CHAPTER 3

Thinking Sociologically About Religion And Health

KEY CONCEPTS
n

Secularization

Theodicy: explaining suffering

Church, sect and cult

'New age' beliefs and fundamentalism

Religion and health

Spiritual care
Introduction
Religions are concerned with life's meaning and with explanations of pain,
suffering and death. Thus, their importance to sociologists of health and illness
might seem obvious. Nevertheless, religion has been strikingly neglected by
sociologists of illness. Williams (1993b), has suggested that this has been because
both medicine and sociology are highly secular and have therefore regarded
religion as unimportant.
When sociologists have turned their attention to religion, it has often been
only to predict its death. Meanwhile healthcare has become anincreasingly secular
domain with only a few remains of its religious foundations. For example, the
routine of ward prayers at the start of each shift, which this author remembers
from her nurse training, is largely a thing of the past. However, as nurses in
particular have come to define their interest in the patient as holistic, there has
been a new interest in religion and spirituality. This is reflected in a proliferation
of books on spiritual issues (McSherry 2000, Narayanasamy 2001). These
changes reflect both the changing role of nursing and the changing role of religion
in contemporary society.
In this chapter, we will look at classical and contemporary sociological
studies of religion and their application to healthcare. We will consider how these
can help us to understand the complex relationships between religion, society,

illness and healthcare in the contemporary world.

Classical sociological accounts of religion
The key theme which has united much sociological writing about religion is that
of secularization. By secularization, we mean the progressive decline of the
importance of religion in the world. Many sociologists of health and illness have
assumed that secularization is an inevitable feature of modern society but the
empiricalevidence to support this assertion is complex and contradictory.
It is important to distinguish between secularization and secularism.
Secularization refers to the declining significance of religion; what Max Weber
described as the 'disenchantment of the world' (Gerth & Wright Mills 1970).
Secularism refers to a materialist system of thought which rejects religious beliefs
as irrational. One of the leading contemporary proponents of secularism is
Richard Dawkins (2006). Secular rationalism draws on a philosophical distinction
between reason and faith. Faith is seen as superstitious and backward and thus the
decline of religion is seen as a positive and progressive development in the
modern world. Secular rationalism can be traced back to the eighteenth century
'Enlightenment' period following the French revolution, when science and
rationality became increasingly influential in society. This was an era of massive
social, political and economic change heralding the dawn of the industrial
revolution. This 'Enlightenment' way of thinking is now often described as
modernism.
The influence of secular rationalism on sociological theories of religion is
obvious. Many of them proceed from an assumption that religion entails a
suspension of reason, which requires explanation. Many secularist sociologists
therefore seized on evidence of the decline of religion as a reason for optimism. It
was evidence of the increasing enlightenment of the world. A pessimistic reading
of the evidence for secularization on the other hand, sees it as representing a
decline in moral and communal values. Furthermore, in an era of global warming
faith in scientific progress has itself been severely curtailed.
Beckford (1989) suggests that it is impossible to disentangle the
sociological view of religion from wider social theories and problems. Classical

sociologists shaped their theories about religion in response to their attempts to

understand the massive social changes brought about by the industrial revolution.
They were particularlyconcerned by the problems of deprivation and disharmony
they saw following in its wake. According to Beckford (1989), sociological
thinking about religion has failed to keep pace with the changing nature of society
and is still rooted in these classical theories. This is particularly true of the theory
of secularization which, according to Beckford, has failed to appreciate that the
disappearance of nineteenth-century forms of religion does not necessarily imply
the disappearance of religion itself. As a starting point therefore, we need to
understand how classical nineteenth-century sociologists viewed religion and the
way in which their ideas have shaped contemporary debates. We will then
consider how our society has changed and the way in which religion has adapted
to contemporary social conditions. According to some authors, we now live in a
post-industrial or post-modern age.
MARXS ACCOUNT OF RELIGION
Marx's view of religion was typical of nineteenth-century secular rationalism in its
dismissal of religious beliefs (to read about Marx's major ideas, see Chapter 5).
Marx saw religion. a form of human self-alienation. Marx's ideas drew on the
work of the nineteenth-century philosopher Feuerbach (1957), who described the
idea of God as an alienation of the highest human powers. According to
Feuerbach, humans projected their own power onto a deity and thus became
estranged from their true nature. Humanity had only to see behind this disguise to
grasp that religion was an illusion. Liberation and progress would then result from
the establishment of a humanist belief system. Marx agreed with Feuerbach in
seeing religion as a form of alienation.
The more the worker expends himself in work the more powerful becomes
the world of objects which be creates in face of himself and the poorer he
himself becomes in his inner life, the less he belongs to himself. It is just the
same in religion. The more ofhimself man attributes to God, the less he has
left of himself. (Marx, cited in Bottomore&Rubel1973: 178)

Marx took Feuerbach's concept of alienation and applied it in a new way.

For Marx, the source of alienation was not religion itself but the economic
relations of society. Workers were not oppressed by their beliefs but by the new
relations of industrial capitalism which exploited them. For Marx, religion was
problematic because of the role it played in reconciling working people to that
oppression. Religion expressed fundamental values of compassion, freedom and
justice but it encouraged the exploited to accept the status quo and aspire to
salvation in an afterlife rather than realizing these values on earth.
Religious suffering is at the same time an expression of real suffering and
a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed
creature, the sentiment of a heartless world and the soul of soulless
conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion, as the
illusory happiness of men is a demand for their real happiness. The call to
abandon their illusions about their condition is a call to abandon a
condition which requires illusion. (Marx, cited in Bottomore&Rubel1973:
41).
Thus Marx looked forward to a society rid of oppression in which justice would
be realized on earth and religion would become unnecessary.
REFLECTION POINT
We have seen that Marx was concerned with the ways in which industrial society
produced alienation a sense of powerlessness. How do you think that a sense of
alienation might affect a person's health? How did Marx think that religion
contributed to a sense of alienation? Do you think that he was right to criticize
religion in this way?
DURKHEIM AND RELIGION
If Marx was concerned with the inequality and oppression created by industrial
capitalism, then the sociologist Emile Durkheim was concerned above all with the
breakdown of communal values and the social order. Marx has given us the
concept of alienation a sense of self estrangement engendered by the oppression

of capitalist social relations. By contrast, Durkheim saw contemporary humanity

as threatened by the condition of anomie. Anomie refers to a sense of
normlessness (from the Greek anomia absence of law)the individual's
estrangement from societal rules and values. Durkheim believed that anomie led
to suicide, crime and social breakdown.
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist from a Jewish background. He is
credited along with Herbert Spencer with being the founder of sociology as an
academic discipline and with changing forever the way we would think about and
study society. Durkheim was a socialist and his work addressed the problems of
social deprivation and disharmony that followed in the wake of the industrial
revolution. He believed that religion had played an important part in promoting
social cohesion and that professions would play an important part in promoting
civic morals in industrial societies.
Durkheim was concerned to establish the social origins of social problems,
such as crime and suicide. Durkheim presented a critique of individualistic
explanations of social behavior. He said that social phenomena were 'social facts'
which could not be explained simply by reference to the motivations or
propensities of individual. actors (methodological. individualism). Social facts
had, according to Durkheim, their own logic which was not reducible to
explanations at the biological or psychological. level. Socialfacts are external to
any particular individual considered as a biological entity and act as an external
constraint on individual choices and actions. They are 'endowed with
coercivepower, by ... which they impose themselves upon him, independent of his
individual will'. A social fact can hence be defined as 'every way of acting, fixed
or not, capable of exercising on the individual an external constraint' (Rules of the
Sociological Method 1895).

Durkheim's major works include:

n Division of Labour in Society 1893

n Rules of the Sociological Method 1895
n Suicide 1897
n Elementary Forms of the Religious Lifestyles 1912
n Professional Ethics and Civic Morals (published in 1955)
For Durkheim, some form of religion was necessary to society if anomie
was to be contained. Religion was the means, whereby society collectively
expressed its central values and identity through ceremonials and rituals. In his
major study of religion, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912-1976), he
tried to outline the different forms that these rituals took and the functions that
they performed. Durkheim believed that there was something eternal in religion
although the dynamic nature of society meant that religious forms and beliefs
would change. Religion promoted social cohesion and acted as a 'social cement'.
Durkheim was preoccupied with the way in which industrialization both
threatened and changed the basis of social cohesion. How-eve -, religion would
survive because:
There can be no society which does not feel the need of upholding and
reaffirming at regular intervals the collective sentiments and the collective
ideas which make up its unity and its personality.(Durkheim (1912] 1976:
427)
Durkheim predicted that while religious institutions might decline, the functions
of religion would persist. Whereas, in pre-industrial society, religious worship was
largely collective, in modem society, religion would become individualized.
Religion would express the sacredness inherent in each individual as an
expression of a moral community. Durkheim's ideas have found expression in the
work of contemporary sociologists who have argued that religious beliefs have
persisted but have become increasingly individualistic and privatized. Thus,
Luckmann (1967) described this new private form of religion as 'invisible

religion'.
REFLECTION POINT
We have seen that Durkheim believed that religion was Like an invisible glue that
helped to hold society together. Durkheim believed that this was because it helped
people to express shared social values. What values do you think that people share
within contemporary society? How are these expressed? How important are
shared values in healthcare? What part do you think that religion plays in this?
WEBER'S VIEW OF RELIGION
Max Weber was concerned both with the way in which society shaped religious
ideas and also with the way in which religious ideas influenced society (Weber's
major ideas are discussed in Chapter 4). Weber's ideas about the interplay of
religion and society are expressed in particular in his best known study on the
influence of Protestant ideas on the rise of capitalism (Weber 1974). Thus, Weber
was interested in the social psychology of religion and he has a lot to say that is of
relevance to healthcare. He paid particular attention to the ways in which religions
construct explanations of suffering and death. Such justifications and explanations
of suffering are described as theodicies.
The idea of suffering as a form of punishment is of profound importance in
almost all religious traditions. Weber says that the fortunate are not content with
good fortune alone, but need to believe that they have a right to be fortunate.
Thus, wealth, power and good health are legitimated by the theory of good
fortune, and suffering is treated as a sign of odiousness in the eyes of the Gods.
The possessor of good fortune needs to console his conscience with the belief that
he deserves to be favored as much as the unfortunate deserve their misery.
The poor and suffering still have to make sense of their lot and can find
small comfort in the idea that they deserve to suffer. The persistence of injustice
and undeserved suffering therefore led to the idea of a savior or redeemer who
will right all wrongs by either `the return of good fortune in this world or the
security of happiness in the next world' (Weber 1920, reprinted in Gerth & Wright
Mills 1970). Thus, new theodicies periodically emerge which promise to right the

wrongs of the world and offer salvation to the poor and suffering. Examples
include the Christian Messiah and the Cult of Krishna in Hinduism.
Weber saw the modern world as characterized by increasing rationalization.
The spread of rationality pushed the need for explanations of suffering to the
margins of our consciousness. Rationality had demystified the world. Science,
however, can explain how events such as sickness occur, but it is limited in its
explanations of why such events occur. Weber's discussion of theodicies reminds
us that these questions remain central to how people make sense of the world.
According to Clark:
How and why questions seem therefore to keep alive the distinction between
science and religion. When related to some conditions of human misfortune
-say sickness-they may be posed as the opposition between two problems
'bow is my condition caused' and 'why is thishappening to me.' Where does
the individual find answers to these "why" questions?' (Clark 1982: 7)
How individuals find meaning in suffering is key to understanding a person's
response to illness. Weber's ideas suggest that these 'why' questions are
marginalized by secular rationalism. The rise of modern medicine is one instance
of the increasing rationalization of the world with its central focus on how illness
is caused and its location of the source of illness in the physiology of the
individual. However, for Weber in contrast to some of his more recent followers
the disenchantment of the world was 'more of a tendency than an accomplished
fact' (Beckford 1989).
There would always be counter tendencies and areas of social life which
resisted the process of rationalization. Weber utilized the concept of charisma to
explain the rise of new religious and social movements not based on rational or
traditional authority.
Charismatic authority is wielded by an individual or social group who are
able to achieve power through ideas, revelations, magical power or simply force
of personality. Charismatic authority implies the breakdown of existing systems of
authority whether rational or traditional and therefore, entails the creation of new
and revolutionary social, political or religious movements. By its very nature,

charismatic authority is short-lived and charisma becomes 'routinized' as the

movement settles down and becomes institutionalized. James and Field (1992)
analysed the reutilization of charisma' in the growing bureaucratization of the
hospice movement and we return to this in the final chapter.
Weber's concept of charisma implied that religions would not decline
inexorably. New religions would arise with charismatic leaders and existing
religions would experience periods of charismatic revival. The significance of the
concept of charisma has been variously interpreted. For some charismatic
religions aremere punctuation points in the irreversible ,disenchantment of the
world', whereas, for others, they show the continuing social significance of
religion and the potential of religious movements to overthrow the existing social
order.
REFLECTION POINT
We have seen that Weber believed that religion was important in helping people to
'make sense of suffering and misfortune. What ideas do you think help people
make sense of suffering today? How important is religion to this sense-making
process?
Religion: declining or changing?
We can still see the influence of these classical theorists when we look at studies
of contemporary religion. However, in the twenty-first century we are arguably
facing a different set of social conditions. How different is a matter of debate witli
some authors seeing the present simply as a continuation of the past; for these
authors we continue to live in a largely industrialized modern age in which society
will continue to become progressively more secular. For other writers however,
we have moved into a new era where we are now disenchanted with science and
rationality and new interests in religion and spirituality may develop. These latter
authors describe the present as a postmodern or post industrial era (Heelas 1993a).
These different schools of thought look at changes in religion in different ways.
Three types of evidence have been put forward when examining the changing

fortunes of religion in contemporary society:

1. Patterns of religious membership and affiliation
2. Patterns of religious belief
3. The influence of religion on major social institutions.
DECLINING RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION?
When considering changes in religious institutions and their membership we are
going to look first of all at the situation in the UK. Later, we will consider whether
the UK is typical or exceptional in its attitudes to religion.
Changing patterns of religious affiliation have to be considered in relation to
the different types of religious organizations which exist in contemporary UK
society. Sociologists have developed a number of typologies of religious
organizations. Four main types are generally recognized:
1. Churches
2. Sects
3. Denominations
4. Cults.
Churches are large-scale, formal organizations with professional clergy, which
are often highly bureaucratic. They may be closely allied to the state as in the case
of the Church of England or the Catholic Church in Eire. The Church of England
has suffered a dramatic decline in attendance with only 1.8 million attending
regularly in 1992 (Davie 1994a), yet it is still the Church to which the majority
(25.5 million of the population) claim allegiance. More recently, Brierley (2005)
has suggested that only 6.8% of the population attended church regularly in 2005,
yet surveys have shown that the majority of the population continue to claim to be
nominally Christian. Most only attend church for significant events such as
baptisms, weddings, funerals and Christmas.
In spite of a general decline in active church membership, there remain
significant local and regional differences. Congregations still thrive in some areas,
particularly rural areas and provinces, such as Northern Ireland. Furthermore,
many ethnic minority communities show no signs of adopting the rather

lukewarm attitude to religion characteristic of the majority of the UK population.

Bruce (1996) argues that religion has an important role in expressing ethnic and
cultural identity and that in many of thesesituations, it is used as a 'cultural
defence'. At, alternative argument is that these groups retain the more enthusiastic
attitudes to religion typical of their country of origin and that it is the UK
population which is unusual in its indifference to religion.
The rather dramatic evidence of a decline in active church membership has
fuelled arguments in favor of the secularization thesis. The evidence is visible to
all as, throughout our towns and cities redundant churches and chapels are
converted into shops, warehouses, flats and bingo halls. However, non-Christian
places of worship have fared better with many new mosques being built. The
rather more buoyant fortunes of other Christian groups have also sometimes gone
unnoticed yet few towns of a significant size have not seen the erection of a
Kingdom Hall by their local Jehovah's Witnesses and new evangelical churches
are also increasing in number.
Sects represent an increasingly important feature of the contemporary
religious scene. Sectarian groups such as the Jehovah's Witnesses have usually
arisen in radical protest against existing religions often through a charismatic
leader. They are highly organized groups which see themselves as true believers
and draw strong boundaries between 'them' and `us'. Many are millenarian groups
who believe that the end of the world is imminent and only they will be saved.
Some modern sects have been remarkably successful in exploiting mass
communications and marketing techniques to spread their message (Schmalz
1994). Some of the larger sects, such as the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses
owe much of their success to their use of the techniques of successful business
corporations, which is ironic given their ostensible rejection of secular rationalism. Recently, many have added the internet to their armory of recruitment
techniques.
Niebuhr (1929) argued that after a period of time, sects would 'cool down'
and become more established and tolerant of other religions. He described these
groups as denominations.

Denominational groups, such as the Methodists, have suffered very serious

declines in membership. It may be that newer sects are learning this lesson and
instituting mechanisms for maintaining a sectarian identity and boundaries
between members and outsiders. A good example of this strategy of boundary
maintenance is the decision of the Jehovah's Witnesses to institute a taboo on
blood transfusions in the post-war period (Singelenberg 1990). A more recent
example is the strong hostility to psychiatry promoted by the Church of
Scientology. The rising fortunes of sectarian groups can be related in part to their
successful methods of discipline and boundary maintenance in maintaining their
membership. However, other more loose knit new religious groups have also
multiplied in recent years.
Cults have been considered a fourth major form of religious, organization
(Bruce 1996) and one that has received considerable negative media attention
(Barker 1989). Cults are small loose knit groups with unorthodox religious
beliefs. Barker has made a considerable study of these groups and prefers the term
New Religious Movements as more accurate and less pejorative. Although these
new religious movements (or cults) have attracted negative media attention in
recent years due to their supposed ability to 'brainwash' their members, research
suggests that membership is usually short-lived and individuals attracted to these
movements can be described as 'seekers' who pursue a variety of unorthodox
religious beliefs and practices often simultaneously (Barker 1989). There are
however risks that cults may pose a threat to the welfare of their members when
leaders claim divine authority or when cult members allow important decisions
about their lives to be made by others (Barker 1989).
The growth of sectarian groups and cults can be related to two competing
trends in religious affiliation and belief. First, the growth of fundamentalism and
second, the growth of ,new age' religious ideas and beliefs.
Fundamentalismwas a term originally applied to the defence of Protestant
orthodoxy against modern scientific thought, particularly the theory of evolution.
The term has come to be applied more generally to religious movements which

defend religious orthodoxy against the encroachments of contemporary culture

(Marty & Scott Appleby 1993). Although Islamic fundamentalism has received
the most media attention, fundamentalist movements have arisen in all parts of the
world and in all religious traditions. For example, Christian fundamentalism is an
increasingly important political force in the USA. Key features of fundamentalist
movements include:
A general hostility towards a rationalist post-Enlightenment view of the
world; an emphasis on supernatural intervention in daily mundane affairs;
a restored patriarchy under a charismatic leader who draws his legitimacy
from God ... initial intransigence, born of millennial expectations
followed`(when the millennium fails to materialize) by some form of
accommodation or bargaining with the larger world; a tendency to `fight
back' against the current of the times while appropriating those aspects of
contemporary culture that seem necessary or desirable'. (Ruthuen 1993)
The globalization of social life brings us into increasing contact with other
religious traditions. The fundamentalist response to making sense of increasingly
fragmented world views is to choose one all-encompassing view of the world and
stick with it. Fundamentalists also see themselves as fighting back against the
encroachments of secular rationalism and may become increasingly interested in
obtaining secular power to achieve their ends. Robertson (1989) saw globalization
as leading to the politicization of religion and the `religionization' of politics.
Davie (1994b) predicted a growth of intransigent and competing fundamenta I
isms. The AI Quaida attack on the world trade centre and the subsequent 'war on
terror' have madetheir words seem prophetic. It would be difficult in the light of
recent events to continue to maintain that religion is of no political significance in
the modem world.
New age religion has been an alternative response to contemporary
conditions. While for some the response to changing times has been found in
fundamentalism or the fierce allegiance of sectarianism, another response to the
variety of religious ideas and beliefs on offer in a global society is to select your
own personal package. New age beliefs have imported market ideas into religion

and Davie (1994a) has described this phenomenon as ,supermarket religion'. Our
spiritual beliefs no longer reflect a deeply rooted sense of life's meaning and
become instead a 'lifestyle' choice. Many authors have described the rise of a
loose network of religious or quasi-religious organizations, practices and products,
which Heelas (1993b) has described as the 'new age movement'. This movement
encourages us to 'shop around' for our spiritual beliefs and practices. These
'spiritual shoppers' are often described as 'seekers'. 'Seekers' may have shifting
allegiances to cult groups or may pursue a more individualistic spiritual path.
New age beliefs have a number of shared features. The first is their
eclecticism, 'new age' groups draw on a wide variety of religious ideas and
symbols without worrying very much about their logical connections or contradictions. Berger (2001) describes this assembling of bits and pieces as 'patchwork
religion'. Loose connections are made through the use of metaphors or umbrella
terms, such as ,energy' and 'holism' (Bruce 1996).
For Heelas (1996), the central theme of the new age is the `sacralization of
the self'. This echoes Durkheim's earlier view that religion would come to
symbolize the sacredness of the individual. The new age has been linked to a
highly

individualistic

culture

which

Walter

(1993)

has

described

as

expressivism, in which self-expression and self-realizationbecome the highest

achievements. This culture(also described negatively by Lasch 1979 as
,narcissism') finds its secular expression in humanistic psychology and many
contemporary forms of therapy. Some of these therapies incorporate some
supernatural beliefs so that the line between therapies and cults is sometimes
blurred. In these self-religions, these ideas are extended; we should not only seek
to 'find ourselves', but to find God within ourselves.
Bruce (1996) sees the new age as the apotheosis of a consumerist and
individualistic society. The 'new age' places little value on community, selfsacrifice or on service to others or a higher power. Bruce argues that it is a 'grand
irony' that such groups regard themselves as alternative, since they are the
perfect product of their time. Bruce says that the 'new age' is the acme of
consumerism, it is 'individualism raised to a new plane' leading individuals to

suppose that by knowing oneself, we can know everything.

New age movements take different forms and encompass religious groups
and communities as well as individual therapists and practitioners. Many of the
beliefs and practices of the 'new age' have entered the mass market and this is
particularly true of 'self-help' manuals and 'alternative' therapies, such as aromatherapy which have spawned an enormous range of consumer products.
BELIEVING WITHOUT BELONGING?
We have painted a picture of declining church membership in the UK coupled
with some growth areas, in particular, sectarian and fundamentalist movements
and 'new age' movements. Empirical studies have consistently reported high levels
of religious belief in spite of declining church membership. Survey results vary
depending on how the question is asked but seem to indicate that although belief
has declined, the majority of the population continue to believe in God. Surveys in
the 1990s found that 68% of the UK population believed in God compared with
79% in the 1960s (Davie 2000). More unorthodox spiritual beliefs also persist and
have sometimes increased with31% claiming to believe in ghosts (compared with
19% in the 1970s); 26% believing in reincarnation; 23% believing in horoscopes
and 47% believing in fortune telling (Davie 2000). According to Knoblauch
(2003), 60% of the European population have reported in surveys that they have
had supernatural experiences.
Three themes can be identified in sociological explanations of 'believing
without belonging'. First, the theme of 'self religions' identified with earlier
Durkheimian ideas and described in Luckmann's (1967) work as 'invisible' or
'privatized' systems of religion. This would explain the persistence and growth of
unorthodox religious ideas and supernatural experiences. The ,new age' movement
can be seen as the creation of a cultural milieu for these privatized religious
systems. Linked to this sociologists have identified a general decline in
membership of communal organizations (otherwise described as a decline in
social capital; see Chapters S and 6). Declining church membership can be seen as
a reflection of declining communal values rather than declining religious values
and no different from the decline of football clubs, trade unions etc. (Davie

1994a).
Finally, some social historians have talked of `common' or 'folk' religion
instead of 'private' religion. The existence of high levels of belief alongside low
levels of practice are seen as a recurrence of the characteristics of religion before
the industrial revolution (Davie 1994a). Recent reports that the majority of the
population rate religion as of low importance to their everyday lives (Voas&
Crockett 2005) may reflect a long-term UK tradition. Folk traditions and informal
practices existing outside formal structures are fairly persistent (Clark 1982,
Davie 1994a, 2000). These 'unofficial' religious practices draw on shared
meanings and are not entirely personal. Such beliefs may not be prominent in
everyday life, but may be drawn on at times of transition or crisis, such as
childbirth, illness and death. The recent examples of mass mourning following for
example the death of Princess Diana fit in with the idea ofreligious folk traditions.
(Davie 2000). Some authors have likened this folk tradition to a God of the gaps.
God is only appealed to or consulted when everyday coping mechanisms have
failed, such as in times of personal crisis, bereavement or illness (Abercrombie
1970).
DECLINING RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE?
If most areas of our life are controlled by secular institutions and our God is a God
of the gaps, then religion may have little influence in our lives whatever the faith
we profess. Thus, Voas and Crockett (2005) suggest that recent British polls have
charted a decline in the numbers of people stating that religion was important in
their lives. This is the argument made by Bruce (1996); religion is an increasingly
marginalized and moribund force in contemporary society. Thus, one of the
theories of secularization concerns the decline of religious influence in the world.
Public religion refers to the active participation of religious groups in public
affairs (Casanova 1994). Casanova suggests that this involves engagement at a
variety of different levels and that while the privileged position of religion within
the state may have declined, this does not mean that religious groups cannot
engage successfully with politics and civil society. In the USA, for example we

have seen many examples of faith groups engaging very successfully in public life
often wielding enormous influence. Faith groups have become increasingly
vociferous on matters concerned with human rights, morality and ethics. Mainstream religious groups as well as fundamentalist movements have engaged in
political debate and public affairs. Casanova (1994) has argued that religious
groups have become more differentiated: that is they have become more separate
from state institutions such as the healthcare and education systems. However, the
state has increasingly withdrawn from the provision of services with the introduction of 'market' approaches to welfare provision and we have moved towards a
'mixedeconomy' of services. The scope for faith groups to engage in public life
may substantially increase as political developments in the USA have recently
indicated.
A final point about the influence of religion in the modern world concerns
the role of religion globally. Much of the debate focuses on data from Britain and
Western Europe. Yet these countries may be exceptional; across much of the
globe, there is little evidence of secularization and religious affiliation and
influence may actually be increasing (Berger 2001). This is not just the difference
between `modern' Western societies and less industrialized nations. Polls of the
American public suggest that 96% believe in God and 67% believe that religion is
very important' in their lives (Powell et al 2003).
In summing up, we can say that sociological studies of contemporary
religion have produced a complex picture of competing trends. While there is
evidence of declining church membership in the UK, there is also evidence of a
high level of religious belief independent of church organizations. For some, this
represents the active pursuit of self-realization, through new age religion. For
others, religion is a more marginal part of existence, more properly described as a
God of the gaps. At the same time, there is a definite backlash against
secularization with an increase in groups offering a fundamentalist outlook on life.
The public influence of religion is changing. Religion may play a smaller part in
many state institutions such as state schools but faith groups continue to play an
important part in public life and it is possible that this will increase as the state

withdraws from welfare provision and we move towards a mixed economy of

welfare.
Clearly, this complex pattern of contemporary religious life has an impact
on the responses of individuals to illness, suffering and death, which is worthy of
our attention. In addition, we may wish to consider the effect of these cultural
influences on nursing.
REFLECTION POINT
We have seen that lots of different forms of religious belief exist. There are also
diverse religious groups and variations in people's relationships to religious
groups. Reflect on your own religious beliefs and practice. What impact do you
think that they have on your attitudes to your own health?
Religion, illness and health
A number of authors have considered the influence of religion on health and
illness. Much of this research has occurred in the USA where faith groups have
considerable public influence as we have discussed. One factor, which has
interested a number of sociologists, is the apparent relationship between religious
affiliation and health. Put simply, it has been suggested that the religious tend to
live longer and be healthier (Hummer et al 2004, Jarvis &Northcott 1987, Levin
1994, Miller &Thoresen 2003). Explanations have focused on the way in which
religions offer social support and promote a healthy lifestyle. The beneficial
effects of religious practices such as prayer, meditation and yoga have also been
studied (Seeman et al 2003). Finally, religious belief has been posited as providing
beneficial psychological effects such as 'inner peace' and a sense of life's meaning
(Miller &Thoresen 2003). This brings us back to our earlier discussion of theodicy
and the role of religion in beliefs about health, illness and suffering.
In spite of the detailed attention, which has been paid to lay concepts of
health in recent years, very little attention has been paid within this literature to
the impact of spiritual beliefs on health beliefs. Williams (1993b) has suggested
that the moral and religious components of health beliefs are easily overlooked by

the researcher particularly as religious beliefs have become more private.

Williams (1990) described a 'Protestant legacy' in the accountsof health
given by his Scottish respondents. Popular moral conceptions of health reflected
Protestant theological debates. His respondents expressed views of health and
illness, which were close to Weber's `theodicy of good fortune'.
The healthy owed their good fortune to a hard-working and virtuous
existence, whereas the sick had 'brought it on themselves'. Blaxter (1993) noted
similar moral views of illness and a sense of guilt among respondents who 'gave
in' to sickness. In Blaxter's respondents, good health was so clearly synonymous
with virtue that respondents claimed to be healthy even when this flew in the face
of all the available evidence. One respondent recounting the early death of most of
her close relatives concluded `We were a healthy family'. Williams (1993a) has
described the career of the chronically sick in terms of the pursuit of virtue as they
strive to assert themselves as morally blameless in spite of the stigma of their
condition.
The Judaeo-Christian tradition contains a legacy of religious ideas, which
place responsibility fog health on the individual and see good health as a reward
for a virtuous life. These ideas lead to a deep-rooted resistance to accepting the
social causes of ill health (Blaxter 1990). Similar beliefs may exist in other
religious traditions and affect the individual response to illness (Agrawal& Dalai
1993). There is clearly much more to be learned about the effect of various
religious traditions on beliefs about health and illness and research in this area is
needed.
As regards the recent changes in religions in our own society summarized
earlier, we can draw out a number of implications for healthcare. First, there are
increasing numbers of people who are only nominally religious and whose beliefs
are informal and privatized. Such individuals may only turn to religion in times of
personal crisis, but their beliefs about health and illness may be influenced by
religious traditions with which they have only a tenuous connection. In studies by
Williams and others of health beliefs, a Protestant version of the `theodicy of good
fortune' seems to becommon and may have the potential to create unnecessary

guilt.
Second, the growth of fundamentalist and sectarian groups, presents new
challenges for healthcare workers. Fundamentalism is by its nature, in opposition
to secular rationalism. Medicine is an area of secular rationalism most likely to
conflict with fundamentalist groups through its involvement in issues of life, death
and sexual morality.
Fundamentalist groups have become increasingly involved in debates about
contraception, abortion and genetic medicine and conflicts on these areas seem
bound to increase. Additionally, some sectarian groups prohibit specific medical
practices such as the Jehovah's Witness ban on blood transfusions. These groups
pose some serious legal, political and ethical challenges to liberal democracies.
The sociological and psychological literature on sectarian groups and new
religious movements is polarized between psychologists and psychiatrists who
claim that these groups exercise techniques of brainwashing and 'mind control'
(West 1993) and a more liberal view that individuals generally enter and leave
these groups of their own free will (Barker 1989). An intermediate position is
taken by some authors suggesting that the social pressures of sect membership
affect the validity of an individual's judgment. This applies particularly to
informed consent and refusal of treatment (Young & Griffith 1992). If as Davie
(1994b) suggests, we may become a world of 'competing fundamentalisms',
current medical ethical guidelines based on assumptions of religious toleration
and individual freedom may be put under increasing strain and may struggle to
adapt to the pressures of this changing social context.
Finally, we live in a multicultural and multiethnic society. Thus, nurses must
deal with patients from diverse religious backgrounds and must understand and
make provision for diverse religious beliefs and practices. As we noted earlier
many ethnic minority communitieshave remained much more steadfast in their
religious practices than the UK population generally.

REFLECTION POINT
We have discussed the diverse religious backgrounds that people may come from
and the ways in which religion can impact on health. How can you use this
understanding.to improve your assessment of patients?
Religion, spirituality and nursing
In this final section, we will briefly consider the influence of changing religious
ideas and practices on nursing. Nursing has traditionally had strong associations
with religion. According to Rafferty (1997) 'religious enthusiasm' was an
important motivation for nineteenth-century nursing reform with religious
sisterhoods playing an important role. The tradition of service and vocation which
was fostered by early nursing reformers is still an important influence for many
nurses. However, some nursing writers have lamented the way in which nursing
has moved from this earlier religious tradition of 'service' and 'vocation' towards
the 'self-religions that we discussed earlier (Bradshaw 1994).
The recent popularity of 'new age' ideas in nursing, which we will explore in
this section, may reflect a contemporary version of the traditional link between
nursing and religion. `New age' ideas are linked to a particular discourse about
health and illness which has found recent expression in nursing through its interest
in 'holism' and the subjective world of the patient. The influence of 'new age' ideas
and the 'self-religions is particularly apparent in nurses' contemporary ideas about
'spiritual care'. There is also an enormous popular interest in complementary
therapies in nursing many of which derive their philosophical bases from new age
religions (Bruce 1996).
The contemporary nursing literature on spiritual care contains considerable
debate about the nature of spirituality. The emerging consensus in the literature is
that spirituality is separate from religion (Dyson et al 1997, McSherry& Draper
1998). The literature asserts that spiritual care is a cornerstone of 'holistic' nursing
practice. The particular conception of holism expressed in this literature is of the
individual as a 'biopsychological-spiritual being' (Narayanasamy& Owens 2001).

Thus, the literature on spiritual care routinely erases the social context of the
individual. This includes the cultural and religious context of an individual's
'spiritual' beliefs with spirituality conceived in individualistic terms. Thus, a
widely cited definition of spirituality in the literature is that provided by Murray
and Zenter (1989:16).
A quality that goes beyond religious affiliations, that strives for inspiration,
reverence, awe, meaning and purpose, even in those who do not believe'in
any god. The spiritual dimension tries to be in harmony with the universe,
strives for answers about the infinite and comes into focus when the person
faces emotional stress, physical illness or death.
It is common therefore for this literature to repudiate the connection between
spirituality and a belief in God or to redefine God as a `higher power' or 'life
principle'. Thus, according to Dyson et al (1997) 'whatever the person takes to be
the highest value in life' can be defined as their 'God' and this can include `work,
money, personal gain'. The connection therefore between the nursing literature on
spirituality and 'new age' beliefs or the 'self-religions seems self-evident. Indeed
Dyson et al (1997) identify spirituality with 'healthy self-love'. This is a far cry
from the ideas of self-sacrifice and vocation which inspired nineteenth century
nurse reformers. This view of spirituality may be an unsympathetic one for
patients who continue to associate spirituality with traditional religious values.
Ironicallynurses' attempts firstly to lay claim to their own definition of spirituality
and secondly to detach spirituality from religion could represent yet another
attempt to both secularize and medicalize the sacred.
Discussion points
1.

How much influence do you think that religion should have in society?

2.

What are your own spiritual beliefs? How do they influence you as a

nurse?
3.

What part do you think that religion should play in healthcare?

4.

How much information about their religious beliefs do you think that

nurses should ask for from patients?

5.

How much right do you think that patients should have to demand or

refuse treatment on religious grounds?

CHAPTER SUMMARY
This chapter has introduced you to sociological thinking about religion. We have
used this chapter to introduce you to the three 'classical' social theorists: Karl
Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, by discussing the different ways in which
they thought about religion. We have seen that Karl Marx was particularly
concerned about the ways in which ordinary working people were exploited by
industrial capitalism and saw religion as excusing that exploitation. Emile
Durkheim was preoccupied with the ways in which religion undermined a sense
of community and the shared values and rituals that held society together. Max
Weber examined the different ways that we make sense of suffering. He also
discussed the ways in which the industrial society had changed the way we see the
world. Rationality had 'disenchanted' the world and marginalized questions about
the meaning of suffering. This is very relevant to healthcare. According to Clark,
science and rationality can answer the question of how we become ill but cannot
ask the question: 'why did this happen to me?
This discussion has led us on to look at the question of whether religion is
actuallydeclining in modern society or just changing. This is something that
sociologists have arguedabout for many years. The debate about this question
draws on three kinds of evidence: first, whether people belong to religious
organizations; second, whether people believe inGod or the supernatural and
finally, whether religion has any influence in the world. Theevidence is very
mixed. While religion is declining in some places, it is also developing new forms
and new areas of influence. Two important (but very different) new movementsare
'new age' religion and religious `fundamentalism'.
Changes in the place of religion in society have an important impact on the
ways in which people cope with and make sense of illness, suffering and death.
This can have an impact on people's health. Recent changes in religions, such as
the growth of fundamentalism offer new challenges to nurse when they are
helping patients to make sense of the experience of illness. Nurses have become

increasingly interested in spirituality but need to be careful not to detach their

understanding of spirituality from a broader understanding of religion and its
place in society.

FURTHER READING
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Blackwell, Oxford.
Davie provides a good introduction to the sociology of religion.
Williams R 1993 Religion and illness. In: Radley A (ed.)
Worlds of illness: Biographical and cultural perspectives on health and disease.
Routledge, London, p 71-91.
Williams provides a valuable sociological discussionof religion and health.
McSherry W 2000 Making sense of spirituality in nursing practice. Churchill
Livingstone, Edinburgh.
Narayanasamy A 2001 Spiritual care: A practical guide for nurses and healthcare
practitioners. Quay Publishing, Wiltshire.
McSherry and Narayanasamy introduce spiritual care to nurses.
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