U73611 Issues in Contemporary Religion Week Six: Secularization and the New Atheism.
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U73611 Issues in Contemporary Religion
U73611 Issues in Contemporary Religion
Week Six: Secularization and the New Atheism
Week Six: Secularization and the New Atheism
Don’t confuse:Don’t confuse:
Secularization: the process by which religion can come to lose its relevance, power, influence and authority in the modern world
Secularism: an active attempt to remove religion from the world
Secularization: the process by which religion can come to lose its relevance, power, influence and authority in the modern world
Secularism: an active attempt to remove religion from the world
Doubt in religion:Doubt in religion:
Begins in the enlightenment Atheists such as Voltaire David Hume 1711-1776 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
1779
Begins in the enlightenment Atheists such as Voltaire David Hume 1711-1776 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
1779
David Hume 1779David Hume 1779
DialoguesDialogues
Published posthumously because controversial
Polytheism > Monotheism Strong philosophical arguments against
religion
Published posthumously because controversial
Polytheism > Monotheism Strong philosophical arguments against
religion
Auguste Comte 1798-1857Auguste Comte 1798-1857
Founder of sociology Society moves through three phases:
theological, metaphysical, scientific
Founder of sociology Society moves through three phases:
theological, metaphysical, scientific
Karl Marx 1818-1883Karl Marx 1818-1883
Religion is the ‘opium of the people’ It alienates people from the realities of their
oppression by promising rewards in the never never
Religion will simply disappear following a move to a communist ‘mode of production’
Religion is the ‘opium of the people’ It alienates people from the realities of their
oppression by promising rewards in the never never
Religion will simply disappear following a move to a communist ‘mode of production’
Friedrich Nietzsche 1844-90Friedrich Nietzsche 1844-90
God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?
The Gay Science, Section 125
God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?
The Gay Science, Section 125
Max Weber 1864-1920Max Weber 1864-1920
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism 1904/5
Protestantism lent itself to the formation of capitalism
Science as a Vocation 1918 Science ‘disenchants’ the world Modernity: calculation, rationalization,
profit and loss etc
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism 1904/5
Protestantism lent itself to the formation of capitalism
Science as a Vocation 1918 Science ‘disenchants’ the world Modernity: calculation, rationalization,
profit and loss etc
Secularization:Secularization:
The dominant view in European Sociology (of religion) since the 1960s
Sec IS happening albeit at different rates Modernity is incompatible with religion Religion WILL disappear
The dominant view in European Sociology (of religion) since the 1960s
Sec IS happening albeit at different rates Modernity is incompatible with religion Religion WILL disappear
Peter Berger & Thomas Luckmann
Peter Berger & Thomas Luckmann
Religion is a social construction Offers a ‘sacred canopy’ that protects
against existential angst Competition brings danger - not all can be
true Pluralism drives secularization Pluralism derives from modernity - allows
free movement of people
Religion is a social construction Offers a ‘sacred canopy’ that protects
against existential angst Competition brings danger - not all can be
true Pluralism drives secularization Pluralism derives from modernity - allows
free movement of people
Bryan WilsonBryan Wilson
Secularization is a fundamental part of modernity
Religion does not necessarily disappear It loses its social significance
Secularization is a fundamental part of modernity
Religion does not necessarily disappear It loses its social significance
Why?Why?
Political power is freed from religious sanction
Knowledge obtained through empirical enquiry - eg science
We organize ourselves according to rational principles
Political power is freed from religious sanction
Knowledge obtained through empirical enquiry - eg science
We organize ourselves according to rational principles
EvidenceEvidence
By every measure Church attendance in the UK is falling
1851 Victorian census Sunday March 30th 47-51% of British population attended
Church that day 2000 Church attendance 9.55% (Brierley)
By every measure Church attendance in the UK is falling
1851 Victorian census Sunday March 30th 47-51% of British population attended
Church that day 2000 Church attendance 9.55% (Brierley)
What about America?What about America?
Religion seems to be extremely healthy in terms of influence, diversity, attendance
In surveys 40% say they attend church regularly
Head-counts show number is nearer 20% Why do Americans inflate attendance?
Religion seems to be extremely healthy in terms of influence, diversity, attendance
In surveys 40% say they attend church regularly
Head-counts show number is nearer 20% Why do Americans inflate attendance?
USAUSA
Is sec happening but slowly? Is sec not happening at all? Is sec, therefore, a European phenomenon?
Is sec happening but slowly? Is sec not happening at all? Is sec, therefore, a European phenomenon?
What about:What about:
New Religious Movements, New Age, Alternative Spiritualities?
Discourse of re-enchantment? Are we moving away from top-down
religion to reflexively constructed religions of the self?
New Religious Movements, New Age, Alternative Spiritualities?
Discourse of re-enchantment? Are we moving away from top-down
religion to reflexively constructed religions of the self?
The New AtheismThe New Atheism
The New Atheism is:The New Atheism is:
An aggressive form of secularism A loose agglomeration of scientists, philosophers,
left-wing political commentators Regard theistic religion to be untenable in the light
of modern science Regard religious certainty as an obstacle to the
advance of knowledge and the cause of moral ‘evils’
An aggressive form of secularism A loose agglomeration of scientists, philosophers,
left-wing political commentators Regard theistic religion to be untenable in the light
of modern science Regard religious certainty as an obstacle to the
advance of knowledge and the cause of moral ‘evils’
New Atheists include:New Atheists include:
Richard Dawkins Christopher Hitchens A.C. Grayling John Humphries Derren Brown Philip Pullman Jonathan Miller
Richard Dawkins Christopher Hitchens A.C. Grayling John Humphries Derren Brown Philip Pullman Jonathan Miller
In the God DelusionIn the God Delusion
Dawkins ridicules philosophical arguments for the existence of God
Argues that many atrocities have been caused by religionists
Argues the case for reason and, in particular, for Darwinian evolution
Regards religion as a meme - a ‘virus of the mind’
Dawkins ridicules philosophical arguments for the existence of God
Argues that many atrocities have been caused by religionists
Argues the case for reason and, in particular, for Darwinian evolution
Regards religion as a meme - a ‘virus of the mind’
HoweverHowever
Dawkins never defines religion (his target is Evangelical Christianity)
The existence of God cannot be proved experimentally - therefore atheism is a faith
In a meaningless universe why is it meaningful to conduct science?
Isn’t science just a meme?
Dawkins never defines religion (his target is Evangelical Christianity)
The existence of God cannot be proved experimentally - therefore atheism is a faith
In a meaningless universe why is it meaningful to conduct science?
Isn’t science just a meme?
Many scientists are religiousMany scientists are religious
From Newton to the present day Only an incompatibility between a literal
reading of the Bible and science Religious affiliation is more often a matter
of affect than a rationally arrived decision Thus, Dawkins should read more in the
Study of Religion!
From Newton to the present day Only an incompatibility between a literal
reading of the Bible and science Religious affiliation is more often a matter
of affect than a rationally arrived decision Thus, Dawkins should read more in the
Study of Religion!
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