Secularization In Action?
Make of this what you will, whether it is just my over-analytical mind working overtime, or evidence of secularization in action.
The UK is thought of as a very secular place, which historically is quite odd, as unlike America there are no direct laws that separate church and state. Also, the country has always been quite religious, although this was disrupted massively when King Henry VIII created the Church of England. Nevertheless, in recent years there have been polls showing the increase in atheism, and a poll last year which revealed 42% of a 2,200 person survey thought that “religion caused more harm than good”.
What I noticed the other day was on a more personal scale. I was visiting hospital, and as usual had to confirm my details on the system. They did a few updates, change of address, phone number etc. Then they got to the question of religion.
In a non-secular country the question one would pose is “What is your religion?”. In a secular one you would expect a more neutral approach, perhaps “Do you have a religion?”. However the receptionist asked neither of these questions.
In fact she took the latter and added two words, which to me made a massive difference. The question she posed was:
Do you have a religion at all?
It may not seem like much, but these two simple words impose a certain level of doubt or expectancy on a question. It’s the type of question you ask when you don’t expect the answer to be positive, but you ask anyway in the hope that it will be. In this scenario, the receptionist phrased the question as if she didn’t expect me to be religious at all.
Of course, my answer was the usual “No, I’m an atheist” since I am not concerned with what people think of my particular beliefs, especially those concerning the non-existence of gods. As far as I can make out, this event proves either:
1) Secularization is on the increase, and more people are aware of the separation of church and state, but moreover the general lack of interest and support religion gets in the modern world.
2) Students are considered to be apathetic about absolutely everything and she really didn’t expect me to go into details about any of my personal beliefs.
I hope hypothesis 1 is correct though, because if you believe for one second that students are “apathetic” about anything you have never been to a modern student rally. If anything, students are more fundamental about their beliefs than anyone. We have no money, no possessions, so our beliefs and what we stand for are all we really have to work with.
My apologies. This article seems to have turned into a defense of student activism, which really does prove that my mind is simply too overactive for it to stay on one subject for very long. I’d better cut off now, before I start talking about something I find more interesting than religion, and that’s coming from a guy who finds assembly language and logic gates “interesting”.
As I said at the start, make of it what you will…
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I’m not sure that I’d place the same weight as you would on the “at all” bit, this is a common enough idiom in English (I hope I don’t have to say “British” English…) and has basically the same meaning as the question without it or, at a stretch, an equivalence to “I hope you don’t mind me asking”.
Of course, this would depend on the emphasis she used used when asking. If it was placed strongly on the “at all”, then I would withdraw my above assessment and surmise that the interrogator has probably been on an “awareness” training course, or some such hokum. I more likely suspect that the emphasis would have been, slightly, on the word “religion” (as opposed to, say, “house” or “bicycle” or “50p coin”).
TBH I think neither of your hypotheses are correct, but then I wasn’t there to gauge her tone of voice, and may be way off the mark.
I would still say, however, that this is a much better question, with or without the “at all”, than the presumptuous question “what is your religion?”.
nullifidian
18 Jun 08 at 10:41 am (GMT)
nullifidian,
The emphasis was on the last two words, which is what struck me as odd. I wouldn’t have written this blog post if it hadn’t have been somewhat unusual. I certainly think the attitudes towards religion have changed in this country though.
Adrian Hayter
18 Jun 08 at 11:27 am (GMT)
That is indeed odd, I can’t think that I’ve ever been asked a question like that unless it had a tone of incredulity (or of clarification) to it (where the person asking the question was already cognisant of my answer but wanted me to confirm it).
Was the receptionist already aware of your lack of religion?
nullifidian
18 Jun 08 at 12:32 pm (GMT)
You’ve been tagged.
The Atheist Jew
18 Jun 08 at 1:22 pm (GMT)
Assembly language and logic gates? Sounds a lot like my Introduction to Computer Architecture lectures :) I didn’t find them particularly interesting though…apart from drawing out NANDs and NORs which look a bit like stick men. I think I need to get out more.
Rob
21 Jun 08 at 11:17 pm (GMT)