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Is Western society becoming inevitably more secular, and how should Christianity respond to the decline of religious belief and practice?

Component 1 religion, secularisation and Christian response: the meaning and evidence of secularisation, secularism as ideology, and the range of Christian responses (accommodation, resistance, re-evangelisation).

An Eduqas Component 1 (Christianity) guide to secularisation and the Christian response. Covers the meaning and evidence of secularisation, the difference between secularisation and secularism, the New Atheist critique, and the range of Christian responses (accommodation, resistance, re-evangelisation), with the evaluation the exam rewards.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.816 min answerUpdated 2026-06-02

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Secularisation is the process by which religion loses its social significance. It has three commonly cited strands: declining belief, declining practice (falling church attendance and affiliation), and differentiation, where the state, education, law, medicine and science increasingly operate without reference to religion. It must be distinguished from secularism, which is the ideology or political principle that religion should be kept out of public life. The classic secularisation thesis held that modernisation inevitably erodes religion, and Western Europe (falling attendance, rising "no religion" on the census) is its main evidence; but the thesis is contested, since religion remains strong or is growing globally, new religious movements arise, and immigration sustains religious communities, so some sociologists speak of believing without belonging or of desecularisation. The New Atheists (Dawkins and others) press the cultural case that religion is false and harmful. Christians respond in different ways: accommodation (adapting to modern values and cooperating with secular goods to stay relevant), resistance (maintaining a distinctive, countercultural witness against dilution), and re-evangelisation (actively seeking to win a secular culture back through mission and apologetics). AO2 marks come from judging whether secularisation is inevitable and how Christianity should best respond, and concluding.

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What this dot point is asking

Eduqas Component 1 studies secularisation as a significant development affecting Christianity, and the Christian response to it. You learn the meaning of secularisation (and how it differs from secularism), the evidence for and against it, the New Atheist critique of religion, and the range of responses Christians make, from accommodation through resistance to re-evangelisation. The exam rewards defining the process and surveying the responses precisely (AO1) and evaluating how Christianity should respond (AO2).

The answer

What secularisation means

Secularisation versus secularism

The evidence (and the counter-evidence)

The evidence for secularisation is strongest in Western Europe: steep falls in church attendance and affiliation, the rise of "no religion" in censuses, and the marginalising of religion in public institutions. But the thesis is contested. Globally, religion is stable or growing; new religious movements and lively forms of spirituality arise; immigration sustains and renews religious communities; and sociologists note phenomena such as "believing without belonging". Some now speak of desecularisation or argue the thesis was a Eurocentric overgeneralisation. A strong answer presents both sides rather than assuming decline is universal and irreversible.

The range of Christian responses

Examples in context

Building an AO2 paragraph on whether secularisation is inevitable

step 1 State the claim precisely

State, do not narrate: "The classic secularisation thesis holds that modernisation inevitably erodes religion, and Western Europe's falling attendance and rising 'no religion' figures are taken as proof that decline is irreversible."

step 2 Put the strongest objection against it

Bring in the challenge: "Critics reply that the thesis is Eurocentric: religion is stable or growing across most of the world, new movements and immigrant communities are flourishing, and people increasingly 'believe without belonging', so decline in formal church membership is not the same as the disappearance of religion."

step 3 Weigh the exchange

Judge it: "The European data are real and the differentiation of public institutions is hard to reverse, so something is genuinely declining; but the global picture and the persistence of belief show that 'inevitable, universal decline' is too strong, since secularisation looks like a particular Western trajectory rather than a law of modernity."

step 4 Reach a justified conclusion

Close with a defended verdict: "Secularisation is real but neither inevitable nor universal: institutional religion has clearly declined in Western Europe, yet belief persists and grows elsewhere, so the honest verdict is that religion is being transformed and relocated rather than simply dying out." A reasoned conclusion reaches the top band.

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Q1. Explain the different ways in which Christianity has responded to secularisation. [part (a), AO1, 20 marks]

What the marker wants. Accurate account of accommodation, resistance and re-evangelisation, with examples, organised and using specialist terms. AO1 band.

Q2. "Accommodating secular values is the only way for Christianity to survive." Evaluate this view. [part (b), AO2, 30 marks]

Cue. Weigh the relevance gained by accommodation against the loss of distinctiveness, and the alternative that a confident, countercultural or re-evangelising Church survives better, and judge. AO2 band, the larger 30-mark tariff.

Exam-style practice questions

Practice questions written in the style of WJEC Eduqas exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.

Eduqas A120 2019 (style)20 marksExplain what is meant by secularisation and the evidence for it. [part (a), AO1, 20 marks]

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A part (a) AO1 question on the five-band scheme. Define the term and set out the evidence accurately.

Secularisation is the process by which religion loses social significance: declining belief, declining practice (church attendance), and the differentiation of society so that the state, education, law and medicine operate without reference to religion. Distinguish secularisation (a social process) from secularism (the ideology that religion should be excluded from public life). Evidence: falling church attendance and affiliation in Western Europe, the marginalising of religion in public institutions, the rise of "no religion" in censuses. Counter-evidence: persistent or growing belief globally, the rise of new religious movements, immigration sustaining religious communities. A top band answer defines the term, distinguishes it from secularism, and weighs the evidence.

Eduqas A120 2022 (style)20 marks"Christianity should resist secular society rather than accommodate it." Evaluate this view. [part (b), AO2, the full Eduqas tariff is 30 marks; the worked answer below is scaled to a 20-mark exemplar.]

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A part (b) AO2 question; the top band rewards balanced argument and a justified conclusion.

For resistance: the gospel is countercultural and accommodation risks diluting it to fit secular values (the Church becomes a social club, losing its distinctiveness); a confident, distinctive Church (re-evangelisation, apologetics against New Atheism) is the faithful response. For accommodation: meeting modern people where they are, liberalising on contested issues, and cooperating with secular goods (human rights, science) keeps Christianity credible and relevant. Weigh whether resistance preserves integrity at the cost of relevance, or whether accommodation preserves relevance at the cost of integrity, and conclude. A balanced answer notes both happen across denominations.

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Sources & how we know this

Eduqas A Level Religious Studies specification (A120QS) — WJEC Eduqas (2016)