Secularising Religion: The use of Christ-figures in the genre of children?s film: A Response to the Secularisation thesis and the decline in Sunday school attendance

Darren Ralph explores the possibility that certain features of recent popular culture run counter to secularisation accounts of society today. The secularisation thesis may benefit from the relatively fresh correlation between religion and film and the notion that filmic qualities have potential to fill a void or compensate for the apparent decline in traditional, institutional religion. An examination of the Christ- figure enterprise and specifically those appearing in the genre of children?s film, perhaps determines whether Christian-related themes and imageries prepare children in their basic understanding of ethics and moral conduct while bringing about an exposure to the concepts of religion, faith and belief. Consequently, this book attempts to establish whether the Sunday school movement has radically declined and explores the likelihood that popular culture has replaced it in informing young people about religion. Darren uses innovative methodologies to explore whether the concept of filmic Christ-figures,is a reliable and viable rationale for demonstrating a continued level of religious activity within contemporary society.