Transcript Secularization - The Founding Pastors Project

Secularization
How Do We Know Who To
Trust?
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We used to just assume that
authorities were right because they
tended to say “Cause God said so”
Appeals to “divine authority” have lost
credibility
People don’t go to priests and mullahs
now. They go to sociologists (macro)
and psychologists (micro) for answers.
“Secularism”
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“Religious interpretations of reality and
religious orientations have yielded to
explanations/justifications for human
behavior made in scientific and
rational terms”
Eventually? A totally religious society?
Nah!
Belief That Jesus Is
A Diety? 75%
Belief In Hell? 50%
Belief In Life After
Death? 75%
Pray To God? 90%
Claim Membership In
Religious Org? 90%
Belief in God? 90%
Did The U.S. Have Its Own
“Age Of Faith”?
Year
% Religious Adherence*
2008 Barack Obama Elected
66%
2000 George Bush Elected
68%
1992 Bill Clinton Elected
70%
1980 Ronald Reagan Elected
62%
1969 Moon Landing
62%
1957 “Leave It To Beaver” On TV
60%
1930 Great Depression
56%
1914 World War I
53%
1861 Civil War
37%
1776 Signing Of Declaration
17%
* Various sources including Gallup, Statistical Abstracts, Adherents.Com, Finke and Stark’s
Churching Of America
Changes In Influence?
Family
Education
Religion
Polity
Religious
Secularization
Religionization
Media
Law
Institutions
Influence
Religion
Influences
Religion
Institutions
Market
Housing
Leisure
Cultural
Secularization
Religion Is Equal To
Other Institutions
Another Way To See This?
“Loss Of Religious Authority”
Organizational
Secularizaton
Family
Internal Secularization
Loss of authority over
religious orgs
Institutional
Secularization
Education
Polity
Law
Religions Maintain
Authority Everywhere
Loss of authority over
other institutions
Media
Religion
Religionization
Laicization
Market
Housing
Leisure
Individual
Secularization
Religious Disinvolvement
Loss of authority over
individuals and congregants
Civil Religion
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Also called “religion-in-general” and “religion of the
republic”
Americans share common religious characteristics
(beliefs, symbols, sacred places, rituals, holydays,
martyrs) and a sense of our nation’s sacredness
We’re “one nation under God”, “in God we trust”, we ask that “God Bless
America”, our “eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”, and
we’re “endowed by God with certain unalienable rights”.
But Is The American
Version Of Civil Religion
Truly “Secular”?
We pray to God in moments of crisis, transition, memory, and thanksgiving
We celebrate God’s (?) birth and death/resurrection as national holidays.
While no American president mentions Christ in his inaugural address, ALL
of them mention “God”
“The same revolutionary beliefs for which our forbears fought are still at issue around
the globe - the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state
but from the hand of God.” JFK 1961