Assess the arguments and evidence for the view that Britain is becoming a secular society
Sociologists argue that in Britain, there has been an overall steady decline in the importance of religion since the 19th century, which has led some sociologists to suggest there was a ‘golden age’ of religiosity. Many sociologists have proposed explanations for the secularisation thesis, for example Weber, Berger and Bruce. However Postmodernists criticise the secularisation theory as they believe that religion hasn’t declined it has just become modernised. Other theories, such as religious market theory and existential security theory, also go against the view that Britain is becoming a secular society as they believe religion takes form in different ways.
Wilson argued that religion in Western societies had been gradually losing its social significance. Wilson suggests that the declining importance of religion is largely reflected in statistics relating to religious institutions and participation. For example, in Britain from the mid-19th century to the 1960s church attendance had fallen from 40% of the population to 10-15%. Church rituals such as weddings and baptisms had also declined, which then led Wilson to conclude that Britain had become a secular society. Since then, churchgoing has continued to decline with 6.3% of the population attending, in 2005, and is projected to continue to fall.
Wilson also believes that not only is religion losing influence over its members but it is also losing influence over public life, and the state has taken over many of the functions that the church previously performed. For example until the mid-19th century, the churches provided education, which is now provided mainly by the state, even faith schools are primarily under state control.
Many sociologists have argued that the secularisation has occurred as a result of