British Sociological Association

The XXIst Century between prophetic discourses, political depletion and economic globalizations: a multi-hypothesis reading about the crucial importance of the coming religious issues and what can be predicted from concerns and opportunities caused by contemporary extensive changes

The return to religious concerns happens in a context of crisis of meaning and of a worldwide breakdown of references. It comes with new religious meanings which do not always put reason in its right place. This phenomenon demands that we find out if secularization could be a process of creative depletion of the Judeo-Christian tradition or if paradoxically the crisis of institutional religion could not prepare a freer communication with a renewed message.

This presentation will suppose a re-interpretation of certain prophetic texts, related to current realities of a world attempting to recreate itself as a global society. The crucial importance of religion as a preliminary condition to new community representations would then determine our essential questions: 'What is the possible approach to prophetic text in our postmodern times?' 'How can religion rebuild its discourses when confronted with a contemporary depletion of politics?' Will religions tomorrow be a kind of heroic discourse defending the last remains of a differentiated world, or will they themselves take advantage of globalization to explain better its opportunities and dangers?

This presentation will help us to reflect about the conditions of existence and issues of meanings as they are taking shape for the next century.

DAVID GREEN

Nomad and War Machine: Paganism in the 21st century

Recent years have witnessed an almost exponential rise in pagan practitioners. For me, this parallels increasing cultural uncertainty, embodied by processes of cultural hybridization and bricolage, catalyzed by retraditionalization and reflexive forms of globalization. I predict that such bricolage will become increasingly central to many pagan paths, producing increasingly individualized and resistant forms of practice as the pace of these changes quickens in the 21st century. This effectively exacerbating the schisms, in Bataillean and Deleuzean terms, between vertical, transcendent religions, and horizontal, immanent spiritualities.

Indeed, paganism in the 21^st century will increasingly become to resemble Deleuze and Guattari's twin concepts of nomadology and war machine, actively able to smooth over and resist the striated spaces of modernity through ritual and bricolage. In turn, this will affect traditional pagan symbolisms and, hence, practice - the vertical, arborescent 'Tree of Life' being replaced by the horizontal, chthonic rhizome; the symbol of man being replaced by magickally hybridized humanoids such as Haraway's Cyborg, Serres' Harlequin of Deleuze and Guattari's 'schizoid', nomadic Sorcerer.

In sum, I foresee paganism as part of a wider 21^st century zeitgeist of horixonality which will have radical implications for all vertical forms of knowledge such as traditional religion and science.

S. J. D. GREEN

Tocqueville, pantheism and religion in the age of democracy

This paper will draw critical attention to one of the most intriguing - yet neglected - prophecies in the sociology of religion: Tocqueville's prediction that the age of democracy (i.e. equality of conditions) would increasingly be marked by the triumph - over Christianity especially - of pantheistic religion.

Three avenues of enquiry will be pursued: first, the philosophical and sociological connections which Tocqueville identified between progressive egalitarianism and an ever more dehumanised (and deinstitutionalised) form of religious sensibility will be explored; secondly, the extent to which the Tocquevillian model of social change in the advanced societies really does facilitate a better understanding of developments in contemporary religious expression will be considered; and finally, the possibility that the Tocquevillian model might best explain the paradox of twenty-first century 'believing without belonging' will be evaluated, placing particular emphasis on precisely what it is that is now believed and suggesting why such beliefs do not tend to lead to long-term institutional affiliation.

The focus of discussion will be for the most part on twenty-first century Britain, with some comparative reference to the United States.

DIANA GREGORY

'… thank the Lord I'm Welsh!' (i): The future of membership of the Presbyterian Church of Wales

Although membership of the Presbyterian Church of Wales (PCW) has been declining throughout the twentieth century, the difference between church membership size and church attendance size is startling. In 1997, an estimated 41% of members attended church on Sundays, thus around 59% of members appear to be non-active.

This paper suggests that, for a previous generation at least, membership of the chapel - particularly the 'home' chapel - was an expression of Welsh national identity. Religion in Wales has played a significant role in the preservation of Welsh language and culture in the past. For well over one hundred years, Calvinistic Methodism (the Calvinistic Methodist or Presbyterian Church of Wales) became the largest denomination in Wales, generating enormous energy which fostered confidence in Welsh national identity. Today, however, it is music, sport and political pressure groups, rather than religion, which occupy the high ground in promoting and maintaining a sense of Welshness. It is proposed, therefore, that membership size and attendance size in the PCW are likely to become more equal in the future.

This paper is based upon the findings of a questionnaire survey of a 20% sample of churches of the Presbyterian Church of Wales.

(i) Catatonia: 'Every day, when I wake up, I thank the Lord I'm Welsh!' for the opening of the National Assembly for Wales.

MATHEW GUEST

'Alternative' worship and the liberalisation of Protestant

Evangelicalism in the UK

This paper develops David Martin's argument that contexts for the revitalisation of Protestant religion have frequently emerged out of opportunities for it to exercise its influence on the level of 'culture', emphasising personal experience and individual initiative. The evangelicalism of 1980s Britain thrived in such circumstances, endorsing individual access to divine guidance, but held in tension with the interpretive mediation of such experiences by way of conservative theologies and charismatic authority structures.

The 'alternative' worship movement is predominantly made up of scattered pockets of disillusioned evangelicals who have disavowed the exclusivist traits of their heritage in favour of an open perspective on faith. Indeed, so great is this stress upon inclusivity and experiment that any essentialist presentations of Christian faith are resisted, directive authority is undermined, and discursive evangelism is under-stated. Furthermore, cultural experience - often couched in terms of post-modernity - is frequently invoked as the grounds for the ritual and theological innovations that take place.

In support of David Martin's emphasis upon 'culture' as a site of Protestant revival, but also moving beyond it, I intend to delineate particular reflexive perceptions of and experiences of culture that preconfigure and encourage the development of 'alternative' worship as a liberalising tradition. Moreover, arguing for cultural processes of pluralism and detraditionalisation as crucial to contemporary Western society, this paper asks the question of whether 'alternative' worship stands as the tip of the iceberg for the liberalisation of evangelical Christianity?

MALCOLM HAMILTON

The Easternization thesis: critical reflections

The influence of Eastern religious traditions and ideas upon Western religious and spiritual beliefs and thought while not an entirely new phenomenon has, according to some, greatly intensified more recently and especially since the 1960s. This has given rise to the thesis that Western religion and spirituality is increasingly taking on a markedly different character as traditional religious organisations decline against the rise of a wide spectrum of new forms. These include the diversity of beliefs and practices which might broadly be subsumed under the appellation 'New Age' as well as a variety of groups, movements and currents of thought including radical environmentalism, animal rights, holistic healing, neo-Paganism, and so on.

This paper will critically examine this thesis suggesting that while it has a number of merits in furthering our understanding of contemporary religious, spiritual or quasi-religious developments, it is nevertheless deficient in a number of ways.

Firstly, it is founded upon a misleading stereotypical characterisation of Eastern religions. Secondly, it is insensitive to the many and marked differences between Eastern religions. Thirdly, it too readily accepts these developments as unequivocally religious. Fourthly, it tends to ignore or to be unable to deal with the very inner-worldly character of the currents of ideas with which it is concerned.

Finally, the Easternisation thesis will be compared and contrasted with certain postmodern veiws of religion in contemporary society, and their relative merits will be assessed.

CHRIS HARRIS

Belonging without believing

This paper argues that the long term survival of any religious group depends crucially on the character of the religious belief of its members. The paper draws on material concerning the Anglican Church in Wales and Anglicanism more generally to suggest that Anglicans do not believe in the existence of any underlying spiritual reality which could underpin traditional religious practice and belief and therefore cannot convincingly commend the adoption of those practices and beliefs to outsiders. In other words the ineffectuality of the Anglican Church in Britain derives less from the secular nature of society than from the process of internal secularisation of the Church itself. Evidence warranting the further investigation of this hypothesis is presented with respect to congregational practice, pastoral practice and authoritative doctrinal statements.

PAUL HEELAS

An aging New Age?

(i) 'Core' New Age spirituality is largely in the hands of an aging cohort.

(ii) Within fifty years, most of those currently resourcing the 'core' will be dead.

(iii) The future of New Age spirituality is therefore bleak.

(iv) Or is it?

DAVID HERBERT

Secularization in the global village, rationalization and the postmodern mind

This paper will seek to review the contributions of four key proponents of secularization theory (Wilson, Martin, Bruce and Casanova) in the light of developments since the first explicit formulations of the theory in 1960s. These developments include: (i) diversification of the roles of a variety of religious traditions (Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity) in the public life of nations as diverse as Iran, India, Israel and Poland; (ii) postmodern critiques of modernization theories, (iii) postcolonial critiques of method in religious studies and (iv) the intensification both of globalization and resistance to its dominant forms. In particular, the tension between the claim that secularization theory 'is an attempt to explain an historically geographically specific cluster of changes' and that 'modernization undermines religion except where it finds important work to do other than mediating the natural and the supernatural' (Bruce, 1997) will be examined. The paper will conclude with its own attempt at prophesying developments in the roles of religion on the global stage over the next thirty years.

ROB HIRST

Contemporary social networks and implications for the future of personal religious beliefs

My recent Ph.D thesis developed and tested a social network theory of religion. Data obtained from a quantitative 500 questionnaire survey of Grange Park (a middle class suburb in the south of England), followed by 39 qualitative interviews with selected respondents, provided strong evidence to support the hypothesis that the content, expression, acquisition and transmissions of religious belief or unbelief is related to, and dependent upon, the social networks of individuals. The data showed that early religious socialization was a crucial factor for the development of religious beliefs in later life, even among non-church attenders. Furthermore, an absence of religious individuals in the former networks of the informants tended to lead to secular beliefs in later life.

On the basis of my research findings, this paper argues that the process of early religious socialization is under threat. Church religion has been weakened, in part, due to a widening gulf between the social networks of church attenders and non-church attenders; thus having a detrimental effect on recruitment. Given my findings about the customary or traditional nature of 'belief without belonging', religious belief outside of organised religion equally hangs on the precarious thread of a former religious socialization. Unless church attenders can find more effective ways of integrating their social networks with non-church attenders, the future of religious belief both within and outside of organised religion appears to be rather bleak.

MIKE HORNSBY-SMITH

The changing Catholic Diocese: reactive or pro-active?

This paper will first argue, following Goldthorpe, that it is not the job of sociologists to predict the future which is always subject to the chance emergence of charisma and charismatic leadership, the unexpected possibilities of serendipity, and the unpredictable social consequences of changing social contexts resulting from natural disasters, political or economic upheavals, and so on. Nevertheless, strategic planning in the light of long-term trends, such as the decline in the number of priests available for eucharistic communities, is only common sense. The paper will, therefore, look at the responses of two Scottish and four English Roman Catholic dioceses to the anticipated shortage of priests within the next ten or twenty years. In particular, it will report on such matters as the gap between rhetoric and practice in such matters as the training of the laity for positions of sanctioned leadership in priestless parishes and in the dioceses. Finally, it will attempt to interpret proposals for pastoral planning in terms of their latent notions of religious authority and governance and of the proper relationships between the ordained priesthood and the unordained laity.

KATE HUNT

Understanding the spirituality of people who do not go to Church

This paper offers preliminary findings from a 2 year, qualitative research project, based in the Centre for the Study of Human Relations, University of Nottingham. A combination of focus groups and in-depth individual interviews have been conducted with 32 people who are not affiliated to an institutional religion, but who describe themselves as either spiritual or religious.

The aims of the project are:

To listen to people who generally distrust the idea of a spiritual meta-narrative, but who nevertheless consider themselves to have a spiritual aspect to their lives

To explore how people construct their faith journey without the aid of an institution or structure

To identify and categorise the points where these personal spiritualities either connect with or are in conflict with the spirituality of the institutional Church

To create a nuanced account of spirituality as it exists outside the religious institution

The data is being analysed by Dr David Hay (Director) and Kate Hunt (Researcher). The project will be completed by July 2000.