Identify and briefly explain three reasons, apart from lower church attendance, why the Church of England might be seen to be “in decline”
01) Identify and briefly explain three reasons, apart from lower church attendance, why the Church of England might be seen to be “in decline”
Due to rational thinking and the culture of todays’ society become less traditional, it could be that there is less time in people’s lives to believe in a Religion. As going to Church and worshiping takes time out of someone’s daily routine where they may feel they are needed more. The growth of state and democracy (disengagement) means that the state and the church are not as influenced by one another as they used to be, this means that there is not a great amount of pressure on people to attend church by the state. Religion on its own is not enough of a force for people to attend church meaning it is less influential. It could also be that due to the forward thinking of today’s society and like Grace Davie says, that people today are far more inclined to take a personalised view on religion, and that churches such as the Church of England are not in decline but are more privatised in the household home.
02) Using material from item A and elsewhere assess the view that, while the Church of England is declining, other religions and spiritual movements are flourishing.
I aim to show that even though statistics say that attendance is declining in religious worship, that actually it may not be that religion is declining but the way worship is happening now has changed and there is in fact many more forms of religion. In item A it states that from a report by the Bible society that by 2025 only 87,800 people will be attending church, compared to the one million plus that attend church now. Weber and Comte also said that eventually religion would wither away due to the world changing and accepting science and science beliefs such as New Age and Scientology over religious explanations of the world, and the less emotions and traditions which are according to Weber the main characteristics of religion.
Due to rational thinking and the culture of todays’ society become less traditional, it could be that there is less time in people’s lives to believe in a Religion. As going to Church and worshiping takes time out of someone’s daily routine where they may feel they are needed more. The growth of state and democracy (disengagement) means that the state and the church are not as influenced by one another as they used to be, this means that there is not a great amount of pressure on people to attend church by the state. Religion on its own is not enough of a force for people to attend church meaning it is less influential. It could also be that due to the forward thinking of today’s society and like Grace Davie says, that people today are far more inclined to take a personalised view on religion, and that churches such as the Church of England are not in decline but are more privatised in the household home.
02) Using material from item A and elsewhere assess the view that, while the Church of England is declining, other religions and spiritual movements are flourishing.
I aim to show that even though statistics say that attendance is declining in religious worship, that actually it may not be that religion is declining but the way worship is happening now has changed and there is in fact many more forms of religion. In item A it states that from a report by the Bible society that by 2025 only 87,800 people will be attending church, compared to the one million plus that attend church now. Weber and Comte also said that eventually religion would wither away due to the world changing and accepting science and science beliefs such as New Age and Scientology over religious explanations of the world, and the less emotions and traditions which are according to Weber the main characteristics of religion.