Secualrization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Secualrization - Essay Example Whereas secularization believes that no religion would be given privilege by a particular society in any respect (D’Costa, 2005). Secularization does not only mean cultural shifts but it also means development of science as perfectly described by Max Weber that secularization is â€Å"the disenchantment of the world† meaning that it eradicates superstition and replaces it with logic and science (Artigas, 2001). As the time goes by the meaning of secularism in respect of detaching oneself from religion started increasing, especially in the west. The new generation now is least bothered about religious norms and more bothered about the materialistic things in this world. If it is analyzed that which area in the west is getting the most affected it would certainly be the United Kingdom. UK at a point in history was very strict with religion and the church regulations, people who defied it saw death penalties as a punishment (Parsons, 1989). But nowadays religion has gone i n the backdrop of people living in the UK. The main reason of this research is the prevalence of secularism as the concept is making its way into the daily life of the citizens of UK and religion have taken a back seat in their lives. Hypothesis By the introduction, it is clear that the main reason of the dissertation is to verify the trend of following religion in The United Kingdom. Mathematically it could be said that: Ho: Religion is declining in the United Kingdom. Ha: Religious practices are accelerating in the United Kingdom Literature Reviewed Mostly for this dissertation, census of the United Kingdom would be used and primary data would be taken for consideration, processed and then an analysis of the key trends would be presented in this dissertation. The census which would be used in analyzing the dissertation would be dated from year 1850 up to year 2004. The entire census between this timescale would be in view for analyzing the thesis. The censuses which were available to be analyzed were the reports of 1881, 1911 and 2001 which had the relevant data. Methodology It is important in a dissertation that methodology of the research is concrete and clear to the reader so that the analysis which is presented to the reader is to the point and accurate. This dissertation is mainly about checking the reduction or increment ratio in the followers of the religions present in the United Kingdom. Mainly data from the census of 1881 and data of census 2001 would be used in comparison to see that if the followers of the religion in UK have declined or inclined. Also some data from the census of 1911 could be retrieved for use in this research. For this mostly interactive graphical presentation of tables and graphs would be helpful to understand the nature of the advancement or turnover. The quantitative data from these censuses would identify the upheavals from the year 1850 to 1911 till 2001 and tell that how much the human point of view about religion has ch anged and if now having a religion matters or not. As only the available data is of the year 1881, 1911 and 2001 census the limitation is that , there would be huge gap between the statistics of population and changes in the religious and secular sides . This would limit our research to just few census and information about religion given in it. But it does not mean that it would not give us the significant factors that we are looking for,