TO FIT IN WITH THE REST OF SOCIETY.

In America church attendance figures have increased, but the American church has become ‘secularised’ in order to achieve these figures. In Britain, Church attendance is in decline, but those who do attend church are ‘truly religious’. People in England who attend church have firmer,

HERBERG SAYS...

American churches echo the ‘American dream’. The American church accommodates its theology in order to appeal to the maximum number of people, including immigrants who require a ‘sense of identity’. This accommodation is at the expense of being ‘truly religious’.

Church attendance shows commitment to community, but not to religion. People go to church to socialise and meet friends, which is an example of how religious institutions have compromised their religious ideology in order to attract more membership.

FAT BRYAN WILSON SAYS...

“Churches abandon religious aims in order to attract more members”.

These views have been criticised however:

Not all religious institutions have become secularised. There is a trend towards fundamentalism. The New Christian Right movement for example in the USA, is against homosexuality, abortion and pre-marital sex. Groups such as this have clearly not negotiated their views in order to attract members.

Some argue that rather than ‘selling out’ in order to attract more members, religion is not becoming secularised, it is simply adapting it’s theology in order to meet the needs of its members.

Also See

• Religious Pluralism
• The Secularisation of religious institutions
• New Religious Movements
• Religion - a conservative force and an initiator of social change?

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• Suitable for: OCR A2 Sociology
• Written by: 8owman
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