Before jumping straight to the empirical evidence on this, we need to think about how secularisation can be operationalised (i.e. put in a form in which it can be measured. Sociologists often have to do this with the concepts they use...). For the exam, you must be careful to look at which aspect or operationalisation of secularisation you are being asked about. I suggest 3 ways of operationalising/measuring secularisation:

1. Religious Practices
2. Religiosity
3. Disengagement

Religious Practices

This is the extent to which people have given up religious activities such as church membership, attendance at religious services (note that these are two very different things!), church weddings, baptisms, etc. The handout we will be using here focuses on the study by "UK Religious Trends 1997". (Put it in quotes in the exam, so the examiner can see it is a study!). Basically, what it shows is that membership and attendance have declined dramatically. So this is evidence of secularisation.

We can evaluate this, however, by pointing out that this quantitative data can be criticised. First, is it reliable? The counting is often done by the churches themselves, so there may be statistical inaccuracies and even bias; and different churches mean different things by "membership", so we are not comparing like with like. Second, there is the validity of the data: does it really measure what it is supposed to measure? In this case, were church membership and attendance ever accurate measures of how religious the country was? David Martin, for example, points out that churches were more full in Victorian Britain, but that churchgoing had a different meaning then: it may have been a way of demonstrating "respectability" or belonging to the community. So it is possible that Britain is not secularising, as religious practices now have much more meaning for those practicing them. This leads us to the second point of

Religiosity

This means the extent and strength of religious beliefs. Again, the handout will help here. According to "UK Religious Trends", the percentage of those claiming belief in God is 70% - and this figure has stayed reasonably constant. So no secularisation! Evaluating this, we can note that other surveys give very different figures which seem to suggest secularisation. "UK Religious Trends 1997" also points out that some denominations and sects have strengthened, and among ethnic minorities, religion is much stronger than in the indigenous (white) population. In Steve Bruce's article ("Twilight of the Gods") there is an excellent analysis of why ethnic minorities have stronger faith.

You should also be familiar with the P.S.I. (Policy Studies Institute) survey on "Ethnic Minorities in Britain", which shows how religion is much more likely to be an important source of identity for ethnic minorities. We will return to this important study in the final module, so learning this will kill two birds with one stone.

You should also consider the idea of Tom Butler (Bishop of Leicester) about how people are deserting "high commitment organisations" in favour of "low commitment organisations": probably a result of geographical mobility and increased working hours. This throws light on the growth of NRMs, as well as the decline of the big churches.

Also in the area of religiosity and belief, the ideas of Max Weber are again very important. He argues that the modern industrialised world is characterised by increasing rationalisation: cold, rational calculation and science have driven all the magic, mystery and the supernatural from the world, and led to disenchantment. Thus, secularisation is inevitable.

Finally, we should remember the work of Stark & Bainbridge. They argue that religion meets universal human needs (for "compensators"). Therefore, it cannot ever decline. The decrease in church attendance, and the decline in mainstream religious beliefs, are evidence of desacrilisation, but only from large established religious organisations which now fail to offer the compensators that people crave. People turn to small sects and cults, and invest their religious hopes there instead: resacrilisation.

Disengagement

is the third way of operationalising secularisation. It refers to the declining ability of the churches to influence other areas and institutions of society. Commentators have pointed to the churches being "defeated" over issues like Sunday trading, abortion reform, and pornography. Nobody seems to listen to the guidance of the Archbishop of Canterbury any more, whereas until Victorian times he was a major political power in the land. Against this, we can use the example of "Islamism", and the politicisation of Muslims. (Salman Rushdie and the fatwa over his book "The Satanic Verses", etc). More importantly, there is the increasing involvement of the churches in the provision of welfare (due to the "privatisation" of welfare services: see the page on Welfare on the AS website). Also, the increasing importance of "Faith Schools", which we will be studying in some detail. These seem to prove that religion is now playing a much greater part in public life and social services than before.

Use a search engine to look at news archives (as ever, the BBC is good) on these topics. Think about combining this topic with the earlier one of religious organisations: does the increasing popularity of NRMs mean that secularisation is occurring, or does it mean increasing religiosity? This is a popular exam question!