Scholars are not only casting doubt on the secularization hypothesis as it applies to global cultures; they are also finding that secularism itself, where it does occur, is not the extinction of religion.
Casting Doubt on an Assumed Trajectory
It has long been assumed that the rise of modernity will be accompanied by the decline of religion. According to this so-called secularization hypothesis, scientific and technological progress will make religion obsolete, making societies secular.
But the scholarly consensus today rejects the secularization hypothesis. That view, which is clearly the product of modernist assumptions, is simply incorrect. As societies have grown more modern, they have not become less religious. In fact, religion has often proven to be a modernizing influence. For example, Christianity in Africa—with its schools, hospitals, and egalitarian ethics—has played an important role in making that continent more modern. While it is true that Western Europe has become highly secular, that may be an outlier, not the norm. After all, the United States continues to lead the West in modern science, technology, and economics, while remaining quite religious. And modern China, India, Russia, and the Middle East are arguably more religious now than they have been for centuries.
This illuminating and insightful book analyzes problems with the culture’s underlying worldviews and suggests how Christians can offer solutions to current problems as a way to rebuild culture and faith.
Scholars are not only casting doubt on the secularization hypothesis as it applies to global cultures; they are also finding that secularism itself, where it does occur, is not the extinction of religion. Sociologist of religion Christian Smith marshals the research on secularism in his book Religion: What It Is, Why It Works, and Why It Matters.1
Professor Smith acknowledges that religions can fade, lose adherents, and change. But religion, he says, is innate to human beings, and hardly any society is truly without it:
No human society has existed that did not include some religion. A broad array of religions exists around the globe today, with a single religion dominating society in some places, while in others many traditions mix, morph, and clash. Efforts by some modern states to do away with religion have failed. Though thin and weak in some regions, religion is robust and growing in other parts of the world.2
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