Religion (1983) 13, 69-83

TSE IMPLICIT RELIGION OFCO TEMPORARY SOCIETY: ANORIENTATION AND PLEA FORITS STUDY

Edward Bailey

A NEW AREA IN THE 1980sA time of recession and academic cut-backs may not seem an appropriate onein which to suggest an extension of existing methods of study into a new area .However there are several reasons why it is opportune to give some account ofwhat may be understood by the study of the implicit religion of contemporarysociety.' In the first place, what may be the largest study of religion evercarried out in the United Kingdom, the Religion in Leeds Project, has recentlybeen authorized and financed by government-derived funds . As a matter offact economic and political difficulties also prevailed when two other majorresearches were carried out by groups in Britain : the Religious Census of 1851,and Charles Booth's `Life and Labour in London' in 1903 . In the second place,there are other sources of research apart from government, and there is no lackof personnel who are able, available and willing . In the third place there aresigns of a growing understanding of, and interest in, this whole area, such asthe work of the European (now in fact inter-continental) Value-Systems StudyGroup. 2 In the fourth place, there is a need for such study . It has interest,because it assists our understanding of the personal . It is of value to those withresponsibility for such specialised concerns as politics, marketing, industrialrelations, broadcasting and the churches . And it is of particular interest tothose concerned with society in its entirety .

Several past statements of need, regarding different parts of this area, cometo mind. R. Towler's plea 3 (1974, pp. 145-162) for a study of CommonReligion is, presumably, being met by the Religion in Leeds project . To someextent this is also answering the `felt-needs' expressed by R . Robertson and C .Campbell 4 in 1972 for an `ethnomethodology' of religion, and by D . A.Martins, for a study of the `unknown gods of the English' . Yet none of thesequite matches the need expressed by F . B. Welbourn :

Is it necessarily more rational . . . to regard spirits and witches as symbols for

0048-721X/83/010069 + 15$02 .00/0 € 1983 Academic Press Inc . (London) Ltd .

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'endopsychic or social drives and forces', than to reverse the equation? It is difficultto regard an Oedipus complex as any less `mystical' than a paternal ghost . . . .If we are studying religion in a unitary society, we are studying not one institutionover against others, but the dimension in which all institutions relate to unique-ness. Ifwe want to study the same thing in our own society . . . we shall find it in the`untouchable' and often unacknowledged commitments which these activitiesexpress 6 .African witchcraft beliefs are strictly analogous not to contemporary British covensbut to our attitude to coloured immigrants . African cults to the living dead arecomparable not with Western spiritism, but with Churchill memorials and thePatrice Lumumba University . 'Spirit-possession' is matched by pop sessions,exo-psychic mythology by Freudian concepts . . . .If we are concerned with contemporary British ontology-with what in contem-porary Britain is most akin to `traditional religions', what is needed is a massivestudy of unrecognised commitments as they are expressed . . . in unrecognisedmyth and ritual7.

DESCRIBING THE REALITY-AGNOSTICALLYAs with the definition of religion itself, there are several possible ways ofdescribing the area of concern which is intended by the expression, `theimplicit religion of contemporary society' . The first and simplest approachwas used (along with several others) by U. Bianchi,8 when describing thesubject matter of the history of religions : we cannot know in advance of theempirical study precisely what the object will be (and hence what our subjectis) .

Although phrased with tongue in cheek, Bianchi's purpose is serious. Itmeans, in this case, that the description of the area as `the implicit religion ofcontemporary society', must be seen as a perpetual hypothesis. With anycontemporary society, as with any small-scale or historical society, no par-ticular mode of religiosity, nor any particular degree of religiosity, can beasserted with certainty, prior to its actual investigation and discovery .

But of course we cannot start our investigations without some inkling of theobject of our search . We may be looking for a needle in a haystack, withoutever having seen a needle, but we must at least have some idea of, for instance,what the sharp end feels like, or we shall not recognize it, even when westumble upon it . (Our motivation will also wane .) It is at this point that somesort ofdefinition becomes useful, to expand the stark realism of the bare label .

DEFINING THE CONCERN-CENTRALLY`Commitments', then, in F . B. Welbourn's terms, is one possible definition ofthe intended area of concern . This has the advantage, as a working definition(over against a morphological description), of brevity : it can easily be sub-stituted for the expression it defines .

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However, it will be noted that the term is plural, because the phrase`implicit religion' is seen as possessing the character of a collective noun. Thereis no assumption, in advance of the evidence, that the various hierarchies ofcommitment have been fully integrated by the actor, either in theory or inpractice . Nor is there any assumption that they can be integrated by theobserver, into an overall unity .

Such extreme brevity is somewhat sacrificed, but workability is not al-together lost, if two concepts are married together . Their point of intersectionmay give a precision which at least helps by pointing towards the heart of theobject of the search . One such phrase that sometimes occurred as a possibledefinition, then, is `personal depths' . This retains the plurality of 'commit-ments', but more obviously suggests that the object of the search may beinvoluntary, and even unconscious. For it would be ethnocentrically Christian,if not indeed specifically Evangelical, to assume that a religion is necessarilythe consequence of a choice. Indeed, since the act of choice implies theexistence of at least one criterion, it could be argued that the very ability tochoose indicates the presence of some prior belief which represents the truereligion of the group or individual, at least at the moment of decision .

Another such phrase is `integrating foci' . This makes more obvious a thirdsuggestion : that the concern is with all aspects of the personal, of whateverlevel or size . Thus it may be conscious, unconscious or subconscious ; indi-vidual, inter-personal, group, social, societal, international or global .

The last of these three possible synonyms has tended to be cited most often .It sounds less like a manifesto, and is more oriented towards a method . Afourth and final definition, which develops this same characteristic a little,may also be given : `intensive concerns with extensive effects' . This begins tospell out, what the others infer : that an enthusiasm (or an irritation) increasesits claim to serious consideration, to the extent that it is part of a widerpersonal system . The `personal depths' that are sought are neither emotionalone, which, whether acquired or inherited, may still be unfocussed ; but anamalgam of both . So the `implicit religion', which is both revealed andrevealing, is a multiple of depth of commitment and width of effect .

DISTINGUISHING THE CONCERN-CONCEPTUALLYA third approach to describing the area of concern, in addition to the pro-vocatively `agnostic' and to the definitional, is to indicate its relationship withother areas of concern . The fact that over fifty names for such related, butlargely unexplored, areas have been noted over the last fourteen years, indi-cates how widespread is the apprehension of this reality .

An initial distinction, then, must be made between the area presently beingdescribed, and that which is referred to by the brief expression, `implicitreligion', as used in the Schools Council's Working Paper No . 369. This latter

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approach, which has mostly been confined to Religious Education circles, wasbased upon H . Loukes, 10 and issued, for instance, in M . Paffard" . It wouldappear to refer to transcendent experiences on the part ofindividuals' 2,13 (andthe work of the Religious Experience Research Unit) . Such individual, andconscious (although usually spontaneous), experiences are indeed relevant inthe present context (vide, e .g. G. B . Miles 14 ) . It would also seek to include,however, social experience, whether transcendent or not, and, at the indi-vidual level, items that are largely unconscious, such as frames of reference,including the limits of the imagination .

A second distinction should be made between the area of concern discussedhere, and `common religion' . (With it may be coupled `folk religion', some-times spoken of in ecclesiastical circles, e .g. Reed".) In Towler 3 a more carefuldefinition was given to common religion than to most of these related phrases .It is therefore possible to note that `common religion' is a part of the presentconcern (e.g. Toon 16 ) . But it is only a part, since it is said to be limited to`activities of an overtly religious character'. It is also possible to note that,while questions regarding its structural position in religion and psychologyhave been opened up, other questions regarding its social location, historicalorigins, and intrinsic value, appear to have been foreclosed, in the course ofTowler's description .

`Common religion' is that medley of religious practices, and to a lesserextent beliefs, which, according to official definitions at least, are not part of anofficial religion, but are common among the common people 3 . ` Civil religion',on the other hand, refers primarily to a more integrated set of values andsymbols, which is, in some degree, actually held in common by a people .(Towler helpfully points out, 3 that this area was itself labelled `commonreligion' by Williams" ; but rightly feels that Bellah 18 has established the newterm.)

The term `civil religion' has mostly been used of national states (followingJ. J . Rousseau, The Social Contract, Book IV, chapter 8), and especially of theU .S.A. However, there is no reason why it should not be applied to other socialforms possessing corporate identity . As Weber commented, every group hasits own religion . Indeed, there is a useful distinction to be made between civiland civic religion . Unfortunately it was not made by the translators of Rousseauor of M. P. Nilsson . 19 ^20 A similar fusion of terms appears in D . A. Martin 2 l,

which consistently refers to Bellah's `civic religion' thesis ; for, while Bellah'sevidence is indeed primarily civic in character, he (equally consistently)considers himself to be positing a civil religion hypothesis .

DELINEATING THE AREA-PERIPHERALLYA fourth way of describing the area of concern is by showing how it relates toother existing areas . While definitions, and comparisons with related con-

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cepts, aim at the heart and content of the reality concerned, this provides someoutline of the boundaries of the study under consideration .

Thus, the implicit religion of contemporary society can be seen as a side-ways extension of the anthropology of religion, from small-scale societies tolarge-scale society and its constituent parts . Alternatively, it can be seen as theextension of the sociology of religion, which has traditionally been concernedwith large-scale societies, from an approach which has been primarily atomis-tic, organisational and rational, to one which takes account of the symbolic,holistic and coinherent aspects of the personal reality within these societies .This, in turn, links with the phenomenology of religion ; for if phenomenologygenerally is concerned to `let the phenomenon speak for itself', then thephenomenology of religion should be the place where man himself can do thispar excellence. Indeed, the study of implicit religion should allow our owncontemporary society to do this in the most open-ended way possible .

However, just as the anthropology of religion does not consider it should belimited to what the people that it studies call `religious', but looks at theimplications, for what it calls religious, of all aspects of the society it studies ; sothe study of the implicit religion of contemporary society will consider bothreligious and non-religious life in large-scale society . But it will try to con-centrate, following F . B. Welbourn, upon the implications of ordinary, 'non-religious' life, to see if it constitutes, in itself, some form of religion 22.

This is not, of course, to imply that studies from non-religious viewpointsare not of value when studying religious and non-religious aspects of life . It isonly to plead for an `alternating model' (M . Black, 1962, quoted in R . Gi1123) .It is simply to suggest that it might prove valuable to look at the secularspheres of modern life, such as the political and economic and social systems,in the light of the study of religion, and as though they might themselves bereligious in some way . It merely reverses the process of looking at religioussystems in the light of our knowledge of politics, the economy and society, andin the belief that they might themselves have political, economic and socialdimensions . The suggested approach is equally enlightening .

On the other hand, the implicit religion of contemporary society can be seenas an extension of the history of religions . It can be seen as an extension`sideways' of the study of one of the High Traditions (Christianity in the case ofthis country), as, the next step in the prismatic breaking assunder of thoseonce-essential, typological labels . In this case, it would have a similar place tothat of `practical religion' 24 when studied in Burma (see Bellah, 18 and Geertz, 25for similar approaches in Japan and Java) .

However, that particular phrase `practical religion', is not available for usein areas where Christianity has been indigenised at preconscious levels (forHinduism26 ) . For it is generally assumed in those cultures that religions aremutually exclusive (but see Pareto27), at least at the level of individual living .

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Also, for many people it would mean the `practice of their (Christian) religion',`on Monday morning', and so would be a highly sensitive, and largely moral,matter. But to assume that the implicit religion ofa society was linked in this orany other particular way to its `official' or `high' tradition, forecloses one of thequestions which is to be answered, only following investigation .

Such a link, furthermore, would raise questions regarding the definition ofthe high tradition concerned . For instance, how far can the very belief in`Christianity' (let alone what is understood as the content of that Chris-tianity), which emerges as one of the dominant themes of the data so far as thiscountry is concerned, be regarded as being itself a part ofChristianity? Or, totake a second instance, how far can the apprehension of the selfas ultimateandsacred, which (a trio of studies suggests) can be seen as the rock (cp . Matthew16:18) upon which this implicit religion is founded, be regarded as eitherpositively or passively Christian?

Indeed, should that adjective be given content in accordance with its owncanonical self-definition(s), or the result(s) of historical scholarship, or the(intended or unintended) fruits of its influence? Might not this emphasis uponthe self, among other features of this `practical religion', be thought to havemore in common with the high tradition of Hinduism, than with that ofChristianity28? Or are we, indeed, beginning to make contact with a globally`common', a universally `primal' 29, a `palaeolithici 3o,3 ' but `perennial' (vide theHuxleys) stratum of religiosity and humanity?

At the same time, if the anthropology of religion has been mostly concernedwith small-scale societies, and the history of religions with religion in histori-cal, civil-ised societies, the implicit religion ofcontemporary society might beseen as the next and essential step forward, if the study ofreligion is not to beconfined to the archaic or the obsolete 32 . Ifthis study of man-in-(a-new-kind-of)-society begins with some data that are apparently rather raw and 'primi-tive' (the links with the psychology of religion have already been alluded to),that would only be in keeping with our experience in other fields . It is this thathas encouraged us to try again to analyse the content of the Humanum, just asearlier ages sought the meaning of the imago Dei .

So this approach encourages us to look again, and with the advantage ofthose gains in our knowledge of religion and of man which now necessitate anew Hastings, at those philosophical distinctions, ontological conjunctions,and fundamental questions, which our fathers had the courage to face, withresults as profound and sensitive as S. A. Cook's33 article on religion in the oldHastings, in 1918 .

A TRIO OF STUDIESA fifth way ofdescribing the area ofconcern is by giving examples . This will bedone by giving the barest summary of three studies carried out by the present

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writer 34 . The first was a series of structured interviews, and the second andthird were phenomenological essays on a public house and a residentialparish, respectively, both developed on the basis of participant observation .

THE INTERVIEWSThe interviews consisted of such open-ended questions as `What do you enjoymost in life?', and `Who are you?', to quote only the first and last from somefifty stimuli. From the responses a triple 'identi-kit' interview was built up,consisting of those three responses to each of the stimuli which best repre-sented the range of answers to that particular question . Pondering upon theimplications of this representative raw material, somewhat after the style of aphenomenological piece of literary criticism, some forty themes emerged . Forconvenience, these were then divided into three overall groups : The InnerScene, The Outer Scene, and The Other Scene .

The Inner Scene contained four themes on the Nature of the Self, four on itsLife, and four on its Relationship with Other Selves . These twelve were thensummarized in the form of a creed :

I believe in the sacredness of my Self,In the all-pervading influence of time,And in other Selves as in mine .

The Outer Scene was composed (for this was a grouping of emergent themes,not a division of anticipated areas) of three groups of four themes each, again .These were entitled : The Received World, the Psycho-social Reality, andPolarity without Dichotomy . They were summarized credally :

As the world is in me, and I am in those I know,So I distinguish, but I decline to divide .

The Other Scene contained four sections, of four themes each . Their headingsran: Moral, Religion, Salvific, and Other Elements . The credal conclusion ofthese themes was :

Conscience commands, and Christianity helps ;The world is kind, but ageing is fearful, and God is distant .

Some comments upon the data, although disjointed, may help to give theseThemes some flesh and blood .

The outstanding ontological fact is the self. It is also the outstanding moralvalue. Indeed, it is sacred . But it is (I am) `only' human ; that is to say, fallible .I am always changing, because I live on a conveyor-belt called time . To keepall the aspects of my ordinary life up-to-date and up to scratch is like con-stantly keeping a set of oranges in the air . But I enjoy this logistical juggling

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trick, which constitutes my struggle for survival, and I am content if I cansimply manage my weekly round. Life beyond this consists of relationshipswith other selves, whom I understand as being like myself, and whom I valuehighly for this reason .

Proverbial wisdom (which could be seen as a traditional form of implicitreligion) was found to be in decline among precisely those groups that are mostprone to that other kind of secularisation (from historical religions) . Thereceived world was therefore very much the shape of the television screen, andespecially the News . This imposed a great burden of sympathetic suffering andworry; many people bore the world upon their shoulders ('the Atlas effect') .

Money proved little attraction : twice as much as enough to buy a house wasall that, even playfully, could be imagined . Real life consisted of `I-they' ratherthan 'I-thou' encounters, and in the individual's coinherence in others,especially his own family . Society consisted of an archipelago of small groups,and `the world' consisted basically of `me' and `people' . There were differ-ences, and categories, but no dichotomies or clusters of polarities . For instance,the 'self-ish' was far from merely `bad', despite the fact that this belief is notcapable of simple expression in conventional English .

The `moral' themes suggested that it is imperative to be happy ; that amental list, of things to be done, hangs over the heads of the British public, likea mushroom-shaped cloud ; that, like Alexander the Great, people would feelunhappy, and immoral, if they had nothing to conquer ; and that the individualis not only apprehended as the primary reality, but is virtually the only one,apart from `people', who are an extrapolation of himself, and, to a lesserextent, the physical world .

Religion is as individualistic as is morality, but `Christianity' (which isdistinguished from the Church) is widely and firmly `Established' : God is a`high God', the supernatural is the super-scientific-and is a way of `cocking asnook' at all would-be `systems', whether Newtonian or Pavlovian .

Salvifically, even this world of systems is gracious, for it created me and Itranscend it . But its improvement is entirely individualistic and gradual :history shows there are no total or sudden solutions, however desirable theymay be.

The heading of the final group of themes as `other elements' deliberately leftambiguous the question whether they were merely miscellaneous, or weretranscendent and all-embracing . Divinity was associated strongly, though notexclusively, with religion . Religion itself was tested almost entirely by theavowedly non-religious criterion of relationships . Death and post-death werenot so much mysterious as ignored . But growing senile was greatly feared, anddying voluntarily had been carefully considered and analysed long before theinterview. Both these pairs of themes tie in with the initial postulate, of theabsolute sacredness of the self.

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Having elucidated some of the meanings of these responses, through thedevelopment of forty `themes', there followed some reflections upon thevarious integrating foci in the data as a whole . The `Round' of work and theList ofjobs, was balanced by a Round of leisure and of Going away, especiallyon holidays. Each of these rounds was felt to be important, but neither wasconsidered to have sufficient `pull' over the other to re-constitute a singlewhole. Indeed, more important than either of the halves, was the simple fact ofmigration from one world to the other .

The apprehension of a wider alternative reality (which might have beenmerely echoed in one of the Rounds) also kept presenting itself as a possibleintegrating focus . Yet it was neither integrated itself ('a'), nor truly possible('alternative') . It is, therefore, no more able than either of the `rounds' toprovide an integrating focus . Indeed, the very belief in the sacredness, and yetin the humanity (that is, the imperfection), of the self, rules out the possibilityof collective panaceas .

The most convincing reality that is apprehended is the self . Indeed, this isitself in some degree an alternative reality . For the belief in it is held on to,despite the public culture. But there is no community in which to articulateand develop the apprehension . Indeed, there is a structural blockage to thedevelopment of such a solidarity, at least at a societal level . For the mostpowerful witness to the primacy of the self, is the refusal to participate socially .

Various groups of people were then considered, on the analogy of a priest-hood, as possibly being themselves integrating foci of a personal kind . Thestrongest candidate was the loose circle of face-to-face contacts, in which thehuman becomes real, and the apprehended reality becomes significantthrough becoming human. In this context, and also in the broader context ofpublic life, certain individuals are revealed as not `only human', but asgloriously human . This experience of 'anthropophany' confirms the privatelyintuited sacredness of the self .

Christianity was also seen as an integrating focus . But it is restricted, in itsreference, to private life, leaving various forms of socialism and nationalism asthe implicit religions of national and international affairs. It is also in latentbut immutable opposition to the human, to the fallible but laughable andloveable, to the epiphany of real Life ; for Christianity, understood as moraleducation, is the schoolmaster of Conscience .

THE PUBLIC HOUSEThe second of the three studies consisted of working behind the bar of a publichouse, a mile from the centre of Bristol . This formed an excellent contrast tothe previous study. The individualistic setting was abandoned for one that wassocial, even corporate, and the observer became merely one of many .

The report on this phase of the study begins by describing the life of the

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public house according to the secular `eye' of the `alternating model' . ItsSetting is described, under geographical, physical and temporal headings .Thus the significance of the doorway between the public bar and the lounge ispondered, and the patterns of the day, the week, and the year, are described .Taking up a contemporary expression, `the Scene' is then considered, underthe three headings of Roles, Action, and Aural . The central significance of theManager is described . The existence of a nerve-racking element in thecustomer's `entrance' into the pub is suggested . The importance which indi-viduals attach to being able to maintain a personal silence, amidst the noise ofconversation and radio, is mentioned .

The People in the public house are then described, in their Groups, asIndividuals, and by Types . While the kind of glass used for beer is found to beindicative of type, and age is agreed to have an obvious plausibility, the mostsatisfactory classification is felt to be by attitude : the contrast is considered tobe between the 'mono-man' and the 'poly-people' . The former envisages asingle Culture, ostensibly defined by the male sex and symbolized by a moral,monotheistic divinity. The latter rejoice in the existing variety of life-styles,cultures, moralities, philosophies and divinities .

The other `eye' of the alternating model is then used more deliberately thanwas the case with the analysis of the interviews . The relationship of the publichouse and explicit religion is explored under the headings ofChristianity in thepub, the pub as a parallel to the Church, and the pub as a rival to the Church .Lastly, the pub's own implicit religion is analysed .

Seven integrating foci are discovered. They are: the sense of community, thedoorway between the two sides, the actual bar in each room, the `busy time'which forms the climax of each evening, the Manager himself, the semi-sacrificial transaction of buying the drink, and the very idea or image of a pub .The outlawing of any kind of passion, and of serious sexuality, is thendescribed, along with other possible candidates for the position of integratingfoci .

The conclusion attempts to integrate the foci that have been enumerated . Itmay best be summarized by quotation .

The fundamental integrating focus of the pub, both aid to and symbol of itsfunctioning as a society, may now be summarized as `being a man' . Its definitionlies not, of course, in any contrast with a supernatural being, at least in any of theordinary senses which that word has in contemporary society, including forinstance in the pub itself. Nor is it to be seen as being in contrast with the naturalenvironment. It may indeed be distinguished from the opposite sex . But. . . it is not to be defined primarily by such a distinction . Likewise, it may also bedistinguished from younger age-groups . This distinction is indeed reinforced bythe regular rite of passage (the `entrance'), which is forbidden to them . But, again,such a negative definiens is far from exhausting its meaning .

Positively, then, it consists in the ability to `hold your own', and meet other men

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as equals. This means allowing them to pursue the same goal at the same time asyourself. Thus the gift of indiscriminate `rounds' of drinks, which can hardly berefused without giving downright offence, also offends, and can only be adequatelycountered by displaying discreet hostility and contempt within one's group, inorder to preserve one's own amour-propre. Hence also the importance of reciprocalrounds . . . .

The drink itself is all-important . But it is important, not because it is thirst-quenching, but because its ideology is the charter, and its praxis the visible, shared,miniature and dramatic sacrament of the community : it is wholly expressive andeffective . In the same way, the truly acceptable barman does not work for money ;nor is he anxious to finish when the law says he may and must. Hence the joy whena barman comes into the pub, on his evening off, as a customer, `for a drink',himself. . . .

The implicit religion of the pub, then, may be summarized as consisting in thesolidarity of the initiatives, the action of `taking a drink', and the accompanyingrationale of `being a man' .

THE RESIDENTIAL PARISHThe third in this trio of studies concerns the residential parish on the outskirtsof Bristol. This shared with the public house, in contrast with the interviewsituation, its social character and its largely `given' nature . But it formed anexcellent third leg to the tripod, on account of the contrast between the societyof a parish and the society of a public house . In a nutshell, the former (despiteits self-image, `you get all types in a pub, don't you?'), is a self-selecting society,to a far greater extent than an enlarged village of eight thousand people can be .

The method of study was again by participant observation, which has nowbeen spread over twelve years . The early findings can be summarized byquoting from a preliminary, short report .

The parish is again described purely secularly at first . The study is said to bea study in consciousness (including near-consciousness, as articulated by theobserver) . This is an essay in phenomenology, rather than a full-lengthcommunity study . So the presentation of the data is governed firstly by thecommunity's sense of identity, and secondly by its character as an `opencommunity', which contains contrasts, and yet allows communication .

Four integrating foci are then described. The first is Christianity. This issaid to have five `signs' : Church Christianity, Good Neighbour Christianity,School Christianity, Media Christianity, and the Belief in Christianity itself .The second focus is Buildings . Just as land may be the locus of the sacred inagricultural societies, so it is suggested, are buildings in this community . Theprimary examples are the family home, and the `house' of God, in this case amedieval parish church .

The third focus is described as `Friendly' ; for interpretation is kept to aminimum at this stage, albeit at the expense of categorial evenness . The fourthfocus is Children, which itself is closely related to all the other three . (The

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elderly are described as a sub-species of children .) Finally, to present abalanced account of the evidence, the Resistance to Integration is described . I tis explained in positive terms as the defence of the Self, and is stated to be, ineffect, a fifth, although peculiar, integrating focus .

After considering various other candidates' claim to be integrating foci, thereport then discussed the unity of the resulting Implicit Religion, its character,and its mode of religiosity . The concluding pair of paragraphs may be repro-duced here.

The fundamental characteristic of this religion is its moral character . Its Creed isheavily moral, thus forcing through its own interpretation of historic Christianity .Its sacraments (the home, and the parish church) are a constant burden, worthy ofcomparison with the proverbial re-painting of the Forth Bridge . Its ethics areinevitably moral, but it may be observed at this point how much satisfaction, evenjoy, is derived from the moral obligation to observe `an impossible ethic' 35 . Thechildish gods of the religion impose moral duties which they are only slowly taughtto observe themselves-finally, when they become the devotees of their ownchildren. The sacredness of the Self is the only `moral' certainty.

How religious this religion is considered to be, will depend upon each observer'sunderstanding of the nature of religion . This depends in turn upon each observer'sunderstanding of life ; but that itself may be dependent upon the observer's view ofreligion . Certainly, in some respects it is not very religious, as that word is oftenunderstood : there is very little emphasis upon the supernatural God, for instance .Equally certainly, though, it would not be the only system to combine a highlymoral character, and little participation in the public rites, and yet be regularlydescribed as a religion : the religion of the later Roman Republic and early Empireis another one . Lastly, it is also certain that if we settle for a low-key but popularunderstanding of a religion, in terms of the depth and width of the commitment toit, then this implicit religion can only be described as the dominant religion of thisresidential parish .

THE THREE STUDIES AND THE IMPLICIT RELIGION OFCONTEMPORARY SOCIETYIn the first formal report upon the three studies 34 , an attempt was made to tie

together the conclusions reached in each of them separately .

The interviews focussed upon the self. But they also revealed, to a far greater extentthan the stimuli could be said to have presupposed, a concern with and an interestin the self. They showed that not merely the stimuli, but also the respondents,focussed upon `my self' . Similarly, a synonymous description of the rationaleimplicit in the life of the pub, might be `social independence' . Undoubtedly theemphasis falls upon the noun, but it is equally clear that the adjective must qualifyit : the customer in the pub is not a hermit . The individuals in the pub' require' eachother's presence . Likewise the individuals and their families, who make up theopen community, may be described as abiding by, and seeking, `concerted indi-vidualism' : the neighbours are not merely a nuisance, or only even a necessity .Within the parameters of mutual respect they are both a pleasure and endowedwith intrinsic value . If a single focus were now to be postulated to integrate these

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three, therefore, the chosen one would be `creating our own identities' . The firstword is chosen in preference to `the search for identity', which is sometimespostulated, because `creating' is more active and less abstract, more activist andless self-conscious . Likewise, the last word, `identities', is placed in the plural inorder to emphasise the acceptance of differences and plurality . The middle pair ofwords, `our own', are inclined to express the underlying conception that this issimultaneously social, and yet 'personal'-in the popular sense, of individual orprivate .

In the subsequent analysis of this system as a religion, it is suggested that `thedepth of the conviction is matched by the significance of the reality appre-hended', thus fulfilling the fourth and fullest of the working definitions thatwere given earlier . From the History of Religions standpoint, after a number ofcomparisons with other religious systems, the conclusion is that :

Implicit religion, which largely includes the empirical Christianity as well as thesecular face of contemporary society, unlike archaic religion, is neither ecstatic norcorporate; and, unlike historical religion, it is neither segmented nor visionary .

So for most men, religion in general, and implicit religion in particular, is, and islikely to remain, dimensional in character, with extensive influence, rather thanrelational, with specific power . Yet moderation, or even inertia, can be held to asdoggedly as apocalyptic or eschatology is preached or conversions are pursued .Belief may be fanatical, although still implicit .

NOTES1 The suggestion for this article arises out of a Paper given at the XIV Congress of

the International Association for the History of Religions at Winnipeg in 1980 .2 Another sign of growing interest is the series of week-end Consultations in Implicit

Religion, at Denton Hall, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, which have been held each yearsince 1978 . Indeed, during 1982 two further series of Consultations seem likely to bebeginning : concerning implicit religion and religious education, and implicitreligion and the churches . Further details of any of these are available from thewriter .

3 Robert Towler, Homo Religiosus : Sociological Problems in the Study of Religion, London,Constable, 1974, pp. 145-162 .

4 Roland Robertson and Colin Campbell, Religion in Britain : the need for newresearch strategies, Social Compass, XIX, (1972), pp . 185-197 .

5 David A. Martin, The Religious and the Secular : Studies in Secularization,London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969 .

6 Frederick Burkewood Welbourn, `Healing as a psychosomatic event', Paper pre-sented to the Seminar on Witchcraft and Healing at the Centre for African Studies,Edinburgh, 14-15 Feb . (1969a) .

7 Frederick Burkewood Welbourn, `Towards eliminating the concept of religion',Paper read at the 2nd Lancaster Colloquium on the Study of Religion (1969b) .

8 Ugo Bianchi, The History of Religions, Leyden, E. J . Brill 1975, pp . 201-212 .9 Schools Council, Religious Education in Secondary Schools, Schools Council Working

Paper 36, London, Evans Bros . & Methuen 1971 .10 Harold Loukes, New Ground in Christian Education, London, S .C.M. 1965 .

82 Edward Baily

11 M . Paffard, Inglorious Wordsworth : a Study of Some Transcendental Experiences inChildhood and Adolescence, London, Hodder & Stoughton 1973 .

12 Marghanita Laski, Ecstasy: a Study ofSome Secular and Religious Experiences, London,Cresset 1961 .

13 A.H. Maslow, The FurtherReaches ofHuman Nature, Harmondsworth, Penguin 196414 Grahame B . Miles, `Transcendental and religious experiences of Sixth Form

pupils: an analytic model', Paper presented at 1981 Denton Consultation inImplicit Religion .

15 Bruce D. Reed, The Dynamics of Religion : Process and Movement in Christian Churches,London, Darton, Longman & Todd 1978.

16 Richard Toon, `Methodological problems in the study of implicit religion', Paperpresented at 1981 Denton Consultation in Implicit Religion .

17 Robin M . Williams, American Society : a Sociological Interpretation, New York, Knopf1951 .

18 Robert N. Bellah, Tokugawa Religion : the Values of Pre-industrial Japan, Glencoe FreePress 1957 . See also `Civil religion in America', in Daedalus, journal of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences XCVI (1), Winter 1967 .

19 Nils Martin Perrson Nilsson, A History of Greek Religion (Trans . F . J . Fielden),Oxford, Clarendon 1925 .

20 Nils Martin Persson Nilsson, Greek Piety (Trans . H. J . Rose), Oxford, Clarendon1948.

21 David A. Martin, The Dilemmas of Contemporary Religion, Oxford, Blackwell 1978,pp. 1-20 .

22 Some of the papers read at the first five Denton Consultations illustrate thisparticular emphasis, as well as this spread of interest . e .g. : K. Donnelly, 1978,`Residual religion in an urban community ; a search for secular man ; P . Jarvis,1978, `Toward a sociological understanding of superstition' ; A. Kee, 1978, `Theexperience of transcendence in contemporary culture' ; D. Munro, 1978, `A per-spective from anthropology' ; G . Scobie, 1978, `The religion of politics' ; E . Barker,1979, `Implicit religon ; social theory and practice' ; D. Clark, 1979, `Folk religion ina North Yorkshire fishing village' ; A. Cunningham, 1979, `The articulation of thesense of the Self and identity' ; P . Heelas, 1979, `Implicit religion ; ineffability; M .Langley, 1979, `The implicit in symbol and ritual ; implications for "seculariza-tion" theory' ; D. Martin, 1979, `Human sound and sublime vision' ; M. Ruel, 1979,`Is cosmology a religion?' ; J. Thrower, 1979, `Has humanism a religious dimen-sion?' ; T . Burfoot, 1980, `Implicit religion and poetic motif ; M. Cotterell, 1980,`Invisible religion and the middle class'; H. Lupton, 1980, `Being objective aboutthe subjective' ; D. Newton, 1980, `Astrology' ; J . Twigg, 1980, `Vegetarianism' ; C .Campbell, 1981, `Natural constellations of belief ; L. Francis, 1981, `personalityand religion : measurement or muddle?'; H . French, 1981, `Signs ofthanatocracy : astudy of current American funeral practices' ; M. Goodridge, 1981, `perceptions oftime, death and religion' ; R . Bibby, 1982, `the Canadian national religious survey :the unfocussed majority'; D. Davies, 1982, `Clerical self-absolution through thenation of folk religion' ; T . Gannon, 1982, `Religious experience in everyday life' ; R .Gill, 1982, `Theologians and folk religion' ; S . Molloy, 1982, `Common religion inLeeds: an interim report' ; D. Newton, 1982, 'Suplicat religion in organised astro-logy'; G. Stamp, 1982, `The dilemma of structuring : a fellowship of believers' ; N .Tamasu, 1982, `The relevance of the concept of implicit religion for Japanesesociety' . A similar pattern would appear likely in the three years . Subsequentlyeach consultation is likely to centre round a particular aspect of the whole area .

23 Robin Gill, The Social Context of Theology: a Methodological Enquiry, London,Mowbray 1975 ; Max Black, Models and Metaphors, Cornell University Press 1962 .

24 Edmund R. Leach, Dialectic in Practical Religion, London, Cambridge UniversityPress 1968 .

25 Clifford Geertz, The Religion ofJava, London, Collier, MacMillan 1960 .26 G. Morris Carstairs, The Twice-born : a Study of a Community of High-caste Hindus,

London, Hogarth 1968 .27 Vilfredo Pareto, The Mind and Sociey, London, Jonathan Cape 1935 .28 Guy Deleury, `A Hindu god for technopolis?', Concilium, VI, June 1972 .29 John V . Taylor, The Primal Vision: Christian Presence amid African Religion, London,

S.C .M. 1963 .30 Clyde Kluckhohn, Navaho Witchcraft, Boston, Beacon Press 1967 .31 Ernest Benz, `On understanding Non-Christian Religions', in M Eliade and J . M .

Kitagawa (eds .), History of Religions, Chicago, University Press 1952 .32 Thomas Luckmann, The Invisible Religion : the Problem of Religion in Modern Society,

London, Collier-MacMillan 1967 .33 Stanley A. Cook, `Religion', in J . Hastings (ed .), Encyclopaedia of Religion & Ethics,

Edinburgh, T & T Clark 1918.34 Bailey, `Emergent Mandalas : the implicit religion of contemporary society', Ph .D .

thesis, catalogued as The Religion of a Secular Society, Bristol University Library,1976 .

35 H . Reinhold Niebuhr, An Interpretation of Christian Ethics, London, S.C.M. 1941 .

EDWARD BAILEY was awarded a Ph.D. at the University of Bristol for histhesis entitled The Religion of a Secular Society and is well known as the convenorof a series of conferences on the subject of `Implicit Religion' (See Notes) .

Winterbourne Rectory, Bristol BS17 IJQ, U .K.

Implicit Religion 83