"Liberalization of opinions on matters of personal relationships since BSA commenced in 1983 is substantially accounted for by generational differences, ‘intolerance’ progressively dying out as more illiberal older age cohorts are replaced by more liberal younger ones. The fact that the same pattern has occurred with religious affiliation might suggest that social liberalism is causally linked with increased secularization. Nevertheless, since even Christians have displayed greater social liberalism over three decades, the relationship is inevitably rather more complex than that." I wonder if it has occurred to the administrators of BSAS that secularization does not merely affect the views of the non-religious. Any society which separates the religious and moral beliefs of its people from public policy will likely see an increase in social liberalism, religious or not. Religious institutions, like any social unit, adapt to circumstances - and so they have adapted to a society where their previous moral doctrines no longer receive legal or institutional support, and must instead rely only on the individual choices of their members. brin.ac.uk/news/2013/british-social-attitudes-survey-2012/
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 22:51:57 +0000