Emerging at the end of the previous chapter is a new interest amongst some sociologists of religion in churchgoing and, especially, in the relationship between churchgoing and religious belief. There are at least three main rival theories – secularisation, persistence and separation – which must be taken into account. In this chapter I will argue that there is now a need for a fourth sociological theory – a cultural theory of churchgoing – which offers predictions about when rates of churchgoing are likely to increase or decline and about how these changing rates affect Christian beliefs and values.

A generation ago the choice was between only two of these theories, namely secularisation and persistence. Crudely expressed, secularisation theories typically hold that in the modern world religious beliefs become increasingly implausible and decline. As a result of this decline, religious practices, especially in the form of regular churchgoing, also decline. An activity which was once sustained by deeply held religious beliefs becomes largely pointless without these beliefs and slowly withers. In this understanding of the relationship between churchgoing and religious belief, it is belief which is the independent variable. That is to say, churchgoing depends upon religious belief for its sustenance. Of course it is not difficult to imagine a few individuals who might continue to go to church – out of habit or nostalgia – even though they have personally lost any distinctively religious belief. Nonetheless, secularisation theories typically predict that, taken as a whole, within a modern society in which belief has become largely implausible, churchgoing will inevitably decline.