Is religion still relevant today and how much impact does it have on society? Over the last century science has been accepted as fact and has begun to rule our lives but is it replacing religion? Can religion and science exist successfully in society?

I know this is a huge issue, and I'm going to try narrow it down and for the most part steer clear of religion and war, and the obvious problems some parts of the world face at the moment.

As far as importance society places of religion, it still runs pretty deep through our society. This can be seen as obviously as in the media. Just last night, I saw on the news that mundane facts about the pope visiting the middle east were headlining. Whether this was a reflection of religion in our society or just because they had run out of angles to take on the recession, I'm not sure. The same seeming importance pops up in womens' gossip magazines. Every now and then, when Prince Harry is behaving himself, journalists will bring up the issue of Prince Will's future Queen-to-be's religion. So if religion still filter's through to popular culture surely we can say we place significant importance on it?

I'm not so sure. And neither are New Zealand Surveyors. Apparently we are becoming less religious in New Zealand. And from a christian perspective, I would tend to agree but the variety of religions has boomed as we rely more and more heavily on our immigrants. As nationalitys from around the world emigrate to our safe haven, they are bringing their religions with them. Church attendance may be at an all time low but what about other religions attendance? Churches aren't the only places of worship.

And then there are those who argue the sacularisation theory (or secularization for you Americans). This is basically the separation between the factual and religion. Yes, our society has evolved al ot since the times when law and religion were one, but because we have separated the two, doesn't make us LESS religious, It is a different type of belief, not one forced upon the masses, nor one used as an explanation for the unexplained. It's one formed by the natural evolution of society. Of course this concept is only really applicable in western culture and many eastern cultures and countries are still ruled by religion.

We can not compare previous religion to religion that exists today. We finally exist in a society where we have (supposed) freedom. If humans had this level of freedom religiously in previous centuries, I could almost certainly say society would not be as 'religious' as they are deemed to be.

There is a school of thought that believes western society has reached its peak of technology and education, and the mass is going to return to being uneducated. This concept of an uneducated mass is linked to the prediction of a rise in religion in society. As i mentioned above, this is commonly because of the ruling classes ploys to maintain power and a need for a way of explaining what would otherwise be by education and science.

So how are religions coping with science and the new age? The ancient religions are simply bending the rules, which I won't go in to, others solution is just to create new religions. Which Tom Cruise is giving a very bad reputation!

Religion is in a bit of a lull at the moment and doesn't play a major part in society, our society anyway, but it is just part of a cycle. Religion is not dying, it is just resting.