Scottish Gods

Steve Bruce here presents a highly readable account of the changing nature and place of religion in Scotland in an increasingly irreligious society. In 1900 Scotland was a largely Presbyterian country and the Christian churches were a major social force. Now less than 10 per cent of Scots attend church. As religion has declined, it has become more varied: Catholicism has grown as have Charismatic Christian fellowships; Buddhist and Hindu themes have 'easternised' our religious vocabulary; a significant Muslim population has become established; and a notable number of Scots now pursue personal spiritual interests in forms which would once have been dismissed as pagan. Both this decline and the diversification deserve explanation. The Protestant-Catholic divide has faded but Scots have new controversies over the proper public place of religion in the light of growing secularization and diversification. The growth of individual liberty and increasing cultural diversity combine to weaken all shared beliefs by changing religion from a social matter into a private personal concern. All religious groups are faced with the choice of either accommodating that trend and losing their distinctiveness or resisting it and making membership too costly for most potential adherents. This radical remapping of Scotland's religious character is a fascinating summary of a remarkable career of research and analysis by one of Scotland's leading social historians.Topics include: Lewis, Orkney and Shetland compared; the integration of the Irish; the growth and decline of the Catholic Church; Scotland Orange and Protestant; the Post-War Kirk; factionalism in the conservative Presbyterian churches; the failure of the charismatic movement in Scotland; Samye Ling and Buddhism; Findhorn and New Age spirituality; Scots Muslims; and arguments over the ordination of women and gay rights.

The big picture is well-known: over the last century, religion in Britain has lost power, popularity, and plausibility. Here, Steve Bruce charts the quantifiable changes in religious interest and observance over the last fifty years by returning to a number of towns and villages that were the subject of detailed community studies in the 1950s and 1960s, to see how the status and nature of religion has changed. Drawing on both detailed data on baptism rates, church weddings, church attendance and the like, and on his extensive fieldwork, he considers the broader picture of religion today: the status of the clergy, the churches' attempts to find new roles, links between religion and violence, and the impact of the charismatic movement. Along the way, Bruce encounters and engages with the contemporary rise of secularism, considering our everyday secular tensions with religion: arguments over moral issues such as abortion and gay rights, the effect of social class on belief, the impact of religion on British politics, and the ways that local social structures strengthen or weaken religion. Analysing the obstacles to any religious revival, he explores how the current stock of religious knowledge is so depleted, religion so unpopular, and committed believers so scarce that any significant reversal of religion's decline in Britain is unlikely.

In this provocative new study, Professor Martinich shows that religious concerns pervade Leviathan and indicates how, for Hobbes, Christian doctrine is not politically destabilising and is consistent with modern science.