Is it education or economic security that influences secularisation?
Two Dutch sociologists are countering the European theory that a rising level of education empties out churches. Frank van Tubergen and Stijn Ruiter compared ‘religious participation’ in 60 countries and found that economic security makes people turn away from religious congregations, as does the regulation of religion by the state.
Their study, to be published in the American Journal of Sociology next month, invalidates the assumption that modernisation leads to secularisation. In an interview with NRC Handelsblad the sociologists offered three examples of their new theory.
In Eastern Europe churches have filled up over the past 20 years. Ruiter and Van Tubergen attribute this to the end of state restrictions on religion after the fall of communism and the economic uncertainty that came with the transition to a capitalist system.
In the US, the a-typical country where people have remained very religious despite economic development, the sociologists say other researchers have not taken into account the uncertainties resulting from the high socio-economic inequality. “In the US you can quickly climb the social ladder, but you can fall off very hard,” Ruiter explained.
Van Tubergen: “Conversely, the link between religiosity and uncertainty explains why the churches in the Netherlands have emptied out. As a result of the welfare state great security can be found outside the walls of the church. It would be interesting to examine the impact of the current economic crisis on church attendance.”
What do you think of the Dutch sociologists’ theory? Have you seen this in the country where you live? And what will the impact of the recession be on congregations?
Tuesday 27 October 2009, 19:43
Although I am not expert on this particular subject but for the sake of discussion I would like to reject the theory by saying “its not the education nor economy which influences Secularization of a particular society.
Through out the world the standards of education are in progress but the practice of religion doesn’t face any influence, there is a reasonable number of the people who attends regular congregations and even a bigger number which keeps on their religious practices at home.In many countries there is a remarkable increase of those who are following their religion much more intensively.
I would like to hold politicians,other leaders in other walks of life for this and not ‘education or economic security’. As Netherlands is basically/practically a ‘Christian Country’,but there are strong efforts to corner religion. In result of that our society is ignoring moral values and tolerance!
Secularization of a society can never be an answer to the prevailing issues but it has very very negative impact on our society and future generations.We shouldn’t forget the example of the ‘secular soviet union USSR where people were forced to give up their religious believes.
I believe present economic recession would create a positive impact on the congregations and at the end people would choose to seek help and guidance from God, ultimate results would be come back of the moral values, respect, discipline and compassion.
Wednesday 28 October 2009, 14:09
Secularisation does not lead to “ignoring moral values and tolerance”. It might lead to the lessening of religious dogmas, but only religious people would count those dogmas as ‘moral values’. A democratic government cannot and does not force a people to secularise, secularised voters force a government to become more secular.
And as for the moral values of religion, may I just point to many religious people’s views on gay marriage, euthanasia, the Vatican’s position on AIDS prevention in Africa, to name just a few?
It was the most secular period of the Netherlands (culminating in the Purple coalition in the nineties) that promoted most tolerance.
A government should never dictate people what (not) to believe, but in my opinion secularisation (which is different from becoming atheist) is the only way to make progress. There should be no room for religion in politics. Unfortunately, orthodox Christians – albeit in a minority position – make up much of our ‘moral’ agenda, belittling people on the values they should adhere to. The sooner we return to a truly secular government, the better.
Sunday 8 November 2009, 6:03
It is difficult to comment on a study based on a short newspaper article. Judged on what we got presented, I would say that a number of oversimplifications have been made. There is more into the American religiosity than the economic uncertainty. It is fear,they fear the boss, the job loss, the bank, the city hall, the mandatory homeowners’ association, crime, germs, terrorists and everything. They are chickens, for a good part. Additionally, in an unscrupulous, harsh society the churches provide a social platform and a sense of community. The american religiosity is in many ways different from the religiosity you can see in european countries.
On the other hand , some of the most secular nations like Estonia or the Czech republic face a lot of problems and economic uncertainty without reverting back to religion.
Sunday 8 November 2009, 17:05
Maybe. From personal experience, economic security can replace God in my heart and mind to a certain extent. One can tends to be more self-centred than God-centred. Can economic security really replace faith, hope and love from God? Or is economic security more tangible to rely on than trust in God?
Thursday 12 November 2009, 12:41
I am a church going secularist. I believe in the secular state and strongly oppose any form of marriage between church (or mosque) and state. I do not in any way feel compelled to participate in religious ceremonies, but love the cultural aspects of religious faiths—particularly their liturgies and music. However, I detest all forms of dogma and feel they should be struck off all religions.
With respect to education, I have a PhD in the sciences, which probably makes me better educated than most people in society. To my Christian friends, I am nothing but a church going atheist. To my atheist friends, I must be insane to even step into church often, given my views about life and religion.
The notion of putting people into boxes doesn’t always work. Most people in society simply do what others are doing. Few think for themselves. Increasing secularization is a good thing. But, I feel Europe has lost a bit of its bearing with the death of Christianity. And mind you I am not European but an African. Yet, I relate to the cultural aspect of a belief system that had its roots in the Middle East and then Europe.
Economic security is not the only driver for secularization. I see the Protestant reformation as the first drive towards secularization in the Netherlands. China is largely atheist and secular, and so is the Czech republic and Alabnia. Yet, oil-rich Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are not secular, in the strict sense of the word, despite their riches.
Uncertainty could only increase in the Netherlands—fewer babies, a growing group of retirees, decrease in relative earnings to fund the welfare state and increasing competition from global players. Maybe such uncertainty would send people back to the pews. Even in the Netherlands, I see a disconnect between the happy-to-be atheist ex-Protestants (largely resident in the Randstad region) and the non-Church-going Catholics.
The Catholics may stop going to church but they still relate to the fun parts of Catholicism—some still baptize their kids and they party all through carnivals. And the Randstad Protestants? Once it’s over it’s over. Except when they probably discover Buddhism or some fancy Asian religion. But the most religious peoplein the Netherlands aren’t Catholics. They are the Gereformeerd (Reformed) Protestants. And given that they tend to have more kids than the secularists, their values, it appears could last another four or five generations.
Tuesday 1 December 2009, 16:08
Not so bad, that idea.
But it takes generations to build a culture or subculture.
So: the people who got wealthy since the “New Deal” did never feel very secure; in the US they were proven right that they need an emotional crutch; most European countries have managed to uphold a bit of a social system and therefore women got acquainted with deciding about having husband and/or children or not, and people generally feel they are individuals.
They can survive as such, not necessarily only as a part of a (n extended) family.
Organised churches and their extreme damaging nonsense (on abortion and euthanasia, HIV, gay marriage etc.) have lost any function except for the very dumb.
AND: do NOT think about the communist states as “atheist”. The people had to believe in the czar, Stalin, the party….So now they believe in the old church or the American missionaries for LACK of tradition to use one´s own head!
Saturday 5 December 2009, 11:57
As an American I am astounded by the comments above regarding life in America and Americans. Europeans, you seem to think that you are so intelligent, informed and morally superior to Americans, particularly religious Americans. I am struck by the shear ignorance on display.
First of all, if you would please take the time to read our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution/Bill of Rights. It is a very small but brilliant document, only a few pages. It was written to free us of Europe.
You might be struck that according to our Declaration we are “endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among them Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Not endowed by rights as decided by Adolph, Joseph or the EU.
So you see, we in the USA could not have a Hitler or Stalin (and thanks a hell of a lot for them, by the way, unleashing the world’s most heinous forms of government in just one century) because our rights do not come from men and their imperfect institutions but from our Creator. If we fail to live up to our standards it is in spite of but not because of our Constitution. Your gods, on the other hand, the State and its institutions, are of your own immediate convenience.
I thank G-d every day that I don’t have to explain to my children that they are intrinsically valuable, regardlesly of their usefulness to the ever-powerful and all-knowing State.
Anyway, I hope I explained something to you about the difference between Liberty and Tyranny.
Wednesday 23 December 2009, 21:14
Societies such as the United States or Japan aren’t that different from Europe in terms of economic stratification, but are distinctly more ‘class stratified’ than Europes is socially, so I don’t think the wealth explanation holds much water.
Giving the state the most powerful social role in society, as protector, nurturer, and substitute parent has caused this. While man starts objectifying himself to a certain degree as a god, and political parties and governments engage in philosophical idea-promoting, the trend is clear: the State is making itself into a God, and a socially omni-present and nearly all-powerful feature of daily life, and concidered a comfort against any possible risk and discomfort in life. It isn’t that different than Europe’s past Communist societies. There too, a pride of ideological choices was constructed into a form of nationalism (of a type acceptable to these ironic ‘internationalists,’ very few of whom were permitted to travel), there too, reinforcing a forced monoculturalism on people while celebrating a diversity of rather meaningless things like appearance and cuisine.
The critical difference is that our relationship with the state can never give us what our relationship with God gives us. After all, God understands self-exploration and sees the same free will that lets us hurt ourselves as a way to finding your own path to bliss. The state tries to impose risk-reducing schemes and moralizes to a middle-minded emptiness through the expansion of laws.
For example, Hitler’s hostility to christianity, which let him to attempt to construct a sort of alternative to it in the packing together of Norse sagas and arians notions, stemmed entirely from the difficulty of forcing otherwise thoughtful people to not navigate choices through their own self-guided moral reasoning.
Seeing too much in the social benefit of the state makes us vulnurable to charlatains and hucksters who, unlike leaders of self-selected sects, can soften our mind to dictatorship. Aftert all a servile population interested only in its’ stomache and it’s pleasure is a rather easy one to manage.