Belief and unbelief: two sides of a coin

In what follows I build on to previous writing relating to the nature of religion (including religious belief) in modern Europe and the factors that must be taken into account if this is to be properly understood (Davie 1994, 2000, 2002, 2006). These factors are: •the cultural heritage of Europe; •the ‘old’ model of a moderately dominant state church which operates like a public utility; •a ‘newer’ model which takes the form of a growing market in religion; •the arrival into Europe of new groups of people both Christian and other; •an increasingly articulate secular lobby. The first point to grasp is that all five exist alongside each other and that they push and pull in different directions. The second point provides the focus for this article: namely that exactly the same factors that account for the nature of religious belief in European society are equally present in unbelief. I will take each of them in turn in order to illustrate this point