Secularization, the Growth of Militancy and the Spiritual Revolution: Religious Change and Gender Power in Britain, 1901–2001

The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and since, have altered perceptions of religious change in Britain in the last century. This article proposes that three key trends encapsulate the most significant developments – secularization, the rise of religious militancy, and the evolution of the New Age. It seeks to refine the periodization and definitions of these, and the interconnections between them, focusing on gender as the major category of analysis, and using the demographic consequences of secularization to highlight the central role of women to British religious change from 1960 to 2000.