‘Growing support for new religious movements disproves the secularisation thesis.’ Evaluate this view
CAMBRIDGE
A level and AS level
2021
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Introduction
Briefly introduce the secularisation thesis and the debate surrounding it. Mention the emergence of New Religious Movements (NRMs) and how they factor into this debate. State your stance – will you argue that the growth of NRMs disproves secularisation or not?
Arguments FOR NRMs Disproving Secularisation
Challenge the decline narrative: Explain how the growth of NRMs challenges the idea of declining religious membership and religiosity. Use evidence of growing NRM membership to support your point.
Part of a broader trend: Link NRM growth to a potential resurgence of spirituality in Western societies. Mention other examples like New Age movements and privatised worship as supporting evidence.
Religious revival: Discuss how the success of some NRMs in recruiting members can be interpreted as a sign of religious revival, countering the secularisation narrative.
Reconciling science and spirituality: Highlight how some NRMs attempt to bridge the perceived gap between science and religion, challenging the secular idea of their incompatibility.
Functionalist perspective: Explain how the functionalist view of religion's social importance is supported by the growth of NRMs, particularly as established religions decline.
Arguments AGAINST NRMs Disproving Secularisation
Symptom, not counter-evidence: Present the argument that NRM growth actually indicates the decline of established religions and their authority, which aligns with the secularisation thesis (reference Bryan Wilson).
Support for secular state: Explain how many NRMs advocate for a secular state, further supporting the notion of secularisation.
Fragmentation, not replacement: Argue that NRMs are too diverse and fragmented to replace the power and authority previously held by established religions.
Individualism, not traditionalism: Discuss how the interest in spirituality might be driven by individualistic desires rather than a return to traditional religious values.
Other evidence for secularisation: Counter the NRM argument by presenting other evidence supporting secularisation, such as declining religious involvement in public life, marriage, and self-identification as atheist.
Conclusion
Summarise your evaluation. Do you believe that the growth of NRMs disproves the secularisation thesis? Offer a nuanced conclusion that considers the complexity of the issue and acknowledges the strengths and weaknesses of both sides of the argument.
Growing Support for New Religious Movements Disproves the Secularisation Thesis: An Evaluation
The secularisation thesis, a cornerstone of sociological debate, posits that modernisation inevitably leads to the decline of religion's influence on society. However, the emergence and growth of New Religious Movements (NRMs) present a compelling counter-argument, suggesting that religion continues to hold relevance in the modern world. This essay will critically evaluate the claim that growing support for NRMs disproves the secularisation thesis, examining evidence from both sides of the argument.
Arguments against Secularisation:
Proponents of the view that NRMs challenge secularisation highlight several key points. Firstly, they argue that the very existence of NRMs contradicts the notion of declining religiosity. The emergence of groups like Scientology, Hare Krishna, and various New Age movements demonstrates a persistent human need for spiritual meaning and belonging, even within a seemingly secularised society. This challenges the secularisation thesis' core assumption that modernity inherently erodes religious belief.
Secondly, some NRMs have experienced significant growth and influence. For instance, the evangelical movement within Christianity, often categorised as an NRM, has witnessed a global surge in membership, particularly in the Global South (Stark, 2007). This challenges the secularisation thesis' claim that religious organisations are experiencing a universal decline in membership.
Furthermore, the rise of NRMs coincides with a broader trend of increasing interest in spirituality, particularly in the West. Practices like yoga, meditation, and alternative therapies, often detached from traditional religious institutions, have gained widespread popularity. This suggests that while traditional forms of religious expression may be declining, the underlying human need for spirituality persists, manifesting in new and evolving ways. This phenomenon further complicates the secularisation narrative, indicating a potential transformation rather than an outright decline in religiosity.
Arguments for Secularisation:
Conversely, proponents of the secularisation thesis argue that the growth of NRMs actually supports their position. They argue that the emergence of diverse NRMs signifies the fragmentation and pluralisation of religious belief, a key characteristic of a secularised society. Bryan Wilson (2004), a prominent advocate of secularisation theory, argued that this fragmentation undermines the authority of traditional religious institutions, leading to a decline in their social and cultural influence, even if individual religiosity persists.
Furthermore, many NRMs themselves embrace secular values. For example, they often advocate for the separation of church and state and promote individual choice and autonomy in matters of faith. This suggests that even as NRMs offer spiritual alternatives, they often do so within a framework that accepts the secular principles of individual liberty and freedom of belief, further supporting the notion of a secularised public sphere.
Lastly, while NRMs may enjoy localised success, they lack the widespread societal influence once held by traditional religious institutions. Their impact on areas like lawmaking, education, and public morality remains limited, signifying that religion's role in the public sphere continues to decline, a core tenet of the secularisation thesis.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, while the growth of NRMs presents a compelling counterpoint to the secularisation thesis, it does not definitively disprove it. The evidence suggests a complex and nuanced picture. The persistence of religious seeking and the rise of NRMs demonstrate that religion maintains its relevance in the modern world. However, the fragmentation of belief systems, the limited societal influence of NRMs, and their frequent embrace of secular values all lend credence to the idea of ongoing secularisation. Therefore, rather than viewing the growth of NRMs as a refutation of secularisation, it is perhaps more accurate to see it as evidence of religion's adaptation to a changing world, seeking new forms of expression within a broadly secularising societal context.
**References:** - Stark, R. (2007). *Discovering God: The origins of great religions and the evolution of belief.* HarperOne. - Wilson, B. (2004). *Religion in sociological perspective*. Oxford University Press.Free Mark Scheme Extracts
Growing Support for New Religious Movements Disproves the Secularisation Thesis
Evaluate this view.
To answer this question, candidates are required to demonstrate knowledge of the secularisation thesis and the arguments and evidence used to debate whether or not secularisation has occurred in modern industrial societies. Good answers may pay close attention to how secularisation is explained as this has a bearing on how the growth of new religious movements is interpreted.
A definition that ties secularisation closely to a decline in the authority of established religions would view growing support for new religious movements as evidence to support the secularisation thesis. By contrast, a definition of secularisation that focuses on the idea of declining religiosity is likely to view growing support for new religious movements as evidence of religious revival and not secularisation.
Candidates might also consider whether growing support for new religious movements is sufficient evidence in itself to disprove the secularisation thesis. This may take them into a broader evaluation of the claims made by those who advance the secularisation thesis, with reasoned conclusions drawn about how far, if at all, modern societies have experienced a process of secularisation.
Indicative content
For:
- Growing support for new religious movements challenges claims associated with the secularisation thesis that membership of religious organisations is declining and people are becoming less religious.
- The growth in new religious movements can be seen as part of a broader trend that has seen an increase in interest in spirituality among people in Western societies in recent years; the growth in new age movements and privatized worship provide further examples of this trend.
- Some new religious movements have been highly successful in recruiting new members and, in that respect, have played a key part in what some sociologists claim is a religious revival in modern societies.
- Some new religious movements claim to have successfully integrated elements of spiritual and scientific thinking, challenging the modernist idea that religion and science are diametrically opposed modes of thought.
- Functionalist arguments that religion serves important functions in society are supported by evidence of growth in new religious movements at a time when support for established religions is declining. Functionalist sociologists view skeptically the idea that societies can become secular to the point where religion has little or no social significance.
Against:
- Growth in new religious movements can be seen as evidence that established religions have lost their social significance. Wilson sees the decline of established religions, together with fragmentation in religious belief systems, as defining characteristics of secularisation. In a secular society, Wilson argues, centralized spiritual authority is replaced by support for competing religious beliefs (new religious movements, for example) and other sources of moral guidance.
- Many new religious movements support the idea of a secular state that is free from the power of established religious organizations to influence decision-making. The emergence of the secular state is often viewed as evidence supporting the idea that secularisation has occurred.
- New religious movements are too divided and fragmented to replace the power and authority of established religions. Indeed, most proponents of the secularisation thesis believe that once secularisation has occurred, there can be no return to a society based on traditional values and social order that is based on religious teaching and governance.
- Interest in spirituality may have picked up in Western societies in recent years, but studies suggest it is driven by individualistic concerns with discovering meaning and personal fulfillment rather than any desire to return to a form of society based on religious control and traditional values.
- Even if the growth in support for new religious movements is seen as an indicator of religious revival, there is still a lot of evidence to support the secularisation thesis; for example, evidence about the declining role of religion in public life, an increasing number of people who reject marriage or marry without a religious ceremony, an increasing number of people Explaining as atheists, and so on.