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Religion, renewal and choice - Coggle Diagram
Religion, renewal and choice
New Forms of Religion
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Spiritual Shopping
Hervieu-Leger: agrees with the decline in institutional religion in EuropeCultural Amnesia → loss of collective memory
- Prior, children were taught religion in the extended family + parish church (handed from generation to generation)
- Now, fewer parents teach their children about religion → let children decide themselves
More social equality undermines the traditional power of the church to impose religion on people
- young people don’t have a fixed religious identity imposed on them (socialisation)
- Now are ignorant to traditional religion
Individual consumerism has replaced collective religion
- People have a choice as consumers of religion → religion is individualised
- Developed ‘do-it-yourself’ beliefs → beliefs that fit with interests and aspirations
- Becomes a personal spiritual journey → choice + exploration
Hervieu-Leger - two religious types emerging:
Pilgrims: (eg. those in the holistic milieu in the Kendal Project) Follow an individual path of self-discovery eg. exploring New Age Spirituality → created by today’s emphasis on personal development
Converts: Join religious groups that offer a sense of belonging (based on shared ethnic background / religious doctrine) → recreates a sense of community
Result of trends, religion doesn’t act as a source of collective identity → however does have some influence on societal values
- Eg. values of equality + human rights have their roots in religion → can be a source of shared cultural identity + solidarity (even if no active involvement)
Views can be linked to idea of late modernity (notion that recently some trends are beginning to accelerate eg. decline in tradition + increased individualism)
- Explains weakening of traditional religious institutions + growing importance of individual choice in religion
Postmodern religion
Lyon: agrees with Davie → believing w/o belonging is more popular
- traditional religion give way to religious diversity
- Shift from modern to postmodern
- Postmodern society changes the nature of religion
Globalisation, the media and religion (globalisation → growing interconnectedness of society)Globalisation → increased movements of ideas and beliefs internationallyDue to media + information technology → instantaneous access to ideas + beliefs Religious ideas are ‘disembedded’ → from physical churches to a different time and place
- Eg. televangelism → relocates real, local churches onto the internet → allows believers to express faith without attending
Religion is now de-institutionalised: detached from its place in institutions to cyber-space
Online religion and religion online Internet creates opportunities for organisations + individuals to exploit, Helland:
- Religion online: hierarchy communication → organisations use the internet to address members + potential converts (communicate ideas) (no dialogue between parties)
- Online religion: ‘cyber religion’; no existence outside the internet → individuals create non-hierarchal relationships + sense of community (spiritual worship, shared interests + support)
Cowan: pagans gained self-worth → belonging to a global network Hoover et al: online religion is just a supplement to users rather than a substitute
Self-religions and the New Age (new forms of religion + spirituality)Lyon: spirituality rejects idea of obligation + obedience to external authority (traditional religion)
- Emphasises idea of life = journey of self-discovery + personal development
Key idea that links is individualism → spiritual shopping etc Which is why New Age beliefs + practices are called ‘self-spirituality’ and ‘self-religion’
A spiritual revolution?Traditional Christianity is giving way to ‘holistic spirituality’ → emphasise personal growth
Increasing interest in spirituality → seen in growth of a spiritual market
- Eg. books on spirituality, therapies such as meditation
Cumbria, Heelas, Woodhead: Kendal study to investigate if traditional religion has declined + how far spirituality compensates
Distinguished 2 groups:
- The congregational domain (traditional + evangelical Christianity) → losing support
- The holistic milieu (spirituality) → small proportion but growing
Explanation:
- New Age spirituality shifts from obeying an external authority → exploration of inner self
- Results in traditional religions declining → they demand obedience
- Evangelical > successful than traditional → focus spiritual healing + personal growth
Spiritual marketplace are preferred as they are a source of genuine fulfilment → over teachings + commandments of traditional religion
Re-enchantment of the world Lyon: criticises secularisation theory
- For assuming religion is declining + replaced by rational thinking
- Contradicts Weber’s views (rationalisation + disenchantment)
Instead have entered a period of re-enchantment
- Growth of unconventional beliefs, practices + spirituality
Decline of traditional religion (esp Europe) → growth of non-traditional religion in the West + resurgence elsewhere.
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Religious consumerism (growth → how we construct identities through what is consumed) Hervieu Leger: spiritual shoppers → choosing beliefs + practices that meet individual needs through the religious marketplaceindividualised religion
- No longer essential to follow specific tradition → can pick elements of different faiths to make up identity
Religion → sphere of consumption
- Cease to belong to an organisation → but have not abandoned religion
- Religious consumers → choose elements of religion that are useful
Ammerman: Christian fundamentalists made use of churches without strong loyalty eg. attending bereavement counselling + taking children to daycare Variety of religious products → loss of faith in ‘meta-narratives’
- Theories that claim to have the absolute, authoritative truth
- Wide range of contradictory beliefs → Berger: weakens traditional religion’s plausibility
- Exposure to too many versions of the truth → scepticism → decline of authority on traditional religions
Lyon: decline of traditional religion ≠ end of religion
- New religious movements → consumer can sample + construct personal belief systems
Postmodernism: religion and spirituality aren’t disappearing → evolving to fit the nature of society
Religious market theory
Stark + Bainbridge: criticise secularisation theory → eurocentric, fails to explain vitality in US + elsewhereTheory is based on 2 assumptions
- People are naturally religious + religion meets human needs
- It is human nature to seek rewards + avoid costs
Compensators Religion is attractive as it provides compensators → promises supernatural ones
Eg. immortality is unobtainable → religion promises life after death Non-religious ideologies (communism/humanism) aren’t credible compensators → don’t promise supernatural rewardsThe cycle of renewal (alternative to secularisation theory as it is one-sided)
- Religious decline, revival, renewal → perpetual cycle throughout history
- Eg. when established churches decline → space in market for sects + cults
Religious competition
- Churches operate like companies selling goods in a market
- Competition leads to improvement → churches make the product more attractive
- Unresponsive churches to members’ needs will decline
America vs. EuropeAmerica
- Religion thrives → no religious monopoly
- Always has been a variety of denominations to choose from
- Encouraged the growth of a healthy religious market
- Grow or decline according to consumer
Europe
- Most countries have been dominated by an official state church → religious monopoly
- Eg. Church of England
- Competition has been held back → lack of choice led to decline
Supply not demand → main factor influencing the level of religious participation is not demand, instead supplyParticipation increases with variety → declines when supply is restricted
Supply-led religion (supports the view that demand is influenced by quality + variety)Hadden and Shupe
- Growth of ‘televangelism’ in US → level of religious participation is supply-led
- Religious broadcasts in 60s → competition → evangelical churches thrived
- As a commercial enterprise televangelism responded to consumer demand
Finke
- Lifting of restrictions on Asian immigration into America in the 60s
- Asian religions set up permanently eg. Transcendental Meditation
- Asian faiths → popular with consumers in religious marketplace
Stark
- Japan → free market in religion has increased participation
- Until 1945, only Shintoism → after world war two → new religions (eg. Soka Gakkai)
Criticisms
Bruce: rejects view that diversity + competition increase demand for religion
- Statistics: diversity is accompanied by religious decline → Europe + America
Bruce: Stark + Bainbridge misrepresent secularisation theory
- Does not claim secularisation applies universally (only Europe + America)
Norris + Inglehart: high levels of participation in Catholic countries eg. Ireland + Venezuela
- Countries with religious pluralism (Holland + Australia) → low participation levels
Beckford: religious market theory is unsociological
- It assumes people are inherently religious + doesn’t explain why choices are made
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