Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes the sociological concepts, studies and arguments to support or challenge the notion that religious beliefs are changing. Attention is given to the secularization thesis, televangelism, new religious movements, declining church attendance, arguments of de-sacrilisation, the fragmentation of society and issues concerning modern morality.

From the Paper:

"In the nineteenth century it was widely believed that industrialization and the growth of scientific knowledge would lead to what is known as secularization; a process whereby religious thinking, practices and organizations lose their social significance through either the process of disengagement or the process of disenchantment. Weber argued that a greater "rationalism" would replace beliefs based on magic, superstition and the supernatural. Many sociologists have agreed with these ideas and have claimed that social change would lead to the weakening or even disappearance of religion in society."

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