How have atheism, secularism, science and psychology challenged religious belief, and how convincingly has belief responded?
Paper 1 Influences of developments in religious belief: the rise of atheism and the New Atheism, secularism and secularisation, the challenges from science (evolution and cosmology) and the psychology of religion (Freud and Jung), and religious responses to them.
An Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies Paper 1 guide to the influences of developments in religious belief: the rise of atheism and the New Atheism (Dawkins), secularism and the secularisation thesis (Bruce, Davie), the challenges from science (evolution, Big Bang) and the psychology of religion (Freud, Jung), and the religious responses, with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
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What this dot point is asking
Edexcel Paper 1 closes with the influences of developments in religious belief: the modern pressures that have reshaped, and in many cases eroded, belief. You study the rise of atheism (including the New Atheism), secularism and secularisation, the challenges from science (evolution and cosmology) and the psychology of religion (Freud and Jung), and the religious responses to each. The topic is heavily evaluative: the exam wants you to weigh whether these developments defeat belief or only certain forms of it.
The answer
The rise of atheism and the New Atheism
The New Atheists argue the "God hypothesis" is a scientific claim that fails: there is no evidence for God, faith is immune to reason, and morality needs no religious foundation. Dawkins treats God as "almost certainly" non-existent and religion as a cultural "meme" that survives by indoctrination rather than truth.
Secularism and secularisation
The thesis is contested. Religion is growing in the Global South, Pentecostalism is expanding, and the United States remained religious while modernising, so critics argue secularisation is a regional, institutional phenomenon, not the disappearance the strong thesis predicts.
The challenge from science
- Evolution. Darwin's natural selection gives a non-design account of apparent biological purpose: complexity is the product of an evolutionary process, not evidence of a prior designer.
- Cosmology. Big Bang cosmology offers a naturalistic account of the universe's origin; some atheists argue this removes the need for a creator, while others note the question of why there is anything at all remains.
- God of the gaps. As science explains more, God risks being squeezed into the shrinking gaps of ignorance, a retreating basis for belief.
The psychology of religion
The contrast matters: Freud's account is reductive (religion is nothing but projection), whereas Jung's is descriptive (religion expresses a real psychological need without being thereby false).
Religious responses
- The genetic fallacy. Explaining how a belief arises (from wish, evolution or upbringing) does not show the belief is false; the truth of "God exists" is independent of its causal history.
- NOMA. Gould's "non-overlapping magisteria" holds that science answers how and religion answers why, so they cannot conflict.
- Fine-tuning. The precise calibration of physical constants is read by some theists as fresh evidence for design.
- Reasonable faith. McGrath argues the New Atheists caricature faith as belief without evidence; theology treats faith as trust grounded in reasons.
Examples in context
Try this
Q1. Evaluate the view that secularisation shows religion is dying out. [20 marks]
- What the marker wants. An AO2 essay setting Bruce's secularisation thesis and British attendance data against Davie's "believing without belonging" and the global growth of religion, weighing institutional decline against persistence, with a justified conclusion.
Q2. Explain the New Atheist critique of religious belief. [8 marks]
- Cue. Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris and Dennett argue belief is irrational and evidence-free, that science explains what religion once did, that religion is a harmful cultural "meme", and that morality needs no God. Add the "God hypothesis" framing for the higher marks.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of Pearson Edexcel exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Edexcel-style20 marksEvaluate the view that the rise of science makes religious belief untenable.Show worked answer →
A Section C extended essay marked mainly on AO2. The levels reward a sustained case that engages the scientific challenges and the religious responses, with a justified conclusion rather than a list of discoveries.
State the challenge. Darwinian evolution offers a non-design account of apparent biological purpose, and Big Bang cosmology gives a naturalistic origin of the universe; Dawkins argues that science removes the explanatory gaps that God once filled, so belief becomes a redundant "God of the gaps".
Respond. Many theists treat science and religion as non-overlapping (Gould's NOMA) or complementary: evolution describes the mechanism while God is the ground of being and meaning; the fine-tuning of cosmological constants is read by some as fresh evidence for design, not against it; McGrath argues Dawkins misrepresents faith as anti-evidential.
Judge. Weigh whether science genuinely contradicts religious claims or only certain literal readings of them, and conclude with reasons. A clear, defended verdict reaches the top level.
Edexcel-style20 marksAnalyse the claim that religious belief is merely a psychological projection.Show worked answer →
A Section C essay testing AO1 understanding of the psychology of religion and AO2 evaluation of its force.
Explain. Freud treats religion as an illusion: belief in a protective Father-God is wish-fulfilment, a projection of childhood dependence and a defence against a hostile world, reinforced by guilt and the Oedipus complex. Jung, by contrast, sees religion as a healthy expression of the collective unconscious and its archetypes, integral to psychological wholeness.
Challenge. The genetic fallacy means explaining how a belief arises does not show it is false; Freud's account rests on contested clinical theory; the diversity of religious experience resists a single mechanism; Jung's more positive reading undercuts the claim that psychology debunks faith.
Judge whether projection explains religion away or only describes its psychological dimension, and conclude with reasons.
Related dot points
- Paper 1 Philosophical issues and questions: the inductive design and cosmological arguments and the deductive ontological argument for the existence of God, with the responses of Hume, Kant, Russell and Dawkins.
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- Paper 1 Philosophical language and the work of scholars: the verification and falsification debates over religious language, the via negativa, analogy and symbol, and the definition and credibility of miracles with Hume and Wiles.
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- Paper 4B Significant social and historical developments and religion and society: secularisation, gender and feminist theology, science, religious pluralism, liberation theology and new theological movements.
An Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies Paper 4B (Christianity) guide to significant social developments and religion and society. Covers secularisation, gender and feminist theology (Daly, Ruether), the relationship with science, religious pluralism (exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralism), liberation theology and new movements (Pentecostalism), with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
- Paper 4B Religious beliefs, values and teachings: Christian beliefs about the nature of God (Trinity, omnipotence, goodness), the human person (the soul, sin and the Fall, free will and grace) and life after death.
An Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies Paper 4B (Christianity) guide to beliefs about the nature of God and the human person. Covers the Trinity and divine attributes, the soul, the Fall, original sin, free will and grace (Augustine and Pelagius), and Christian teaching on life after death (resurrection, heaven, hell, purgatory), with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
Sources & how we know this
- Pearson Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies (9RS0) specification — Pearson Edexcel (2016)
- Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies Anthology — Pearson Edexcel (2016)