Secularization in Britain - Essay Example

?Secularization in Britain Methodology It is commonly assumed that, as societies begin to answer questions about the universe with science, replace traditional religious forms with more flexible economic or liberal democratic forms, and provide participation options in the civic and public arenas that obviate the need for religion as coordinator of civic life, religion tends to take a backseat. And certainly the modern era is far more secular than in the past, with many countries having very few specifically religious elements to their governance and some seeming outright atheist (Cuba, China, the Soviet Union before its collapse, etc.) Yet there has been a backlash in recent years, represented by fundamentalist movements particularly in America but in the West more generally and by Islamist and traditionalist movements in the Middle East. How are these factors represented in the United Kingdom? In general, secularization is still the word of the day, yet while in the past trends directed almost exclusively towards secularization, now there are mixed trends leading both towards and away from secularization. Secondary data analysis is the reuse of quantitative data, the analysis of data collected by others. The following secondary data analysis is essential to guiding our research. First: It is important for us to understand the theoretical approaches of those who have gone before us. As the secularization theory (McGee) we review below indicates, things that might seem to be a sign of one thing (desecularization) can actually be a sign of another (secularization) if interpreted under a different framework. Understanding what data means, not just prior data, is essential. Second: It's impossible to identify trends without introducing longitudinal data. Thus, surveyed below are studies primarily from the 2000s, but with data and trend analysis going back much earlier than that. Third: To hedge against bias and presuppositions, it is vital to see what others think. The data below is drawn from a number of sources, including multiple major analyses of the UK's religiosity: An analysis of churchgoing; an analysis of the UK as compared to other countries; and longitudinal trends. The variety of sources is essential to get many different handles on the idea of secularization. As our data indicate, the exact definition and amount of religiosity is not something that can be ascertained from one vector. Someone can identify themselves as an atheist yet admit to prayer; someone can view themselves as not especially religious yet be uneasy with the idea of teaching evolution in the schools. We thus chose to look for many different factors to truly understand the face of secularization in the UK. Variables chosen include self-identification as religious or atheistic/agnostic, which is vital for understanding secularization since a secular society should presumably have more secular people; the degree of belief in prayer; the degree of value that people place on religion, such as people's beliefs that religion makes one a better person or causes wars and conflict; belief in evolution, an important specific choice because it acts as a prima facia plausibility test to see if the other variables might be exaggerating the secularization and overestimating its practical and social impact; etc. We did not focus on specific sectarianism as it generally is not important for the way that secularization is proceeding. The limitations of the data analysis below are obvious. The longitudinal data is good but doesn't take into account a broad enough set of variables or ways that people behave. Anomalies emerge, like a general trend towards secularization alongside increased scepticism about evolution. Secondary Data Analysis Unquestionably, the historical trend in the UK has been towards secularization. Brierly (1989) found that from 1900 to 1985 the trend was overwhelmingly towards more secularization, and predicted this trend would continue. The British Social Attitudes (2010) studies confirm this fact. The number of people from 1983 who identified themselves as Christian plummeted from about 70% to about 50%, while the amount of people who identified themselves as “no religion” went from around 30% upwards to close to 45%. Despite waves of new immigration, the number of people identifying themselves as “Other non-Christian” barely rose at all and remains firmly in the 5-10% range. While the statistical picture is complex, this means that the much-discussed factor of Polish and Muslim immigration offsetting secularization is certainly exaggerated compared to the overwhelming trend. The BSA found similar reductions virtually across the board in religiosity and increases in secularization. Most interestingly, the trends look like the “No religion” and “Christian” lines will intersect, either equaling out or with “No religion” becoming the dominant appellation! Over time, the UK has become far more secular. One of the most important factors to bear in mind as regards secularization is that things that are taken for granted now, like choosing a religion or frequency of conversion, was unheard of historically. “[We see] a largely novel situation in human life: the possibility of choosing a religion. There have been some societies, though not many, that have allowed religious minorities to follow their Gods in peace, but never before have so many people been free to choose or had such a range to choose from. To put it another way, it used to be possible to guess people's religion from their nationality, region, and class. An eighteenth-century Swede was a Lutheran. A nineteenth-century citizen of Cork of native Irish stock was a Roman Catholic; if descended from English settlers, an Episcopalian Protestant. Such regularities are now rare” (Bruce, 1999: 3). Church attendance in the UK is seemingly very low. The 2005 English Church Census indicated that 6.3% of people in England attend church on average. While some factors gravitate against attendance by otherwise religious people, like having to work full-time or worshiping at other points of the week (and the Census only surveyed for Christians; presumably, Muslims have a higher attendance rate), it nonetheless indicates a high degree of secularization even among people who identify themselves as Christian. Similarly, a 2004 BBC study found that only 21% of the UK regularly attend services, compared to around 90% of Nigerians. Russia had a lower rate of attendance, but that is likely to be misleading, as both danger and poverty tend to depress churchgoing irrespective of religiosity by raising the practical, economic and social costs of attending church. This indicates that the UK has low attendance rates compared to the rest of the world. If the 6.3% figure and the 21% figure are both accurate, it also means that the majority of regular religious attendance in the UK, about 15%, would be Muslim or non-Christian, which would further point to immigration as being one of the primary countervailing forces against secularization. Glover, in a review in The Guardian, argued that most Britons are “fuzzy believers”: Not atheist per se, but not especially religious (2010). About a third of Britons are uncertain of God, a very large portion of people with agnostic or “fuzzy” religious sensibilities (Glover, 2010; British Social Attitudes, 2010). “People prefer to talk about spirituality rather than religion”; while overt religiosity is generally unpopular, so it overt atheism. “The part of the population that is properly religious is a minority, but so is that part which is overtly secular. In the middle is an informal group of fuzzy people who don't really care” (Glover, 2010). Polish and Muslim immigration may throw off the figures over time, but there's no sign of a substantially hardening religiousity in Britain, though there is also no sign of increasing hard-line atheism or agnosticism. As for the percentage of outright atheists and agnostics, data varies. It's hard to study atheism, for a variety of reasons. First: People's definitions vary (Brietbart, 2009). Some people consider themselves atheists because they are sure God does not exist; others are what Dawkins calls “Tooth Fairy agnostics”, people who believe that proof for or against God is philosophically beyond possibility and thus we should behave as if there is no God because that is philosophically consistent with people's rejection of the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus or invisible teacups. Different questions therefore yield different results: Some people, for example, may find it difficult to swallow the idea of evolution of man but are more willing to accept this in general (Dawkins, 2009). Second: There are social costs to admitting to agnosticism and atheism. Third: Many people have leanings that they are not entirely sure about or are still exploring. Nonetheless, consistent figures indicate that the proportion of atheists or agnostics in the UK are about 30-35% (BBC, 2004). How does this compare to the rest of the world? A major BBC study found that Britons are among the least religious in the world, with countries like Nigeria, Lebanon and Indonesia leading (BBC, 2004). As we've seen, the idea of conversion is an idea of a new world; so, too, is the idea of religious tolerance, though certainly polytheistic and polyreligious societies like India and China have existed. In Indonesia, Nigeria and Lebanon, 90% of those surveyed think that their God is the true God (BBC, 2004). In the UK, it's only 31%. No matter the religious identification in Britain, people are far more tolerant and open-minded, embracing an idea of many Gods or many approaches. Agnostics and atheists are not only more likely to exist and openly profess their orientation, but also more likely to be open-minded about their orientation. Part of the “fuzziness” Glover perceived may be this phenomenon in disguise: People are sometimes fuzzy, but other times they are trying to balance their own beliefs with the fact that they are perfectly willing to accept that they are wrong. There is also an increasing embrace of a broader range of spirituality, borrowing from many traditions and including influences from Christianity, Kabbalah, Buddhism, Taoism, Eastern philosophy, Hinduism, cultic tendencies and religious-spiritual philosophies like transcendentalism, etc. Notably, however, while the UK has the lowest rate of a “Yes” response to the question, “Does belief in God make one a better person?”, that response is still 56% (BBC, 2004). This means that a large portion of the population are either believers who simply don't attend much or have religion impact their life, or are agnostics, atheists or “spiritual”, still believe that belief in God tends to make people more moral. Note that more militant atheists like Dawkins, Harris or Hitchens might say “No” to this question, arguing either that religiosity is orthogonal to personal character and morality or actively detrimental to it by encouraging mindless conformism, obedience, and acceptance of less palatable phenomena associated with religion such as genocide and death. This figure also doesn't shed light on an obvious question: Does this data mean that people want to be more religious and believe in God but simply find themselves too busy or have crises of faith; or does the data instead point to a phenomenon where people believe that it is possible to be moral without God but that religiosity tends to nonetheless lead to better moral development (e.g. “A lot of people need religion telling them what to do to be moral, but I don't”); or does it point to a lack of interest in morality and being a better person (e.g. “Sure, religion tends to make people better people, but I don't care”); or does it point to another factor entirely? Surely the answer is “All of the above and more”, yet research needs to be done to point to what extent each of those factors are in play. Pointing to the fuzziness of British religious belief, 25% of those surveyed said that they never pray as compared to 5% of Nigerians (BBC, 2004). Note that this means that, even if 100% of those who never pray are atheists, there still are a substantial number of atheists who pray. Indeed, 30% of atheists admit to praying on occasion. 90% of Nigerians said they would sacrifice their lives for their beliefs; only 19% of people in the UK agreed (BBC, 2004). An obvious question emerges: Are people in the UK just less passionate? Might those in Nigeria be more strong in their beliefs? Do people in secularized countries believe less in any ideology, or just religious ideology? Certainly the people in World War II who sacrificed themselves not just for God but also for the Queen, country, democracy or their family point to “No”, yet again more research should be done. Most startlingly, 29% of people agree that the world would be a more peaceful place without religion (BBC, 2004). Note that this question only asked about peace: Other things that people have argued religion tends to undermine like tolerance, economic efficiency, scientific advancement, progress, fairness in institutions, etc. were not inquired into. It's impossible, of course, to talk about secularization without talking about institutional behavior and design. Are the political, economic, and social institutions generally secular? How much impact and influence do religious institutions, powerbrokers and interest groups have on the functioning of sociopolitical and socioeconomic institutions and processes? Obviously, this question is a highly contentious one. In general, the United Kingdom's institutions are highly secular: While the national anthem is still “God Save the Queen”, Parliament has very few religiously-favoritist laws and most economic and political interactions assume the separation of church and state. However, unlike America, the UK has a sovereign government: Parliament is only restricted barely by Basic Laws; there is no Constitution, so Parliament has immense power to enact whatever laws it pleases. This means that Parliament could become religious in orientation at any point it pleases. Secularists tend to argue that the UK is far more religious in its governing institutions than it seems (Tranchino, 2010). In protesting a visit of Pope Benedict to the UK, Tranchino argues, Although Britain is a fairly “secular” society, Christianity still has considerable influence in many British institutions and it continues to enjoy unfair privileges.A limited right to abortion has been granted to women living in England, Scotland and Wales, but in Northern Ireland it remains illegal. This anomaly is significantly due...the Catholic Church...With increasing numbers of state funded faith schools (1 in 3 of all schools in the UK is either Catholic or Church of England), religious institutions continue to exercise an influence on many young people. The churches (especially the Catholic church) made sure that the proposed EU Constitution – and the now approved Lisbon Treaty (article 16c) – dangerously commits the European Union to “an open, transparent and regular dialogue with Churches and religious organisations”. Why should religious bodies receive this special treaty guarantee, which is denied to humanists and human rights advocates? (Tranchino, 2010). Thus, while in general the British political systems are formally and factually secular, there are profound religious influences as well. It's important to note that, under secularization theory, even the involvement of religion with politics as interest groups is itself a sign of secularist success (Crabtree, 2010). There are five interconnected phenomena of secularization: 1. Decline of popular involvement in institutionalized religion... 2. The loss of prestige of religious institutions and symbols and the decline in influence of religious organisations. 3. The separation of society from the religious world, so that religion becomes purely personal matter. 4. The loss of the idea of the sacred. As science increases our understanding of humanity and of the world, the area of 'mystery' and the supernatural decrease. 5. Religious groups themselves become increasingly concerned with the things of this world rather than the spiritual world. (Crabtree, 2010). The fact of the fundamentalist backlash, then, could actually be a sign of secularization, as it indicates both that religious authorities are increasingly worried about their relevance and have taken for granted that the proper way of participation in society is not high-minded proclamations but politicking. Of course, religious authorities tend to argue that the secularization in the UK is a problem and assume that secularization is ascendant in culture and institution. One rabbi, for example, denounced secularism as more dangerous than global warming (Ashland Avenue, 2009). “[C]ivil society needed religion because it sanctifies the family and parenthood, and safeguards against relativism and protects the moral principles on which western freedom is based. The emphasis on consumerism and instant gratification has left little room for the sacrifice involved in parenthood...Like the people of ancient Greece, Europeans are unwilling to marry or to bring up children...We are undergoing the moral equivalent of climate change and no one is talking about it” (Ashland Avenue, 2009). Similarly, the Pope, while conceding that institutions need to remain secular, has argued for incorporating religious elements and groups in policy-making and in averting a wholly secular, market-based middle way while also avoiding any form of tyrannical state, religious or otherwise (Pigott, 2010). “Now the threat of corruption appears to come not from totalitarianism, but from secularism and the "pick-and-mix" approach to morality he believes it fosters” (Pigott, 2010). Though the trends are unquestionably in the direction of secularization, there are signals going the other direction. In The Greatest Show on Earth, Richard Dawkins notes that the anti-evolution, anti-science is beginning to expand to Britain. “Such experiences [children questioning evolution, crying or screaming when they are told they would study evolution] are common throughout the United States, but also, though I am loath to admit it, becoming so in Britain” (Dawkins, 2009: 436). The fact that people who believe in strict, non-divinely guided evolution in America is often 5-15%, sometimes not much larger than the margin of error of the polls, is much lamented (Dawkins, 2009: 436). Three quarters of the American population literally believe in religious miracles. The numbers who believe in the devil, in resurrection, in God doing this and that -- it's astonishing...You'd have to maybe go to mosques in Iran or do a poll among old ladies in Sicily to get numbers like this. Yet this is the American population...The percentage of the population that believed in Darwinian evolution at that point was 9% -- not all that much above statistical error. About half the population believed in divinely-guided evolution, Catholic church doctrine. About 40% thought the world was created a few thousand years ago. (Chomsky, 2002). Yet polls conducted after 2000 show that the UK is not far behind America in this regard. About 22% of the UK population believe that humankind was created by God sometime in the last ten thousand years, and another 17% believe in intelligent design (Dawkins, 2009: 431). This means that 39%, close to the American figure of 40%, “favour some form of creationism”, though this figure does include old-earth creationists, intelligent design advocates and other more secularized beliefs. And only 69% believed that evolution positively should be taught at all (Dawkins, 2009: 432). Some of this factor is caused by Muslim immigrants: “Teachers in Britain and Europe now face the same problems, partly because of American influence, but more significantly because of the growing Islamic presence in the classroom” (Dawkins, 2009: 4). Yet it is not exclusively the Islamic influence: The ideas of religious fundamentalism are apparently quite infectious, and there are many Christian students in the UK who are also opposing evolution in various forms. While the 2004 BBC study above indicates that the UK is one of the least religious countries in the world, this changes when it comes to comparative analysis of the questions regarding evolution. The UK was far from a leader when it came to the issues of evolution, creationism, flat or new earth philosophy, or the belief that evolution should be taught in class (Dawkins, 2009: 429-440). Finally, it is important to note that the UK historically had a Secularist movement which, while small in size, exerted disproportionate power (McGee). “Of the several developments which the Secularists helped to bring about, one of the most conspicuous was the growth of the idea that it is man's duty to promote human welfare on earth. This idea became so widespread as to be almost universally endorsed, and belief in it became so firmly established that its truth was generally taken for granted...”. Thus, while secularization in the UK is facing a countervailing force of religiosity, it is nonetheless true that by any vector (church attendance, belief in God, religiosity, belief in religion's superiority, etc.), the UK is a highly secular nation and this is likely to remain the case. The secondary data is fairly unequivocal in establishing this. List of References Ashland Avenue. 2009, “Secularization more dangerous than climate change: UK Chief Rabbi”, Redstate, November 29 BBC News. 2004, “What the World Thinks of God”, Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/ shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/04/world_what_the_world_thinks_of_god/html/1. stm Brierly, P. 1989, A Century of British Christianity: Historical Statistics 1900-1985 with Projections to 2000, Research Monograph 14, London: Marc Europe. Brietbart, P. 2009, “Atheist, Gnostic, Theist, Agnostic”, The Freethinker, August 25. British Social Attitudes. 2007, 27th Report. Bruce, S. 1999, Choice and Religion, Oxford University Press. Chomsky, N. 2002, The Prosperous Few and the Restless Many, Odonian Press. Crabtree, V. 2010, “Secularisation Theory”, Human Religions, Available at: http://www.humanreligions.info/secularisation.html Dawkins, R. 2009, The Greatest Show on Earth, Free Press. English Church Census. 2005. Glover, J. 2010, “Not atheist, not religious: Typical Briton is a 'fuzzy believer'”, The Guardian, September 10. Gorski, PS. And Altinordu, A. “After Secularization”, Available at: http://www.yale.edu/ccr/workshop/papers/AfterSecularization.pdf McGee, JE. “A History of the British Secular Movement”, Infidels.org, Available at: http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/john_mcgee/british_secular_movement.html Pigott, R. 2010, “Benedict's big society”, BBC, September 16. Tranchino, M. 2010, “Pope protest”, February 14, Available at: http://womensgrid.freecharity.org.uk/?p=4576 Read More