Difference between revisions of "Postsecularism and New Zealand in the 21st century"

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== NZ church attendance has remained constant since 2013 and its implications ==
 
== NZ church attendance has remained constant since 2013 and its implications ==
  
''See also:'' [[European desecularization in the 21st century]]
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''See also:'' [[European desecularization in the 21st century]] and [[NZ church attendance has remained constant since 2013 and its implications]]
  
 
In December 2017, a leading New Zealand news website declared that church attendance has remained constant at 10% since 2013.<ref>[https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/99948134/gods-place-in-new-zealand-society-is-changing God's changing place in New Zealand society] by Carly Thomas
 
In December 2017, a leading New Zealand news website declared that church attendance has remained constant at 10% since 2013.<ref>[https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/99948134/gods-place-in-new-zealand-society-is-changing God's changing place in New Zealand society] by Carly Thomas

Revision as of 18:47, October 6, 2019

Filipino immigrants at an annual Christmas parade in Hamilton, New Zealand. Irreligion in the Philippines is particularly rare among Filipinos.[1]

In 2008, the International Social Survey Programme was conducted in New Zealand by Massey University.[2] The results of this survey indicated that 72% of the population believed in the existence of God or a higher power, 15% are agnostic, and 13% are atheist (the survey had a 3% margin of error).[3] See: Irreligion in New Zealand

Smrithi Kamtikar performing at Rhythm and Rhapsody, Auckland, NZ.

On December 28, 2018, the New Zealand Herald reported, "New data obtained by the Herald from the Department of Internal Affairs reveals that people born in India top the list of new citizens living in Auckland."[4]

According to the 2012 WIN-Gallup Global Index of Religion and Atheism report, 81% of Indians were religious, 13% were non-religious and merely 3% were convinced atheist.[5]

Jens Köhrsen, a professor for religion and economics at the Centre for Religion, Economy and Politics (ZRWP)[6], wrote:

[ Jürgen Habermas ] ...argues that a new age, the age of post-secularity, has begun. Previously vastly secularized societies, like the highly developed countries of Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, would experience a new awareness of religion and attribute a new public role to religion. From now on, religion would constitute a relevant dialogue partner in the public debates of these societies (Habermas, 2008). Moreover, Habermas presents a normative argument about public religion: he recommends that post-secular societies should facilitate religious contributions to the public sphere. Religious reasoning could contribute to public debates about the ethical values of contemporaneous and future societies. Habermas believes that modern societies might find some answers to the moral questions of our time by listening to religion in public debates (Habermas, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008). A similar position to that of Habermas is proposed by Leclerc (2001) and French sociologist Willaime (2004a, 2004b, 2005[1995]: 76-78, 2008). Willaime observes that even the highly secularized public and political sphere of France is exhibiting a new, more open attitude towards religion. The hypersecularity of France would stimulate a restructuration process of religion. According to Willaime, religion can form an important resource for public debates and be engaged in the identity construction process of individuals and collectives.[7]

Eric Kaufmann is a professor of politics at Birkbeck, University of London and author. His academic research specialty is how demographic changes affect religion/irreligion and politics.

In April 2010, Kaufmann, who is an agnostic, declared "the rate of secularisation has flattened to zero in most of Protestant Europe and France."[8] Kaufmann also declared that secularism "appears exhausted and lacking in confidence".[9]

On December 23, 2012, Kaufmann wrote:

I argue that 97% of the world's population growth is taking place in the developing world, where 95% of people are religious.

On the other hand, the secular West and East Asia has very low fertility and a rapidly aging population... In the coming decades, the developed world's demand for workers to pay its pensions and work in its service sector will soar alongside the booming supply of young people in the third world. Ergo, we can expect significant immigration to the secular West which will import religious revival on the back of ethnic change. In addition, those with religious beliefs tend to have higher birth rates than the secular population, with fundamentalists having far larger families. The epicentre of these trends will be in immigration gateway cities like New York (a third white), Amsterdam (half Dutch), Los Angeles (28% white), and London, 45% white British.[10] [11]

Eric Kaufmann, a professor at Birkbeck College, University of London, using a wealth of demographic studies, argues that there will be a significant decline of global atheism in the 21st century which will impact the Western World.[12][13][14][15]

At a conference Kaufmann said of religious demographic projections concerning the 21st century:

Part of the reason I think demography is very important, at least if we are going to speak about the future, is that it is the most predictable of the social sciences.

...if you look at a population and its age structure now. You can tell a lot about the future. ...So by looking at the relative age structure of different populations you can already say a lot about the future...

...Religious fundamentalism is going to be on the increase in the future and not just out there in the developing world..., but in the developed world as well.[16]

See also: Religion and migration and Growth of religious fundamentalism

For additional information, please see: 21st century New Zealand: Irreligion, religion and religious immigrants

21st century New Zealand: Irreligion, religion and religious immigrants

According to Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand (an online encyclopedia run by the New Zealand government): "New Zealand has never had an official religion, and the church and state have always been separate. However, churches had a strong influence on issues such as alcohol, censorship, gambling and education."[17]

Due to the sub-replacement levels of births for the irreligious/nonreligious, countries with significant irreligious/nonreligious population often have higher levels of immigration than otherwise might be the case and many of the immigrants are religious (see: Atheism and fertility rates and Desecularization). The 2016 fertility rate of New Zealand was 1.87 births per woman.[18] That is below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman.

Filipinos at an annual Christmas parade in Hamilton, New Zealand. Irreligion in the Philippines is particularly rare among Filipinos.[19]

In November 2017, China was the largest source of immigrants to New Zealand and China is currently experiencing an explosive growth of evangelical Christianity (see: Growth of Christianity in China).[20]

In November 2017, India was the second largest source of immigrants to New Zealand and India is a very religious country.[21]

In 2018, New Zealand has about 50,000 immigrants from the Philippines. (Filipino New Zealanders are known as kiwipinos).[22] The Philippines is a very religious country. According to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia founded by an atheist and agnostic, "Irreligion in the Philippines is particularly rare among Filipinos...".[23] In 2017, in terms of country of origin, Filipinos were the 5th greatest source of immigrants to New Zealand.[24]

Large-scale Muslim immigration to New Zealand started in the 1970s with the arrival of Fiji Indians, which was followed in the 1990s by refugees from various war-torn countries. The number of Muslims in New Zealand according to the 2013 census is 46,149, up 28% from 36,072 in the 2006 census.[25]

On December 28, 2018, the New Zealand Herald reported, "New data obtained by the Herald from the Department of Internal Affairs reveals that people born in India top the list of new citizens living in Auckland."[26] According to the 2012 WIN-Gallup Global Index of Religion and Atheism report, 81% of Indians were religious, 13% were non-religious and merely 3% were convinced atheist.[27]

Growth of evangelical Christianity in New Zealand

In countries that are irreligious than most countries, it is common for evangelical Christianity to be experiencing growth and sometimes rapid/explosive growth (see: Growth of evangelical Christianity in irreligious regions).

According to Stuart M. Lange, author of the book A Rising Tide: Evangelical Christianity in New Zealand 1930–65, evangelical Christianity saw a resurgence in New Zealand in the 1950s/1960s.[28]

According to Christianity Today, evangelical Christianity grew from approximately 13,800 followers in 2006 to 15,400 in 2013."[29]

The Christian organization Operation World indicates there are now 784,015 evangelical Christians in New Zealand (18.2 percent of the population) and that the evangelical population in New Zealand is growing at an annual rate of 0.5 percent.[30]

According to the New Zealand Christian Network:

We are the NZ member of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and are committed to representing evangelical faith positions. But we recognise also that the term ‘evangelical’ has different meanings in different countries and contexts, so we are very careful in its usage. NZ evangelicalism seeks to be faithful to scripture and is broad politically and socially.

We offer an opportunity for a visible expression of unity which connects us beyond ourselves, across ministries, towns, cities, local churches, and denominations.

Reliable figures suggest 14.5-15% of New Zealanders attend church weekly. 18-19% ‘regularly’. Approximately 500,000 of these Christians are evangelical. This represents a significant constituency that NZCN seeks to serve and represent in different ways.[31]

New Zealand, its aging population and desecularization

See also: Desecularization and aging populations

The article Developed countries may become more religious in 20 years indicates:

Researchers from HSE University and RANEPA found that in high-income countries, age, rather than the cohort effect, has more impact on religiosity. They predict that this may have an impact on societal structure in the future. The study was published in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

It has long been observed that older people tend to be more religious than younger people. However, it is still disputable whether this fact should be attributed to people generally becoming more religious with age per se (age effect), or to the process of secularization, wherein earlier cohorts (to which the now older people belong) used to be more religious than those that appeared later, i.e. younger cohorts (cohort effect). HSE University scholars decided to analyze this issue using data from six waves of the World Values Survey (2016) in high-income OECD countries. A total of 16 countries were studied, including Australia, the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Israel, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, as well as other European countries.

The researchers used logistic models and multiple linear regression to determine that the age effect has a higher impact on religiosity than the cohort effect. Older people are more inclined to believe in God, attend church, and believe it is important to instill religion in children.. The cohort effect impacts other factors analyzed by the scholars, such as church attendance and a belief in religion's importance in life, but the age effect still strongly prevails over the cohort effect...

The transition from religious to secular values may slow by 2040 in high-income OECD countries and, probably, there will be a resurgence of religiosity, the symptoms of which can be observed in Japan. On the other hand, widely divergent socio-cultural settings in different countries have an impact on religious behavior and attitude, and this must be taken into account in further research.[32]

NZ church attendance has remained constant since 2013 and its implications

See also: European desecularization in the 21st century and NZ church attendance has remained constant since 2013 and its implications

In December 2017, a leading New Zealand news website declared that church attendance has remained constant at 10% since 2013.[33] The abstract for the 2016 journal article Cross-National Trends in Religious Service Attendance published in Public Opinion Quarterly declared that New Zealand church attendance has “bottomed-out” stability in New Zealand, Western Europe and Australia.[34]

Concerning the future of religion/secularism in Europe, professor Eric Kaufmann wrote:

We have performed these unprecedented analyses on several cases. Austria offers us a window into what the future holds. Its census question on religious affiliation permits us to perform cohort component projections, which show the secular population plateauing by 2050, or as early as 2021 if secularism fails to attract lapsed Christians and new Muslim immigrants at the same rate as it has in the past. (Goujon, Skirbekk et al. 2006).

This task will arguably become far more difficult as the supply of nominal Christians dries up while more secularisation-resistant Muslims and committed rump Christians comprise an increasing share of the population.[35]

In 2010, Eric Kaufmann reported that the rate of secularisation flattened to zero in most of Protestant Europe and France.[36]

Religious immigrants resistant to secularization

Conservative Protestants have relatively high fertility rates.[37] (Picture: Protestant church pulpit in Europe)

See also: Desecularization and Growth of global desecularization

In 2011, a paper was published entitled The End of Secularization in Europe?: A Socio-Demographic Perspective. The authors of the paper were: Eric Kaufmann - Birkbeck College, University of London; Anne Goujon - World Population Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA); Vegard Skirbekk World Population Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).[38]

An excerpt from the paper by Kaufmann, Goujon and Skirbekk:

Conservative Protestants, a much larger group than the Mormons, also benefit from relatively high fertility. Hout et al. (2001) find that three-quarters of the growth of conservative Protestant denominations against their liberal counterparts is due to fertility advantage rather than conversion.

In Europe, there has been less attention paid to fertility differences between denominations. However, several studies have discovered that immigrants to Europe tend to be more religious than the host population and — especially if Muslim—tend to retain their religiosity (Van Tubergen 2006). Though some indicators point to modest religious decline toward the host society mean, other trends suggest that immigrants become more, rather than less, religious the longer they reside in the host society (Van Tubergen 2007). All of which indicates that religious decline may fail at the aggregate level even if it is occurring at the individual level (Kaufmann 2006, 2010). This article thereby investigates the hypothesis that a combination of higher religious fertility, immigration, and slowing rates of religious apostasy will eventually produce a reversal in the decline of the religious population of Western Europe.[39]

Research indicates that among ethnic minority immigrants religion is a source of group ethnic identification which makes them more resistant to secularization.[40] In most countries, with the exception of France, Muslim immigrants have nearly 100% retention rates for the second generation.[41]

Prime Minister Jacinda Adern gifts her Bible to movement at a Rātana church

In 2018, a New Zealand news website declared: "Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks during centenary celebrations at Rātana Church in November. She gifted her Bible to the movement, saying it was a symbol of her promise to lead be a government that was kind and compassionate."[42] Jacinda Ardern is an agnostic.[43]

See also

Essay:

External links

References

  1. Irreligion in the Philippines, July 2018, "Irreligion in the Philippines is particularly rare among Filipinos...".
  2. "Religion In New Zealand: International Social Survey Programme" (PDF). Massey University.
  3. "Religion In New Zealand: International Social Survey Programme" (PDF). Massey University.
  4. Indians top list of Auckland's new NZ citizens, New Zealand Herald, December 28, 2018
  5. Global Index Of Religion And Atheism" (PDF). WIN-Gallup. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  6. Prof. Dr. Jens Köhrsen, University website faculty page
  7. How religious is the public sphere? – A critical stance on the debate about public religion and post-secularity, Draft Version, Jens Koehrsen (Köhrsen). Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology, Germany. École des hautes études en sciences socials, France. Published in: Acta Sociologica 55 (3), S. 273-288.
  8. Shall the religious inherit the earth? by Eric Kaufmann
  9. Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?: Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century by Eric Kaufmann, Belfer Center, Harvard University/Birkbeck College, University of London
  10. London: A Rising Island of Religion in a Secular Sea by Eric Kaufmann, Huffington Post, 2012
  11. 97% of the world's population growth is taking place in the developing world, where 95% of people are religious, Tuesday, April 30, 2013
  12. Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?: Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century by Eric Kaufmann, Belfer Center, Harvard University/Birkbeck College, University of London
  13. Eric Kaufmann: Shall The Religious Inherit The Earth?
  14. Eric Kaufmann's Atheist Demographic series
  15. Eric Kaufmann: Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
  16. Eric Kaufmann - Religion, Demography and Politics in the 21st Century
  17. Story: Atheism and secularism, Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
  18. Fertility rate of NZ
  19. Irreligion in the Philippines, July 2018, "Irreligion in the Philippines is particularly rare among Filipinos...".
  20. Chinese largest source of New Zealand's migrants: statistics, Xinhuanet.com (Chinese news website)
  21. Chinese largest source of New Zealand's migrants: statistics, Xinhuanet.com (Chinese news website)
  22. Converge for the Annual Philippine Festival
  23. Irreligion in the Philippines, July 2018, "Irreligion in the Philippines is particularly rare among Filipinos...".
  24. International travel and migration: December 2017. Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved on 2018.
  25. Kiwi converts among New Zealand's Muslim community". stuff.co.nz., www.stuff.co.nz (news website)
  26. Indians top list of Auckland's new NZ citizens, New Zealand Herald, December 28, 2018
  27. Global Index Of Religion And Atheism" (PDF). WIN-Gallup. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  28. A Rising Tide: Evangelical Christianity in New Zealand 1930–65 by Stuart M. Lange
  29. Evangelical Christianity and New Zealand
  30. Operation World - New Zealand
  31. New Zealand Christian Network - About page
  32. Developed countries may become more religious in 20 years, Eureka Alert
  33. God's changing place in New Zealand society by Carly Thomas 12:35, Dec 31 2017,
  34. Cross-National Trends in Religious Service Attendance, Public Opinion Quarterly, 2016 Summer; 80(2): 563–583. Published online 2016 May 5. doi: 10.1093/poq/nfw016
  35. Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?: Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century by Eric Kaufmann
  36. Shall the religious inherit the earth
  37. Religious immigrants will alter the religious landscape of Europe
  38. Religious immigrants will alter the religious landscape of Europe
  39. Religious immigrants will alter the religious landscape of Europe
  40. Eric Kaufmann - Religion, Demography and Politics in the 21st Century
  41. Eric Kaufmann - Religion, Demography and Politics in the 21st Century
  42. Godless NZ? Not entirely - we're actually becoming a more Christian nation by Martin van Beynen, Dec 29, 2018, www.stuff.co.nz
  43. Knight, Kim (January 29, 2017). "The politics of life: The truth about Jacinda Ardern". The New Zealand Herald.