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Christianity and the Challenge of Secularisation
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Religious Studies AQA A Level. Complete Year 2 Christianity notes.
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Christianity and the challenge of secularisationSecularisation is the process by which a society becomes less religious.
The replacement of religion as a source of truth and moral values
- Until the Renaissance, Church teaching was considered to be the source of truth and the basis for all
moral values.
- As science developed in the middle ages, some thinkers saw religion as opposing rational thought.
- During the Protestant Reformation, it became possible to hold individual beliefs about religion,
challenging the idea of one universal truth.
- In the 17th and 18th Centuries, the rise of scientific thinking led some people to think that belief in
God was not necessary.
- By the 19th Century, faith had become a matter of personal commitment. Philosophers started
seeing religion as something functional.
- Basing arguments on reason alone removed the need for religion.
- However, secular morality was largely based on the Ten Commandments.
- Modern secular humanism takes the view that humankind improves through reason and evidence.
Relegation of religion to the personal sphere (individualisation)
Historically, religion was not a matter of individual choice.
In 1555, the Augsburg settlement ruled that each prince would decide on the religion of his own
state.
In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia allowed people to practise a religion different from the state
religion.
As society became more secular, religion became a set of ideas and values that individuals might
choose to follow.
Today, personal faith is a matter of individual choice, the number of people not belonging to a
religion is rising and some Christian traditions place a heavy emphasis on personal commitment.
Religion still does have a public role in civil occasions.
Many people value Christian culture, art and buildings, and treat clergy with respect.
The rise of militant atheism
o John Robinson’s 1963 book ‘Honest to God’ showed the view that God as ‘an old man in the sky’ did
not work intellectually or theologically in the secular 20 th Century.
o At the same time, liberation theory was being developed, the Catholic Church was becoming more
relaxed and the Church of England was concerned with new forms of worship, gender and sexuality.
o Militant atheists see religion as both intellectually flawed and morally flawed.
o They denounce literalist religious beliefs, equating belief in God with the tooth fairy.
o They blame religion for wars and cruelty to others.
o They want to remove religious influences from education and view a religious upbringing as child
abuse.
o However, militant atheists misrepresent mainstream Christianity, they assume all Christians are
fundamentalist literalists and at the same time ignore atrocities and cruelty caused by atheists.
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