1

Why is secularism a crucial concept for understanding the role of religion in contemporary society?

Introduction Secularism is such a crucial concept in respect to religion as the churchs role has been transformed, manipulated, radicalised, exaggerated and forced into submission over the last several centuries. As a result of the viscous nature of religions role, society and international relations have changed considerably. Secularisation is believed to be the common denominator for the majority of these adjustments in religions role. In order to explain the full extent at which secularism has altered religions role in contemporary society, a historical time line must be provided for evolutionary evidence. If one grasps how secularism has manifested itself throughout history and the effects it has had on religion, then one can reach a conclusion as to its importance. This essay shall concern itself with how secularism and religion have interacted and balanced themselves to provide our contemporary understanding of religion. Geopolitically speaking, religions role is extremely heterogeneous; therefore secularism cannot act in the same way in every culture.1 This leads us to the interconnecting contributors of religions role change such as modernisation, globalisation, rationality, democracy and liberalism among others. Assumptions must be checked, the most prominent being if secularism has actually had such a profound influence over contemporary societys perception of religion and if trends will continue into the next generation. This essay shall predominantly concentrate on Europes contemporary society, thus mainly secularisms effect on Christianity shall be evaluated. Firstly, a brief definition and description of secularisms nature is paramount to full comprehension of its effects on religion. Secularism derives from the Latin word saeculum, meaning century or age; therefore denoting an absolute period of time on Earth, which is in contrast to the idea of eternity at a spiritual level.2 As it hails from fairly vague origins it is easily and subjectively interpretable, but nevertheless we understand it today as an idea, a value, a condition, an ideology about the distancing of society from religious practice and religious authority.3 This distancing ultimately results in the administrative and legal separation of the two powers Westerners deem as the private sphere (spiritual, emotional) and the public sphere (political, where the rational reasoning of the state and its nation dominate). Secularism was borne out of necessity: following the horrific experiences of all involved in the Thirty Years War, complete separation of the two spheres was considered appropriate in the Treaty of Westphalia. The interreligious conflicts of the religion wars from 1618 to 1648 brought about an urgent need for civil

1
2

Cassanova J (1994), Public Religions in the Modern World Shakman-Hurd, E. 2004. The Political Authority of Secularism in International Relations, European Journal of International Relations, vol 10, no. 2 Princeton University Press
3

Taylor, C. 1998. Modes of Secularism, in R. Bhargava (ed) Secularism and its Critics. Calcutta: Oxford University Press, pp. 31-53.

2 coexistence the public interactions of society required regulating through norms and agreements which were independent of confessional allegiance.4

Cassanova J (1994), Public Religions in the Modern World

3 Main Body According to Taylor there are two ways of effectively implementing secularism; the use of common ground strategy and the proliferation of independent political ethic in society.5 The common ground strategy establishes an ethic of peaceful coexistence and political order through appealing to different commitments and orchestrating a convergence of fundamental ideologies. This is grounded on a version of Natural Law and is featured in the theorising of Locke, Pufendorf and Aquinas. 6 In contrast, the idea of an independent political ethic in society allows separation from religious beliefs all together. Through certain extrapolations from Grotius theories, we can believe that humans are rational and sociable creatures; therefore if we take these characteristics as axioms, we can derive theorems on how to justly treat one another.7 This requires societys abstraction from higher beliefs for the sake of political morality. However, Rawls proposes an overlapping consensus which regardless of its fragility, allows flexibility regarding the issues created by globalisation and increased diversity. Ideally, secularization would result in a group of supporters of different comprehensive doctrines agreeing on a specific form of political organization.8 Nearly every Western state that claims to be secularised is based on one or more of Taylor and Rawls strategies. The Renaissance, Reformation and Scientific Revolution accelerated medieval Europe into the beginnings of the modern political framework of the contemporary West. The 1500s to the 1700s were crucial times in the formation of religions role in contemporary society. In his seminal work, The Problem of Unbelief in the Sixteenth Century, Lucien Febvre creates a vision of a Europe in which every aspect of life from birth to death fell within the domain and authority of the Church.9 This entanglement was institutional/ authoritative and cognitive and that state of religious ambience was about to be abandoned. Through the processes of capitalism, the rise of the modern state, institutional differentiation and specialization, religion became insulated within limited institutional and personal spheres. The Reformation continued to crush religious unity as a response to the obvious corruption at the hands of Roman Catholic authorities. Princes in Germany began setting up autonomous states separate from the papacy and England, France and Spain had also cut ties with the previous Roman Catholic entity. Martin Luther paved the way to Christian reform through the creation of Protestantism and preached a more personal relationship with faith, thus weakening the role of the Church and its bureaucracies. Francois Rabelais criticised the church through The Histories of Gargantua and Pantagruel and Erasmus in The Praise of Folly.10 The church clergy, lacking strong leadership from the pope were part of many well-publicized scandals and anticlericalism increased. Protestantism of the 16th Century can be seen as a historically decisive prelude to secularization, which also transformed the nature of religious teachings and perceptions. Max Weber in particular emphasised the secularizing effects of the Protestant rejection of ceremony, magic
5

Taylor, C. 1998. Modes of Secularism, in R. Bhargava (ed) Secularism and its Critics. Calcutta: Oxford University Press, pp. 31-53.
6 7 8

Asad, T (2003) Formations of The Secular, Stanford CA : Stanford University Press Asad, T (2003) Formations of The Secular, Stanford CA : Stanford University Press

Berger, P. (ed). 1999. The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics . Washington, D.C.: Ethics and Public Policy Center; 9 Wootton, D (1988), Lucien Febvre and The Problem of Unbelief in The Early Modern Period Journal of Modern History, vol 60, no 4.
10

Rebelais, F, translated by Sir Thomas Urquhart (1981), Gargantua and Pantagruel, Project Gutenberg.

4 and saint worship.11 A crucial element in mainstream contemporary Christianity is the decline of religious sanctions regarding their punitive authority and also of so-called mystical sanctions of hellfire and an unforgiving God. Christianity can be associated with liberalism today sociability and friendliness are synonymous with most new age denominations, leaving the congregation to choose their own lifestyle.12 The scientific revolution revealed technologically innovating creations and more sophisticated, rational methodologies were developed. This contributed significantly to the growing scepticism of the time. Descartes Discourse implied atheism as he claimed there could never be any absolute truth.13 Modern Christianity more often than not incorporates scientific teachings and rationality into its belief system, thus engaging in the process of secularisation. Along with the European revolutions of the time, the nation state also emerged. According to Benedict Anderson, these nation states are imagined communities constituting social imaginary.14 Taylor interprets the above transitions as critical shifts in hierarchy, which have left us with the secular nation we are today.15 The previous European feudal system was a hierarchical, mediated access society through which individuals were linked to the community by an aspect of it, i.e. the king. With the rise of the public sphere in terms of market economies and the modern state citizenship, people began conceiving themselves as directly participating in a nationwide discussion. This imagined direct access we enjoy as a nation is a face of modern equality and individualism: the heterogeneity of hierarchical belonging has now been abolished and hence we are more uniform in society, therefore equal.16 This secular understanding allowed us to imagine society as horizontal and therefore unrelated to higher powers. During the last half of the 18th century, the American Revolution and its social contract theory permitted the public to believe they can exist independently of political institutions, thus providing the background to the legitimate will of the people in authority.17 Traditional despotisms expected the public to remain passive and obey the law. This requirement was all the more feasible because of the religious onus placed on the apparent sacred selection of the ruler i.e. the divine right of the king. Modern democracy is able to ask more than passivity from the nation members must be motivated to give taxes, go to war and have some participation in governance.18 Through secularisation the European system changed from a quasi theocracy to democracy, therefore significantly decreasing religions role in contemporary society. Democracies today require a strong commitment from citizens, as a free society has to substitute for despotic enforcement with self-enforcement. Without the nations belief in the government and their political system, the government ceases to be legitimate. Hence, it is in the
Pierucci, AF (2000), Secularisation in Max Weber. On Current Usefulness of Reaccessing that Old Meaning Brazilian Review of Social Sciences, Speacial issue, no 1 October 12 Bhargava, R (ed) 1998, Secularism and its Critics. Delhi : Oxford University Press.
11 13

Descartes, R , Translated by LJ Lafleur, (1960), Discourse on the Method and Meditations. New York: The Liberal Arts Press 14 Berger, P. (ed). 1999. The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics . Washington, D.C.: Ethics and Public Policy Center; 15 Taylor, C. 1998. Modes of Secularism, in R. Bhargava (ed) Secularism and its Critics. Calcutta: Oxford University Press, pp. 31-53.
16 17 18

Asad, T. 2003. Formations of the Secular. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Bruce, S (2003) Politics and Religion, Cambridge: Polity Crouch, C. 2000. The Quiet Continent: Religion and Politics in Europe, in David Marquand and R. Nettler (eds) Religion and Democracy. Blackwell, pp. 90-103.

5 states interests to cultivate a healthy degree of nationalism, identification with polity and a willingness to give of oneself within society.19 Religion has become marginalised almost linearly with the proliferation of secularism and democracy as the state builders reach for secularism as a unifier of the masses.20 This is ironic as religion was in fact, described by Marx as opium to the masses.21 Religion is seen by many as an institution in which citizens hold a specific, unwavering belief, where as politics requires an open minded, secular and academic response to a specific social issue. It can be construed as dangerous to incorporate religion into politics, as public policy is such a relative institution. Alexis de Tocqueville in 1835 said, the spirit of religion and that of freedom almost always move in contrary directions.22 The deduction can be made that a secular government is the best relationship available. Stepan, on the other hand believes that secularism is not an intrinsic part of the definition of democracy.23 He suggests that Christianity is multi-vocal concerning democracy and the twin tolerations (religion and politics); therefore there is a misinterpretation about the importance of religions removal from political agenda. There is not enough of a compromise between secularism and religion in terms of democracy as it stops short of democratic bargaining with futile liberal arguing. If the following scholars are accurate, then perhaps society does need to follow Stepans advice and reach a mutually beneficial balance between the religion and politics. Stark and Bainbridge believe that religion is so psychologically bound to the human condition; it will never cease to exist in society.24 Jeffery Hadden is of the opinion that secularism constitutes a dogma, which therefore is not a well-tested theory as it is not based on a systemic set of interrelated propositions. Berger, a previous advocate of the secularization theory decided that the religious impulse is such a perennial feature of humanity that complete secularism would require a near mutation of the species to extinguish this impulse for good.25 He continues to reckon that if mainstream religion loses authority, new forms will emerge in compensation. Bryan Wilson reasons that secularisation is unstoppable and will prevail.26 He accounts new religious movements such as that of Islam and Evangelical fundamentalism as inconsequential to society and considers them unable to contribute or integrate into society. They are simply adaptations of religion in order to fit new social circumstances and will not have any resurgent effect because enormous social changes brought about the rise of secularism which are not reversing. Wilson believes that religion has been reduced to an exotic consumer item in a society that is dominated by impersonal bureaucracies.27 Stark and Bainbridge believe that as

19

Berger, P. (ed). 1999. The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics . Washington, D.C.: Ethics and Public Policy Center; 20 Crouch, C. 2000. The Quiet Continent: Religion and Politics in Europe, in David Marquand and R. Nettler (eds) Religion and Democracy. Blackwell, pp. 90-103.
21 22

Marx, K (1844) A Contribution to the Critique of Hegels Philosophy of Right, Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher Bhargava, R. (ed.) 1998. Secularism and its Critics. Delhi: Oxford University Press. A (2000) Religion, Democracy and the Twin Tolerations. Journal of Democracy, vol 11, no 4, pp 37-57

23Stepan, 24

Simpson, J, (1990) The Stark-Bainbridge Theory of Religion Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol 29, no 3, September 25 Berger, P. (ed). 1999. The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics . Washington, D.C.: Ethics and Public Policy Center; Beckford J (ed) (1993) Secularisation, Rationalism and Sectarianism: Essays in Honour of Bryan R Wilson, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
26

Beckford J (ed) (1993) Secularisation, Rationalism and Sectarianism: Essays in Honour of Bryan R Wilson, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
27

6 humans, we are calculating actors who are primarily motivated by a rewards and costs scheme.28 Due to secularism, this is even truer. Rewards can be thought of as human desires, which we would be prepared to incur costs in order to obtain. As contemporary society more frequently reaches for material rewards, we are often finding ourselves thwarted and have to turn to compensators through which we are pacified by the promise of a reward in the distant future. This contributor more often than not comes in the form of religion. Nevertheless, existing religious entities cannot offer the same rewards as previously because they are becoming increasingly rational and secular themselves. New religious movements are sometimes seen as a result of supply and demand because of the different needs of todays society and the failure of modern religion.29 Robert Bellah of the Durkheim tradition sees it differently. He believes that religions role in society will not decrease in importance as the secularisation theory expects. He asserts that religion will continue to play a public role in modern societies as the community rests on moral religious understanding.30 Religion is the most efficient institution at giving motivation and meaning to society. He counters the stereotypical premonitions for secularism and explains that even if religious symbol systems are rejected, issues of orientation and identity will always lead one back to religion. Ruckman and Greely indirectly agree with their view that secularisation is solely a decline in traditional religious forms.31 So, if we believe that religions role is ever changing, we can assume that the connecting factor which explains the link between religion and secularism is modernisation, as well as democracy. Berger admits that previously in the 1960s, he believed modernity meant a decline in religion, but now understands that they are not necessarily direct links. Modernity leads to religious pluralism through mass migration, urbanisation, literacy and technological innovation.32 As we are permanently being exposed to different religions, religious institutions can either accommodate itself to the change, or not. The religious economy model represents patterns of pluralism. Like commercial economies, religious economies flourish when they are untouched by the government. Finke claims that deregulation leads to pluralism, which leads to competition, which leads to specialisation of product and aggressive recruitment, which leads to a higher demand and therefore greater participation. Jose Casanova also prefers this natural explanation to the idea that modernity is linked to secularism.33 Jeffery Hadden decides that the opinion of a vanishing religion to be a consequence of social and cultural milieu of its time.34 It is no more than a convenience in order to make life for scholars easy through compliance with the evolutionary and functional model of secularisation. Many scholars insist that the world is as religious as it always was and secularism is only the norm for a small global minority. This

28

Simpson, J, (1990) The Stark-Bainbridge Theory of Religion Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol 29, no 3, September 29 Einstadt, SN, Multiple Modernities, Daedalus, vol 121, no 1, pp 1-29
30

Bellah, RN, (2011) Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age, President and Fellows of Harvard College 31 Taylor, C. 1998. Modes of Secularism, in R. Bhargava (ed) Secularism and its Critics. Calcutta: Oxford University Press, pp. 31-53.
32

Berger, P. (ed). 1999. The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics . Washington, D.C.: Ethics and Public Policy Center; 33 Cassanova J (1994), Public Religions in the Modern World 34 Einstadt, SN, Multiple Modernities, Daedalus, vol 121, no 1, pp 1-29

7 minority is divided between international intellectuals (of Western education) and Western Europe. Acts of collective worship are sometimes reduced to a way to understand ones surroundings and improve societys ties. Re/de-territorialisation is the process of an individual i.e. a migrant locating themselves in new landscapes generated by globalisation and corresponding modernisation. Migrants need to reterritorialise themselves through religion, as religion is the ultimate resource for route learning and way finding with moral and ritual landmarks.35 Emile Durkheim and Max Weber accept that secularisation is an inexorable outcome of the modern world and that as individuality increases, bonds of the community weaken and religion goes into decline. Weber takes the position that rationalisation characterises modernity and that traditional and charismatic systems are dominated by the spread of legal-rational systems. As societies modernise, individuals are relying more on rational explanations above religious ones.

35

Bellah, RN, (2011) Religion in Human Evolution: From the Palaeolithic to the Axial Age, President and Fellows of Harvard College

Conclusion Secularism is a crucial concept for understanding the role of religion in contemporary society, because it has set the intellectual paradigm; the boundaries through which we define what is and is not religion as well as the procedural mechanisms through which we engage with religion. It has created an artificial dichotomy, which poses problems to us as we deal with religious pluralism and resurgent/revival groups. As the research has determined, secularism is incredibly active and influential in many aspects of Western society. Nonetheless, as the theory of secularization predicted, religion is still very present in its adapted forms.

Bibliography Pierucci, AF (2000), Secularisation in Max Weber. On Current Usefulness of Reaccessing that Old Meaning Brazilian Review of Social Sciences, Speacial issue, no 1 October Cassanova J (1994), Public Religions in the Modern World Taylor, C. 1998. Modes of Secularism, in R. Bhargava (ed) Secularism and its Critics. Calcutta: Oxford University Press, pp. 31-53. Rebelais, F, translated by Sir Thomas Urquhart (1981), Gargantua and Pantagruel, Project Gutenberg. Berger, P. (ed). 1999. The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics . Washington, D.C.: Ethics and Public Policy Center; Wootton, D (1988), Lucien Febvre and The Problem of Unbelief in The Early Modern Period Journal of Modern History, vol 60, no 4. Asad, T. 2003. Formations of the Secular. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Bhargava, R. (ed.) 1998. Secularism and its Critics. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Shakman-Hurd, E. 2004. The Political Authority of Secularism in International Relations, European Journal of International Relations, vol 10, no. 2 Princeton University Press Einstadt, SN, Multiple Modernities, Daedalus, vol 121, no 1, pp 1-29 Descartes, R , Translated by LJ Lafleur, (1960), Discourse on the Method and Meditations. New York: The Liberal Arts Press Bruce, S (2003) Politics and Religion, Cambridge: Polity Crouch, C. 2000. The Quiet Continent: Religion and Politics in Europe, in David Marquand and R. Nettler (eds) Religion and Democracy. Blackwell, pp. 90-103. Marx, K (1844) A Contribution to the Critique of Hegels Philosophy of Right, DeutschFranzosische Jahrbucher Stepan, A (2000) Religion, Democracy and the Twin Tolerations. Journal of Democracy, vol 11, no 4, pp 37-57 Simpson, J, (1990) The Stark-Bainbridge Theory of Religion Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol 29, no 3, September Bellah, RN, (2011) Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age, President and Fellows of Harvard College

10 Beckford J (ed) (1993) Secularisation, Rationalism and Sectarianism: Essays in Honour of Bryan R Wilson, Clarendon Press, Oxford.