I for one bemoan nothing. These things happen. I also agree that some
children know more about other religions than their parents. What
concerns me is not the multi-culturalism issue (not terribly relevant in
Fraserburgh and Rhynie) but the secularziation question. Hence
I am less interested in what people know about and more concerned with
what they have been immersed in. What they learnt to take for granted.
Knowing a bit about what some other people do is no substitute for
being steeped in a religious culture. A shared religious commitment
requires a common culture. A common religious background is not a
sufficient condition for belief but it is a necessary one. Hence its
disappearance has huge implications for religiosity in modern
societies.
I suppose my major concern is the question of innate religious needs.
Many scholars argue that we are essentially religious (the
Stark-Bainbridge theory of religion is a case). Hence if one church or
tradition declines another must take its place. A thoroughly
sociological view would argue that religiosity, like most everything
else, is learnt and that it requires 'steeping'. If a generation is
raised in a secular environment, it will remain what Weber called
'religiously unmusical'.
While multi-cultural education may be good for what we used to call
race relations, it implicitly promotes a relativistic view of the truth
that undermines commitment. This is, of course, as much a threat to
the minority religions of the UK as it is to what were once the
dominant traditions.
----------------------
Steve Bruce
Professor of Sociology
Sociology
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen AB24 3QY
Tel: 01224 272761 (work); 01467 671595 (home)
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