Are Religious Beliefs and Practices Changing to Reflect a New Era of Diversity and Choice?

With the article “Holy, Holy, Holy” by Peter Ackroyd shows how religion is interconnected to all levels of life during the 16 Century London. Religion is essentially emotional and community experience. If an individual does not go to Mass they are alienated from the community and are not part of the norm. When attending Mass, there are many rituals and experience from listening to a sermon or singing religious songs. For example, during a Mass a priest is giving "stray gestures and hear muttered words in a language most

For the first part of this assignment I have chosen Religion, because the popularity of this religion.

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

Lyon, a postmodernist, supports the idea that traditional religion is giving way to a variety of new religious beliefs and practices because we are living in a postmodern society. In this society globalisation, the increased importance of the media and communications and the growth of consumerism all create a new era of diversity and choice in all aspects of life. Lyon demonstrates how these have affected religion. We are now exposed to a wider range of religious ideas than ever before and these have become ‘disembedded’ from their original local contexts so we can now adapt ideas and beliefs to suit our own purposes. Much new religious belief is simply a watered down version of Eastern religions, adapted to suit Western tastes. Practice of worship is also different because it is no longer necessary to attend a local church. Instead the ‘electronic church’ on the internet and televangelism allow us to stay at home. However, if it is difficult to get convincing statistics of how many people attend church and what effect this has on them, it is even more difficult to research the numbers involved in and the influence of this new form of worship.

Martin uses a functionalistic approach to understand the role religion plays in society, exploring each object with hermeneutical suspicion, believing, for the sake of this study, that any supernatural claims are false. By exploring such concepts as classification, structured society, and habitus, Martin explains how “we, as humans, are a product of society”. He focuses on answering questions such as “what’s going on” and “whose interests are served” by skeptically looking at the way in which people use legitimation, authority, and authenticity to push their own agendas.

Indeed, the conviction of religion gives humans the ability to stand against anyone and anything thus making religious groups a force to reckon. Religion is a symbol that acts to “establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivation in men formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that they seem uniquely realistic.” Examples of this influence include the Islamic movement, the strong influence the Pope has on the Catholic movement, and the impact the Pentecostal movement had on the US government. The worldview contributes to the aspects of living, which include lifestyle, customs, thoughts, philosophies, beliefs, and culture. These aspects seem to change with different generations causing even greater conflict amongst interest groups in policymaking. Indeed, individuals in opposite factions or groups may agree based on facts but sharply differ on conclusions simply because of their different worldviews. A classic case of the worldviews influence is gay

Religion and spirituality reach into the depths of the human psyche and strongly influence a nation’s way of life.

In society today religion can be seen in two different ways, as a private and personal matter or something to share with your community. Some sociologists would argue that religion and spirituality is a private matter because of televangelism, which is where people watch their religions services on television or go on online churches in the comfort and privacy of their own home when we have free time but other sociologists argue that this does not mean that religion and spirituality is a private matter, but that we have to use televangelism due to the fact we live in a postmodern

Religiosity (question A1) - “Important in Life: Religion” Coding for this question will be reversed to range from from 1 (Not al all important) to 4 (Very important).

This struggle for change displays the countless changes in values that surround this topic. Before, the religious groups fought to have their religious freedom. Now, with the changing values and views of another group, this stability is being threatened. As such, the struggles of change is brought forth. (Perreaux, 2013).

The idea for the book “arose out of the 1992 Wheaton Theology Conference” that brought evangelicals together to discuss the challenges of pluralism and inclusivism.” Religious pluralism is the greatest challenge facing Christianity in our culture, Dennis L. Okholm and Timothy R. Phillips assembled the writings of five

In Stephen Prothero’s Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – and Doesn’t (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2008) 1 – 372, Prothero discusses how the American society was once a religiously literate nation, how we became religiously illiterate, and how (if willing) we can become religiously literate again. Prothero states that “this book argues for both the constitutionality and the necessity of teaching about religion in public schools and higher education.” He further explains that the main goal of this piece is to “help citizens participate fully in social, political, and economic life in a nation and world

Two forces which gathered strength in the last half of the twentieth century now dominate the world religions at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The first is the globalization of religions and their resulting encounter with each other, and the second is the need to redefine attitudes toward gender as women have stepped forward to insist that their full humanity be acknowledged in the religious as well as the social realm.

ABSTRACT: After 350 years of continual social transformations under the push of industrialization, capitalism, world-wide social revolutions, and the development of modern science, what reasonably remains of the traditional faith in divine transcendence and providential design except a deep-felt, almost 'ontological' yearning for transcendence? Torn between outmoded religious traditions and an ascendant secular world, the contemporary celebration of individuality only makes more poignant the need for precisely that religious consolation that public life increasingly denies. People must now confront the meaning of their lives without the assured aid of transcendent purpose and direction. The

A theory known as the postmodern theory, explains that identity has become a mask put over an individual, and not from within. The mask is created as a result of influence from external forces that dictate what is right and what is wrong, or what is normal and accepted. The postmodern theory goes ahead to stipulate that, as an individual, one creates a self-identity through these external influences. People do this so as to fit into the environment around them. In the United States, for example, there is a tendency of consumer culture to influence the way most Americans think and make decisions.