This week presented many important aspects that a sociologist should and does apply in their research.  Most famously is that of the six sociological narratives that answers what is happening to religion and why?  I find each one to be rich with unique ideas that sometimes overlap with each other; but stay relatively separate throughout the data-gathering process.  Overall, the structural change and the cultural change of society is constantly evolving to the point that, I believe, the thought of religion is divided in two parts: those who feel it is no longer relevant; and those who feel the need to change it along with the times.  Whether or not people decide to follow a religious belief does not preclude the fact that religious settings can also be a place for community fellowship; and that individual choice is deeply personal.

Furthermore, the article that was chosen for me to read, and the one I chose, both had a foundation in at least one of the six narratives.  Steve Bruce’s “Christianity in Britain, R.I.P.” focused on the irrefutable decline of church membership in the U.K.—thus confirming his thesis of secularization increase.  Throughout his essay, he denies Rodney Stark’s claim that secularization does not exist by citing data gathered from 100 years of research.  The idea that religion is disappearing from the modern world is the exact definition of secularization; and it unfortunately is what many believe has happened.  The move for religion to be more private is undoubtedly why secularization is becoming more prominent.