Introduction

Throughout this collection it has been argued that the social sciences are disciplines that have arisen out of an engagement with modernity. A number of contributions have argued that because of this, the values associated with Enlightenment philosophies in terms of secularism, rationalism and objectivity are hegemonic discourses. These hegemonic discourses have shaped not only social science theory but also many of the dominant social science research methodologies. Of particular interest to this volume has been the centrality of secularism within social science theory and research approaches. Many of the individual chapters have explicitly argued that secularism remains a powerful and largely invisible framework of understanding that has a profound effect on social science researchers engaging with questions of religion, faith and spirituality.

In a time where, despite the centrality of secularist attitudes, a growing number of individuals are claiming or reclaiming a religious or spiritual identity for themselves, we argue that social science researchers must engage with this seeming incompatibility if they are to conduct ethical, respectful and accurate research. In order for this to occur, social science researchers must engage with the implications of a religious/spiritual identity on social science methodologies that arise from a largely secularist intellectual tradition. All the contributors to this collection have engaged with these difficult issues in a variety of ways.

A number of factors appear to have led to a heightened focus on religious and spiritual matters within contemporary Western societies. In many parts of the world, even those experiencing modernisation, including Africa, Asia, European countries and the US, religion has been at the forefront of collective action, where it has constituted a form of identity politics. For example, according to Wilmore (1999), Black communities in the US have been bound together through biblical stories and the event of worship, and according to Appleyard (2006), right-wing religious evangelism constitutes a strong political force in the US. Religious group collective identities might be viewed from a Durkheimian perspective, whereby religion is conceptualised as a form of collective memory or collective consciousness, based on a community of past, present and future members, as well as tradition (Davie, 2002). At the same time, religion may also be highly individualised, reflecting the fragmentation, individualisation and fluidity of identities associated with conditions of contemporary Western society, so that individuals’ (particularly young people’s) beliefs become increasingly ‘personal, detached and heterogeneous’ (Davie, 2002, p 8).