1
Q
different definitions of secularism
A
- Religion should not play a role in government or public life
- There should be no dominant religion in a state e.g. GB should not be a Xian country
- Religion should not have any power in a state
2
Q
2 types of secularism
A
procedural
programmatic
3
Q
procedural secularism
A
- There should not be a dominant religion upheld within the state
- Rowan Williams has shown that this type of secularism is preferable as he argued that it allows people to recognise the authority of their own RE beliefs and separately the authority of the state. It should be viewed as a ‘welcome challenge’ as it allows people to examine if they are truly Xian
- France – veering towards programmatic secularism in its banning of religious symbols
4
Q
programmatic secularism
A
- The state should be purely non-religious
- All RE views and ideas should not be found within any form of public life e.g. schools, major holidays, public places etc.
5
Q
secularism in GB general
A
- No longer have a strong Xian faith
- Religion’s duty to look after the poor has been largely replaced by the state
- Society is more economically, politically etc. complex and so less of a natural leaning towards RE for answers
6
Q
secularism in GB stats
A
- Amount of Church marriages has dropped by over a half
- Steve Bruce (sociologist of religion) – GB is religiously a shadow of its former self and he estimates that less than 10% of people will be Xian in the next few years
1. ‘In 1851 about half the population of Britain attended Church regularly. Now it is about 8%’ - 1963 – 80% religious, 2013 – 42%
7
Q
reasons for increasing secularism
A
- Religion is more private; people do not likely actively exploring it in a community
- We are busier; less time for institutionalised religion
- New ideas in science and psychology have challenged traditional beliefs in God
- Rise of other REs; people challenge their own faith a lot more
- RE brings harm to other people e.g. terrorism
- Secularisation thesis: sociologists view secularism as an inevitable feature of the rise of industrial society and the modernisation of culture. Technology has given people greater control (don’t need stability from God anymore). Secularisation is evidence of Max Weber’s ‘rationalisation of society’
- People are more consumerist; people are shopping for ‘spirituality’ that suits them, move away from structure of institutions.
8
Q
jose casonova 3 def of sec
A
- Had difficulty defining it, 3 interps:
1. Decline of religious belief and practice in modern society
2. Privatisation of religion
3. Secular separation of spheres of state, economy and science to be set free from any religious intervention e.g. state funded RCC schools
9
Q
jose casonova on sec
A
- Problem of definition leads people to q whether GB is secular
- How can you measure how religious someone is? E.g. some people don’t pray but don’t view themselves as Xian etc. or vice-versa
- Traditional Churches are perhaps being replaced by more popularist religious movements, popularity of mainstream RE is declining, but that ‘spirituality takes over from established religion’ – Shmuel Eisenstadt
- Less people are going to Church, but in the past people were forced to and perhaps didn’t want to – so are people simply more open about being non-religious now?
10
Q
humanism principles
A
- The view that people can live good lives without religion
- Amsterdam Declaration of 1952 (updated in 2002) stresses the 7 following statements:
1. Humanism is ethical
2. Humanism is rational
3. Humanism promotes democracy and human rights
4. Humanism insists that personal liberty must be linked to social responsibility
5. Humanism is a response to the call for an alternative to religion
6. Humanism appreciates artistic imagination and creativity
7. Humanism can lead to personal fulfilment
11
Q
humanism campaigns
A
schools and education
human rights and equality
secularism
public ethical issues
12
Q
humanism campaigns - schools and human rights
A
- Schools and education – evolution/creationism, RE, faith schools
♣ Aim for the UK to be secular state with no privilege or discrimination on grounds of religion or belief. The continuing religious discrimination in our state school system is therefore a concern
♣ Want humanism to feature on syllabus as non-RE way of life
♣ Education = key - Human rights and equality – rights of freedom of religion/belief/expression
♣ Respect freedom of religion as long as it doesn’t impinge on others’ lives
13
Q
humanism campaigns - secularism
A
- Secularism – need to remove bishops from house of Lords etc.
♣ Constitutional reform, in particular disestablishment of the Church of England and Church of Scotland and the end toBishops sitting as of right in the House of Lords
♣ No privileges for faith communities in their relationship with governmentor in state funding, and no legal recognition of any religious so-called ‘courts’ or ‘tribunals’
♣ An end to discrimination in public services either against employees or service users, including on the basis of religion or belief and sexual orientation
♣ An end to religious privilege in marriage laws, through the legalisation of humanist and same-sex marriage across the UK
♣ All national ceremonies equally inclusive of those of all faiths and none,for instance remembrance ceremonies
♣ An end to the state funding of religious schools, including schools’ ability to discriminate in admissions and employment on the basis of religion
♣ Inclusive assemblies in schools instead of mandatory religious Collective Worship
♣ Education about religions and non-religious worldviews in schools that is impartial, objective, fair, and balanced
♣ Fair and equal treatment of religious and non-religious perspectives in public broadcasting, including, for example, opening upThought for the Dayto humanist perspectives
♣ Theprovision of pastoral support for the non-religious, in particular inprisonsandhospitals
14
Q
humanism campaigns - public ethical issues
A
- Public ethical issues – e.g. abortion, organ donation, FGM
♣ We respect the right not to participate in some procedures of those holding religious beliefs about the sanctity of life and the limits of medical intervention. Equally, we deny them the right to impose their beliefs directly or indirectly on others.
15
Q
education and schools general
A
- Dawkins is a huge critic of faith schools. Also views religious fundamentalism as subverting science
- British humanist society has campaigned against schools with a religious character as they argue that they segregate children into different groups and they promote tolerance
16
Q
arguments for religious schools
A
- Xian churches gave an education to children long before society did. There is thus a deep-rooted link between Xianity and education in the UK (‘heritage argument’)
- Churches built schools for the poor in England, cannot take these schools from the Church
- Many parents want their children to have a religion based education
- Faith schools offer distinctive education based on spiritual and moral values that enhance society
- Faith schools can support social cohesion
Prof Leslie Francis of Warwick Uni has conducted to show that young people educated in Xian schools are no less open than those in secular schools
17
Q
arguments against RE schools
A
- They create isolated communities, will lead to lack of integration
- May not teach science properly
- May lead children into radicalisation
May not teach about other religions
18
Q
government and state
A
- Separation of gov and state seen in USA, Turkey and France (laïcité)
- Debate about religious symbols at the moment
- Church of England is the national Church and the Queen is the Supreme Governor. 26 CofE bishops sit in the House of Lords and all citizens can have Xian funerals etc.
- National Secularist Society has argued that we need to remove religious involvement but others have argued this robs England of its historical background and is anti-democratic
- Procedural secularism seems better, allows for Church and society to debate together
- Prince Charles said he would rather be known as ‘Defender of Faith’ rather than ‘Defender of the Faith’ because he was concerned ‘about the inclusion of other people’s faiths and their freedom to worship in this country’
19
Q
god as illusion - Philip pulman
A
- Philip Pulman
o ‘I think it’s perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it’
o ‘I don’t profess any religion; I don’t think it’s possible that there is a God’
20
Q
god as illusion - Steven weinberg
A
- Weinberg
o ‘The world needs to wake up from its long nightmare of religious belief’
21
Q
god as illusion - comte
A
Rise in programmatic secularism fuelled by French philosopher Augustus Comte
- Argued that civil societies go through 3 different stages
o Theological or religious view of the world
o Metaphysical or abstract view of the world
o Positive or scientific and rational view of the world
- He believed RE would give way to secular positivism where scientific reasoning would dispel the need for religion
22
Q
freud summary on religion
A
- Neuroses (irrational fears) come from human instinctual fulfilments being repressed by society and religion e.g. things that are viewed as destructive to society as shown in the 10 Commandments e.g. adultery
- RE is one of the major causes of psychological illness
- RE is a product of wish fulfilment, gives a purpose to life, a moral code and a deity is created to replace inevitable uncertainty in this world with something that is controllable
- Following on with Comte’s view of RE as part of society’s infantile stage
- Freud viewed RE as ‘mass delusions’. Used psychoanalysis to q religious beliefs.
23
Q
freud - RE as wish fulfilment
A
o 1928 – young medical student wrote to F saying he has lost his faith when dissecting an old lady, but had then found it again; wrote to F to dissuade him of his atheism
o F replied that the sweet old lady and the man’s renewed belief was an example of the Oedipus Complex; her face reminded him of his mother and this aroused in him anger against his Father, who appeared personified as God.
o His later conversion was a hallucinatory psychosis warning him that he must obey his earthly father; thus his conversion was wish fulfilment for childhood comfort. This is all that RE is for everyone.
24
Q
freud - re as infantile illusion
A
o Future of Illusion – F argues that RE provides comfort in the face of all bad things we can’t control
o Just as children have routines, RE provides a daily routine through rituals and worship
o Calls RE ‘universal obsessional neurosis’ where the repression of basic sexual drives are replaced by the promise of rewards especially in the afterlife
o Draws parallels between the ‘obsessive actions in sufferers from nervous affections and the observances by means of which believers give expression to their piety’
o ‘The ceremonial seems to be no more than an exaggeration of an orderly procedure that is customary and justifiable; but the special conscientiousness with which it is carried out and the anxiety which follows upon its neglect stamps the ceremonial as a ‘sacred act’’.
o Rational people will realise that RE is irrational and an illusion, whereas science is no illusion as it is factual
25
positives of freud general
- Asked sign. Qs about Re; started debate about role of RE in a secular society
- Influential on future schools of thought
- Interesting link between RE and psychology
- Ahead of his time; put forward Qs still debated
26
positives of freud - hume
David Hume: ‘(religion) is sick man’s dreams’. RE provides people with information they crave; passed down through ancestors; societies have punished those who have not followed RE code of practice.
27
negatives of freud general
- Freud reduces religion down to material and mechanistic. Keith Ward says that this cannot be done with RE that is upheld by millions and where so many people have had intense, convincing RE experiences (RE experiences are ineffable, F reduces RE down to the knowable)
- Whilst some RE claims may be due to neuroses, can we hence reject ALL elements of RE?
- F argues RE as an illusion cuts people off from the real world, but many RE communities are deep and real
- Not all REs are controlling institutions e.g. Hinduism is a mystical RE, not based on guilt
28
negatives of freud - marchant
- Jo Marchant conducted a study to prove that RE can be good for you. ‘Feeling part of something bigger may help us not only to deal with life’s daily hassles but to defuse our deepest source of angst: knowledge of our own mortality’
29
negatives of freud - plantinga
- Alvin Plantinga – no real evidence for RE as wishful thinking, ‘Freud offers no arguments or reasons at all… he simply takes it for granted that there is no God… then casts about for some kind explanation of this mistaken belief. Freud’s criticism really depends on his atheism: it isn’t an independent criticism at all’
30
negatives of freud - hick
John Hick – ‘Clearly, to the mind that is not committed in advance to a naturalistic explanation there may be a religious as well as a naturalistic interpretation of the psychological facts’
31
Dawkins summary
- Believes that RE has too great a place in society (he is a programmatic secularist), people are too reluctant to criticise it as it is so highly respected
- Views Abrahamic REs as main causes of mental and physical harm
32
Dawkins - RE as by product of evolution
♣ Natural selection results in children often believing what they are told by their parents. Arbitrary beliefs will be handed down.
♣ Superstitions will evolve - explains different religions now.
♣ Memetic natural selection suggests that Catholicism and Islam were not designed by individual people, but evolved separately as alternate collections of memes.
♣ Idea of comfort that comes from religion passed down, due to religion perhaps giving animals the extra will/confidence in order to survive, with these beliefs being passed down.
33
dawkins - lack of evidence
♣ Science is sufficient, has factual basis for evolution etc.
• Creationists view it as 'irreducible complexity', in reality, it can easily be reduced
o Often use the 'what is the use of half a wing' argument.
o Half a wing could save your life if you fell from a tree of a certain height, yet obviously not as good as whole wing.
o No such thing as irreducible complexity, if there were, Darwin's theory would be wrecked.
o 'If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. But I can find no such case'. - Darwin
♣ Beauty, morality etc. is because of evolution not God
♣ Rejects Stephen Jay Gould’s non-overlapping magisteria which argues that RE and science belong to separate world and that it would thus be wrong to criticise religion using scientific methods
♣ Dawkins argues that as science progresses we will recognise that God is just a hypothesis
34
Dawkins - RE as a device of division
♣ Islamic dress emphasises female repression
♣ Conflict in the name of RE
♣ Religion is a device of division
• Religion is a label, just like skin colour etc. that is used when other labels are unavailable. Religious war and never over doctrine, simply labels i.e. Catholics vs. Protestants.
• Labels inherited down generations, without labels division in Northern Ireland would not be there, as people would have intermarried etc.
• Ways in which religion division is emphasised:
o Labelling of children according to their religion.
o Segregated schools.
o Taboos against 'marrying out'.
35
Dawkins - indoctrination of children examples
* Cites e.gs of 19th century children of Jewish priests being kidnapped and raised as Catholics
* Baptism removes child’s right to consent
* Circumcision is a form of kidnapping; physically labelling their children a religion without their consent
* Xian ministers’ abuse of children esp. in Ireland
* Hell Houses in the USA – play out sins of abortion etc. in v graphic way
36
Dawkins - indoctrination of children as psychological abuse
• Bringing up child as religious is a form of psychological abuse
o Compares baptism and child religion to sexual abuse, even goes as far to say that religion is worse than sexual abuse
♣ 'Horrible as sexual abuse no doubt is, the damage was arguably less than the long-term psychological damaged inflicted by bringing the child up Catholic in the first place.'. - Dawkins
o Priests instil fear into children about the idea of hell, so that they don't dare oppose the religion and live a life of religious fear.
o Priests manipulate children's naivety, creating images in their mind of a very real, physical hell of torture and pain.
o Wants removal of religious labels on children, allowing them to choose their own religion.
37
Dawkins response to religion as essential for culture
o Many claim that by removing parents' religious influence on their children (e.g. the Amish) means we are unable to appreciate their culture.
♣ Dawkins is not saying we should remove religion all together, as it is an essential area of study, but stop it being forced upon naive children through fear in order to ensure it continues.
♣ An atheistic world-view provides no justification for cutting the Bible etc. out of our education - need to study them for literary and cultural purposes.
♣ Can retain a sentimental loyalty to different religions' traditions of marriage, for example, without believing the supernatural beliefs that historically went along with those traditions.
We can give up belief in God while not losing touch with a treasured heritage.
38
Dawkins quotes about indoctrination
* ‘What a child should be taught is that religion exists; that some people believe this and some people believe that. What a child should never be taught is that you are a Catholic or Muslim child, therefore that is what you must believe. That’s child abuse’
* ‘There is a value in teaching children about religion. You cannot really appreciate a lot of literature without knowing about religion. But we must not indoctrinate our children’ (Daily Telegraph 2013)
39
general positives of Dawkins
- Does not completely reject value of RE
- Emphasises importance of choosing their own (or no) religion
- RCC sexism
- Religion has been at the heart of much conflict
- Humanism would agree with much of Dawkins’ views
40
scholar positives of Dawkins - singer
- Peter Singer – Views Xianity as responsible for the negative views we have about the environment and it elevates human life above animal life in a way he sees as speciesist
41
scholar positives of Dawkins - dobson
- 'Those who control what young people are taught, and what they experience (...) will determine the future course for the nation' - James Dobson
42
scholar positives of Dawkins - bloom
Paul Bloom: children have a natural tendency towards a dualistic theory of mind, with religion being a by-product of this. Even if don't believe in dualist approach, can still appreciate it, showing how it is a natural tendency.
43
general negatives of Dawkins
- Calling one’s child e.g. Xian does not impose intellectual acceptance of doctrine but rather allows them to join a community e.g. Xian community
- The Church does a lot of charity work to help others
- Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the missionaries prove that Xianity has worked hard to counteract many of the social problems in the world
- Many religious charities e.g. CAFOD
Xian Churches offer a lot of support services e.g. counselling
44
negatives of Dawkins - jo Marchant
- Dawkins does not look at the positives RE can have on someone’s life (Jo Marchant’s study)
45
negatives of dawkins - mcgrath
- Alister McGrath has written the Dawkins Delusion, points out following flaws:
o Faith is not completely irrational; many people use reason to test their faith
o God of Gaps criticism is correct, but the alternative is not atheism
o Dawkins argues the Q of the meaning of life is outside scientific research and thus meaningless, however, many scientists view RE and philosophy useful for answering these Qs
o Science and RE can complement eachother (John Polkinghorne)
o Atheism can cause as much suffering as RE e.g. WW1/2
46
objections to secularisation - bretherton
- Luke Bretherton in his Post Secular Politics argues that the secularisation model assumes change is inevitable. Uses the analogy of a journey through society on a bus showing all the different REs etc. to emphasise the complexity of society; decline of RE is not inevitable consequence of increasing technology
47
objections to secularisation - ford
- David Ford in the Future of Xian theology has said that it is impossible to enforce labels e.g. GB is secular as terminology is hard to define. Society is not a linear journey to an inevitable end but rather he speaks of the ‘unpredictability of a drama’
o Ford and Casanova emphasise that atheism is not unquestionably good e.g. capitalist/communist ideologies have been vicious in their attempt to remove RE ideas
48
objections to secularisation - berger
- Peter Berger – modern society is not secular; many countries are still highly RE e.g. Poland
49
objections to secularisation - taylor
- Charles Taylor – we have outgrown RE, the ‘stories’ we use to explain the world are unsatisfying, they give too much emphasis to the individual and not enough to the communal aspect of society. It does not mean that God does not exist but that our current western history is not in line with historical narrative. We need to steer ourselves of this part of history to rediscover the fullness of belief in the divine.
50
objections to secularisation - eagleton
- Terry Eagleton (Marxist) – Marx was wrong the eliminate RE and although it has caused harm, it also has contributed a lot to literature etc. Secularism is doomed as ‘religion is an exceedingly hard act to follow’. People have been prepared to die for their faith, unlike for their atheism. Events such as 9/11 are the effect of secularism as fundamentalism has come out of anxiety that Western secularists are spreading an anti-RE message. Both RE fundamentalism and secularism are equally dangerous.
A Level - Christian Thought
flashcards
Decks in class (13)
# Cards
-
Knowledge of God79
-
The Person of Jesus Christ66
-
Augustine44
-
Death and the Afterlife88
-
Secularism50
-
Moral Principles41
-
Moral Action36
-
Gender and Theology52
-
Pluralism and Theology47
-
Pluralism and Society35
-
Liberation Theology and Marxism42
-
Gender and Society39
-
Gender and Society - Gender10
