In the 1960s, it was taken for granted that modernization eroded religion. In the 1980s, this consensus was challenged by the rational choice, supply-side, or market model proposed by Rodney Stark and associates. In particular, they argued that the UK was hardly less religious then than it had been in 1880. Clive Field’s compendium of statistical data allows us to test Stark’s approach to the religiosity of the UK. We follow this with data on Europe and the USA. While we may still argue over some of the precise levers, there is now so much evidence in favor of the secularization approach that we regard it as vindicated.

In the 1970s, British Protestant churches were changed by a movement that criticized formality and tradition as ‘churchianity’ and claimed access to the supernatural ‘gifts of the spirit’. Large numbers of loosely networked fellowships were formed, and many mainstream congregations adopted the movement’s rock-music worship style. Its embodiment in the Alpha course training programme was widely adopted. But the movement attracted few non-Christians, and it peaked in the 1990s, because the pool from which it recruited—young Christians put off the mainstream by conservative mores and traditional worship—was shrinking. Its emphasis on personal experience rather than shared belief meant that, instead of revitalizing the churches, it served as a bridge from conventional faith to personal idiosyncrasy and indifference.

Although Victorian spiritualism and contemporary spirituality share some common themes, they differ in important respects that reflect their very different social class bases: the former was strongest in the working-class towns of the industrial English Midlands and the North, while the latter is almost exclusively a middle-class (and female) movement. The popularity of both movements is assessed, and data on the geographical distribution of the charismatic movement is added to make an important point about the effects of individualism and consumerism on religion. The general point is made that the contrasting balance of fatalism and personal autonomy in these variations of the dominant religion resonates with the underlying realities of different social class position.

The product of a forty-year career of sociological research, British Gods is a comprehensive survey of contemporary Britain’s faith climate. Bruce has returned to a number of towns and villages that were the subject of detailed community studies in the 1950s and 1960s to see how the status, nature, and popularity of religion have changed. Those restudies—supported by a large body of survey data and statistical evidence on such measures of religious interest as baptisms, church weddings, church membership, and church attendance—provide a springboard for exploring such general issues as the status of the clergy, the churches’ attempts to find new roles, the growth of non-Christian religions, the changing nature of superstition, links between religion and violence, the impact of the charismatic movement, the ordination of women, New Age spirituality, arguments over moral issues such as abortion and gay rights, the effect of social class on belief, the impact of religion on British politics, and the ways that local social structures strengthen or weaken religion. The final chapter considers the obstacles to any religious revival and concludes that the current stock of religious knowledge is so depleted, religion so unpopular, and committed believers so scarce that any significant reversal of religion’s decline in Britain is unlikely.

In the 1930s, Bolton was the site of Mass Observation’s first major research project, and subsequent restudies allow us to track in detail the decline of Christianity in the town. It was also the site of the first major Muslim demonstration against Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. The reaction of Boltonians to Islam is discussed as an introduction to wider consideration of the impact of the growth of Islam in Britain. Detailed discussion of media coverage of Muslims and of attitude survey data makes the case that, while some British people dislike Islam, a more powerful trend is growing hostility to any religion that is taken seriously enough to intrude on the public sphere.

Changes in two communities studied in the 1950s and 1960s by W. M. Williams (Northlew in Devon and Gosforth in Cumbria) form the springboard for reflections on the social roles of the clergy in a largely secular society. That the clergy are often called on to act as community spokespersons and honest brokers is not, as is sometimes argued, a reflection of the enduring popularity of religion. It is precisely because most people are not religious that the clergy can be seen as disinterested and valued for their organizational skills and their experience as public speakers.

It is sometimes argued that, despite abandoning formal organizations, the British remain religious. Beyond churches, sects, and denominations, there is supposedly a deep reservoir of folk religion (which constructs magic rituals from Christian themes and places) and superstition. This chapter examines that case in detail and argues that folk religion has declined as fast as the formal organizations on which it is parasitic. Furthermore, superstition has changed in precisely the same way as has formal religion: what were shared beliefs have become highly personalized rituals, justified not by claims of supernatural power, but by the psychology of reassurance.

American Protestantism has been the dominant form of Christianity in United States since the colonial era and has had a profound impact on American society. Understanding this religious tradition is, thus, crucial to understanding American culture. This Companion offers a comprehensive overview of American Protestantism. It considers all its major streams – Anglican, Reformed, Lutheran, Anabaptist, Baptist, Stone-Campbell, Methodist, Holiness, and Pentecostal. Written from various disciplinary perspectives, including history, theology, liturgics, and religious studies, it explores the beliefs and practices around which American Protestant life has revolved. The volume also provides a chronological overview of the tradition’s entire history, addresses its prominent theological and sociological features, and explores its numerous intersections with American culture. Aimed at undergraduate and graduate students, as well as an interested general audience, this Companion will be useful both for insiders and outsiders to the American Protestant tradition.