Modern Britain as a Secular Society

Modern Britain as a Secular Society Modern Britain is a secular society . To what extent do sociological

arguments and evidence agree with this view

In this essay I will look at the work of various sociologists and

analyze and evaluate them to see what extent they agree with the fact

that modern Britain is secular society.

Martin 1978 believes that the term secularization has become almost

meaningless because everyone has different interpretations of it. He

also feel that other sociologists work is highly influenced by their

own views and ideas. Martin found that the degree of religious

pluralism in society , the relationship between state and religion

and the extent to which religion helps provide a sense of national or

regional ethnicity the three main factors which determine the strength

of religion in a modern society. Furthermore he found religion

continues to flourish in societies where there is a high degree of

religious pluralism, also a strong relationship between religion and

nationalism and strong in under developed countries. Martins

evaluation of secularization was that religion was no longer

associated with the rich and elite and had been accepted by more

people in lower classes. In addition he believed rationalism had lost

its appeal and there was increasing interest in the super natural

etc.

Durkheim was one of the first to point to the connection between

religion and other forms of knowledge. He claimed that it was through

religion that humans first attempted to interpret the wo...

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... secularization can be seen as an effect of the declining of one

knowledge system and the rise to prominence of another.

While scientific rationalism has clearly triumphed over religion in

some areas, religious values, ideas, norms and so forth still provide

people with moral guidelines by which to live their lives.

Other factors of secularization can be argued through the fact The

Church is no longer as closely associated with the State and the

political machinery of government. The growth of scientific ideologies

has meant that the Church no-longer has a monopoly of knowledge. In

this sense, the Church is no-longer able to sustain a unique, unified

and, plausible, ideology.

Overall to come to my conclusion I feel the argument for

secularization is particular strong and believe it is currently taking

place.