On the Buses - New Wars of Religion?

Whatever happened to secularization? An article in today’s Independent got me thinking about secularization- not for the first time in recent months. Tony Grayling, professor of philosophy at Birkbeck College London, welcomes the launch of a national federation of atheist, humanist and secular societies, saying it’s one of the brightest things to have happened this winter. Grayling’s own slant is that the discipline of the scientific approach to life “makes short work of the foundation of today’s religions, which lie in the ignorance of people living several millennia ago.”

Well, I’m not a signed up believer myself, but even to my sceptical ears that sounds just a bit harsh. Religion though is surely becoming a fascinating topic area, invigorated by a contemporary revival of religious debate. You’ve no doubt seen some of the press coverage of Richard Dawkins following publication of his book ‘The God Delusion’ back in 2006, yet still bobbing up on the media radar. For me the most intriguing sights have been the posters stuck on to London buses, one set of ads proclaiming that God exists and a rival ad refuting the claim!

With all this social activity, I just find it difficult to see how those such as Prof Steve Bruce can so confidently assert that we do in fact live in a secularized society. Maybe we need to turn more to Durkheim? Or maybe science and religion can in fact, co-exist in a world where knowledge is perhaps more contested than some of the sociology books have sometimes tended to imply.