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Brown, C. (2011) the People of No Religion: the Demographics of Secularisation in the English-Speaking World Since C.1900

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Brown, C. (2011) the People of No Religion: the Demographics of Secularisation in the English-Speaking World Since C.1900 Brown, C. (2011) The people of no religion: the demographics of secularisation in the English-speaking world since c.1900. Archiv für Sozialgeschichte, 51 . pp. 37-61. ISSN 0066-6505 Copyright © 2011 Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge Content must not be changed in any way or reproduced in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder(s) When referring to this work, full bibliographic details must be given http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/78192/ Deposited on: 09 January 2014 Enlighten – Research publications by members of the University of Glasgow http://eprints.gla.ac.uk ARCHIV FÜR SOZIALGESCHICHTE Archiv für Sozialgeschichte Herausgegeben von der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung 51. Band 2011 Verlag J. H. W. Dietz Nachf. REDAKTION: FRIEDHELM BOLL BEATRIX BOUVIER DIETER DOWE ANJA KRUKE PATRIK VON ZUR MÜHLEN UTE PLANERT MICHAEL SCHNEIDER DIETMAR SÜSS MEIK WOYKE (Schriftleitung) Redaktionsanschrift: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Godesberger Allee 149, 53175 Bonn Tel. 02 28 / 8 83 – 80 68, Fax 02 28 / 8 83 – 92 09 E-Mail: [email protected] Herausgeberin und Verlag danken Herrn Martin Brost für die finanzielle Förde- rung von Bearbeitung und Druck dieses Bandes. ISSN 0066-6505 ISBN 978-3-8012-4205-3 © 2011 Verlag J. H. W. Dietz Nachf., Dreizehnmorgenweg 24, 53175 Bonn Umschlag und Einbandgestaltung: Bruno Skibbe, Braunschweig Satz: PAPYRUS – Schreib- und Lektoratsservice, Buxtehude Druck: Westermann Druck Zwickau GmbH Alle Rechte vorbehalten Printed in Germany 2011 V Inhalt BEITRÄGE ZUM RAHMENTHEMA »SÄKULARISIERUNG UND NEUFORMIERUNG DES RELIGIÖSEN. GESELLSCHAFT UND RELIGION IN DER ZWEITEN HÄLFTE DES 20. JAHRHUNDERTS« Benjamin Ziemann, Säkularisierung und Neuformierung des Religiösen. Religion und Gesellschaft in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts....................... 3 Callum G. Brown, The People of ›No Religion‹. The Demographics of Secularisa- tion in the English-speaking World since c. 1900................................... 37 Patrick Pasture, Religious Globalisation in Post-war Europe. Spiritual Connections and Interactions........................................................................ 63 Detlef Pollack, Renaissance des Religiösen? Veränderungen auf dem religiösen Feld in ausgewählten Ländern Ost- und Ostmitteleuropas ......................... 109 Franco Garelli, From Catholic Hegemony to Pluralism. The Transformation of Religion and Public Life in Italy since 1945 ........................................ 141 Klaus Große Kracht, Die katholische Welle der ›Stunde Null‹. Katholische Aktion, missionarische Bewegung und Pastoralmacht in Deutschland, Italien und Frank- reich 1945–1960....................................................................... 163 Christian Bauer / Veit Straßner, Kirchliche Präsenz in der Fabrik: Das Experiment der französischen Arbeiterpriester ................................................... 187 Uta Andrea Balbier, »Youth for Christ« in England und Deutschland. Religiöser Transnationalismus und christliche Nachkriegsordnung 1945–1948 .............. 209 Michael Brenner, Religiöse Erneuerung und Säkularisierung im jüdischen Leben Deutschlands. Ein Überblick ......................................................... 225 Rainer Hering, Die Kirchen als Schlüssel zur politischen Macht? Katholizismus, Protestantismus und Sozialdemokratie in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhun- derts .................................................................................... 237 Thomas Mittmann, Säkularisierungsvorstellungen und religiöse Identitätsstiftung im Migrationsdiskurs. Die kirchliche Wahrnehmung »des Islams« in der Bun- desrepublik Deutschland seit den 1960er Jahren.................................... 267 Pascal Eitler, Wissenschaftliche Ressourcen religiösen Wissens. Informationsho- heiten und Politisierungsfelder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1965–1990 .. 291 Daniel Gerster, Von Pilgerfahrten zu Protestmärschen? Zum Wandel des katholi- schen Friedensengagements in den USA und der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1945–1990............................................................................. 311 Jan Ole Wiechmann, Der Streit um die Bergpredigt. Säkulare Vernunft und religiö- ser Glaube in der christlichen Friedensbewegung der Bundesrepublik Deutsch- land (1977–1984)...................................................................... 343 VI Dagmar Herzog, Christianity, Disability, Abortion: Western Europe, 1960s–1970s.. 375 Leora Auslander, Negotiating Embodied Difference: Veils, Minarets, Kippas and Sukkot in Contemporary Europe. An Essay ......................................... 401 Antje Schnoor, Zwischen jenseitiger Erlösung und irdischem Heil. Die Rezeption der Befreiungstheologie in der Gesellschaft Jesu................................... 419 Heiko Kiser, Mit der Jungfrau gegen die Hochmoderne. Religion als Ressource der indigenen Bevölkerung gegen staatliche Modernisierungsprojekte in Oaxaca, Mexiko, 1950 bis heute............................................................... 445 Clemens Six, Postkolonialer Säkularismus in Indien und Indonesien, 1945–1965 ... 487 Frieder Ludwig, Entsäkularisierung? Religion und Politik im subsaharischen Afri- ka im Prozess der Dekolonisierung seit den 1960er Jahren........................ 511 Jörg Haustein, Die Pfingstbewegung als Alternative zur Säkularisierung? Zur Wahrnehmung einer globalen religiösen Bewegung des 20. Jahrhunderts........ 533 FORSCHUNGSBERICHTE UND SAMMELREZENSIONEN Beatrix Bouvier, Friedliche Revolution und deutsche Einheit. Ein Rückblick auf die Jubiläumsjahre 2009 und 2010 ....................................................... 555 Hans Manfred Bock, Der Intellektuelle als Sozialfigur. Neuere vergleichende For- schungen zu ihren Formen, Funktionen und Wandlungen ......................... 591 Friedrich Lenger, Zum Fortgang der Max-Weber-Edition (III) ....................... 645 Martina Heßler / Clemens Zimmermann, Perspektiven historischer Industriestadt- forschung. Neubetrachtungen eines etablierten Forschungsfelds.................. 661 Daniel Morat, Zur Geschichte des Hörens. Ein Forschungsbericht ................... 695 Volker Barth, Medien, Transnationalität und Globalisierung 1830–1960. Neuerschei- nungen und Desiderata................................................................ 717 Nils Freytag, Trittfeste Ufer und unwegsames Gelände. Umweltgeschichtliche Neuerscheinungen zum 19. Jahrhundert............................................. 737 Summaries................................................................................. 757 Résumés.................................................................................... 767 Die Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter des Bandes...................................... 777 Rahmenthema des nächsten Bandes des »Archivs für Sozialgeschichte«............. 782 Einzelrezensionen des »Archivs für Sozialgeschichte« finden sich unter <http://www.fes.de/afs> Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 51, 2011 37 Callum G. Brown The People of ›No Religion‹ The Demographics of Secularisation in the English-speaking World since c. 1900 In the 1950s during her teenage years in England, a woman later recalled, she proclaimed in the school playground her non-belief in God, and for her breach of childhood rules was taunted by her classmates and called a »heathen«.1 The 1950s was a decade when there were varying degrees of difficulty almost everywhere in the western world for somebody to proclaim oneself as an atheist. It was especially difficult for a woman, upon whom high expectations were placed for setting a moral and religious standard which would lead, ultimately, to providing the headship, as mother and wife, for the respect- ability and proper Christian upbringing of a family. In the sixty years since, there has been a remarkable change. The new-found freedom of the individual to proclaim an absence of religious belief and practice has been one of the greatest cultural changes which mark out our modern times. The extent to which the people of the West have become free from religion varies between nations and even within nations, sometimes enormously. But the trend is nonetheless widespread and very marked. Susan Budd ended her history of unbelief in England at 1960, at the very point when ›no-religionism‹ started to explode in western culture.2 It is time to take the story forward, and to reflect on this massive alteration, and to transform the way we consider ›no religion‹ – from consideration of the minorities who have no faith, to analysis of the development of those who form the majorities in some nations of the early twenty-first century. In 2005, 52 % of Europeans said they believed in God; but, as we shall see, even before 2000 a majority in some nations did not adhere to a religion.3 This article explores the social his- tory of the rise of the people of ›no religion‹ in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and the United States with additional evidence from Australia and New Zealand, mainly cov- ering the period from 1950 to 2010 but with some additional review of available evi- dence stretching back to 1900. After reflecting on the state of existing knowledge in the field, it will explore problems of definition. Using statistics, it will then make a quantita- tive evaluation of the patterns of growth in the numbers of ›no-religionists‹ in the above countries, and then inquire more deeply into some demographic patterns observable from the data. The aim is to begin the construction
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