In recent years some sociologists have claimed that the west is becoming more secular. Secularisation is where religious belief, practiced and institutions loose social significance. There has been evidence to suggest that church attendance and the number of baptisms and church weddings are declining. However some sociologists reject secularisation theory and argue that religion is simply changing, rather than declining. They believe it is changing as a result of changes in wider society, such as, greater individualism and consumerism, or a shift from modern to late modern or postmodern society.
Davie is one of these sociologists; in her view religion is taking a different, more privatised form. She explains this by giving the example of that people no longer go to church because they feel they have to or because it is respectable to do so. She says that although churchgoing has declined it is simply because attendance is now a matter of personal choice rather than the obligation it used to be. As a result there is believing without belonging, where by people hold religious beliefs but don’t go to church. Therefore the decline of traditional religion is matched by the growth of the new form of religion. Davie also notes a trend towards vicarious religion, whereby people are experiencing religion second hand. This is a typical pattern in Britain and northern Europe. In these societies people still use the church for rites of passage, rituals that make a change of status such as baptisms, weddings and funerals.
Similarly Bibby’s findings show that only 25% attended church but 80% said they have religious beliefs, identified positively with religious traditions and turned to religious for rites of passage. Although they rarely went to church, they continued to be interested in the supernatural. This shows that people are now choosing whether or not to go to church