Religious Authority

Abstract

This chapter analyses public opinion towards religious authority in Britain in an era of secularisation. Succinctly defined, secularisation refers to the ‘process whereby religious thinking, practice and institutions, lose social significance’ (Wilson 1966: xiv). In Britain, this has resulted in religion undergoing a process of privatisation, losing some of its social functions as well as authority and influence in the sphere of politics (Bruce 2012: 164). In terms of popular engagement with religion, Bruce has argued that ‘every index of religious interest and involvement in Britain shows decline. It is the consistency of the data which is significant’ (2013: 374). An important part of this is the decline in the ‘social reach’ or ‘penumbra’ of Christianity (Bruce 2013: 374). Field observes that: When all is said and done, however, the fact remains that organized Christianity has been in retreat between the 1960s and 2010s, and on any number of fronts… Thus, on all critical performance indicators (membership, attendance, rites of passage, and affiliation) net commitment to institutional Christianity has decreased in contemporary Britain (2014c: 192 and 193). KeywordsPublic OpinionReligious ServiceReligious LeaderPublic AttitudeReligious OrganisationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.