Spirituality and the Re-branding of Religion

Carrette and King's article Spirituality and the Re-branding of Religion (2012) describes the changes that have occurred in the common view of religion and spirituality. They say that in contemporary society spirituality has replaced institutionalised religion as people pick and choose the elements they want. They say the change in attitudes began in the enlightenment period where science began to replace theology and in more recent times economics has replaced science. This has led to what they call capitalist spirituality and prosperity religion. This type of commodification and sacrilisation of utilitarian individualism can be seen in many places in modern society. Massages are sold as a spiritual experience, statues of Buddha are sold at market stalls, crystals with healing properties are sold in jewellery shops which is nothing beside the commodity that is televangelism.

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Carrette J and R King. 2012. Spirituality and the Re-branding of Religion. In Lynch G. and J. Mitchell with A. Strhan. Eds., Religion, Media and Culture: A Reader. 59-70. London and New York: Routledge.