}process of gradual, systematic separation of society and individuals from religious logic
}refers to diverse contexts of human activity: economy, state and politics, law, traditions, moral
values, family patterns, education
}Materialistic concept of life
}Acting as if God did not exist
}Desacralisation of morality
}

}individualised religious model consisting of certain elements of faith, ethics and rituals
}decrease in religiosity and religion’s significance
}needs and conditions of the modern society
}secularisation as a socio-structural relevance of privatisation of religious choices

}Simultaneously with:
}commercialisation,
}improvements in life standards,
}social individualisation/atomisation,
}pluralisation
}
}product of West European Christian culture
}mainly in modern industrial societies but: only in Europe?
}

}the influence of the Enlightenment,
}the French Revolution
}the Reformation

}rationalisation, scientific progress, the development of the modern idea of state
}A. Soroush: in the Enlightenment the meaning and the mutual relations between rights and
responsibilities changed- rights became the priority

}the idea of the laic state
}‘civil religion’- religious elements of ‘civil thought’
}T. Asad: although many forms of political life include certain kinds of practices, symbols and
rituals, they do not determine nor indicate the religious character of nationalism
}

}Individualism
}idea of separation of church and state
}J. Beckford: correlation between the increasing dominance of Protestant communities and the
formation of modern states based on the idea of mutual sovereignty of state institutions and
religious communities

}P. Norris & R. Inglehart:
}the tendency towards secularisation correlates positively with wealth
}increase in religiosity on a global scale and demographic factors: more children are born in
developing countriesà the demographical discrepancy between traditionally religious societies and
western secularised culture deepens
}

}Security:
}freedom from military conflict,
}Freedom from the hazards caused by environment, natural disasters, diseases, famine, violence,
fear and poverty

}Cultural traditions:
}religious factors influence each nation’s tradition and history, identity and culture
}E.g. secularised western societies like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, have
strong religious (Christian) traditions and values
}historical background and cultural tradition of a nation also influence the shape of the
confessions in society
}

}Religious similarities, e.g. in the areas of the ethics of work, attitudes toward sexuality,
perception of democratic principles
}norms and values represented by certain cultures, e.g. rooted in the tradition of Islam, Hinduism,
Confucianism or Orthodox Church, were shaped by religious ideasà influence on those who do not
identify themselves with certain religious communities
}Critics of their theory!

}National tradition
}Religious tradition
}Age
}Education
}Gender
}Material status
}Rural/urban areas
}
}Critics of the secularisation thesis

}Faith
}Belief (in God, Heaven and Hell, „the spiritual”)
}Church attendance
}Prayer
}Moral issues
}

}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}Source: A. Schnabel, M. Hjerm, How the Religious Cleavages of Civil Society Shape National
Identity

http://europeanmission.redcliffe.org/vista-communicating-research-and-innovation/the-values-of-euro
pe-family-work-society-politics-and-religion/





Source: Pew Forum 2009 report



http://www.pewforum.org/2011/01/27/future-of-the-global-muslim-population-regional-europe/



http://www.pewforum.org/2011/01/27/future-of-the-global-muslim-population-regional-europe/



}EU: about 1,100,000 Jews
}














}



Atheism vs. Theism
Agnosticism vs. Gnosticism