Nowadays, the process of globalization in the world has a strong tendency to affect all the important areas of human life. From day to day global culture becomes more and more autocratic in every land; even in such lands where it can be hardly expected to happen so. The global culture is mostly affected by the western values including the western religious values. Post-modern tendencies in the development of religious thought led to the development of secularism theories. Overall, the main contributions by the representatives of different schools exploring secularization tendencies are in establishing a close connection between global economical tendencies, political developments, and the decline in the popularity of religion on a global scale.
The Impact of Globalisation on Modernity
Modernity, or the complex cultural perceptions and social relations that appeared in the world with the development of capitalism, are greatly affected by the process of globalization nowadays. Globalisation is the characteristic feature of the global politics. Thus, all the world countries are involved in the process. The main aspect of the process is the emergence of global consciousness which makes people follow the principles of globalisation. Moreover, speaking about globalisation, the scholars focus on the peculiarities of the economic development of countries and their interconnectedness in this field. Globalisation as the phenomenon typical for the contemporary society is predominantly based on such economic issues as the effective trade and the global cycle of finances. That is why globalisation is the significant factor of the development of the international relations. Economic and political globalisation that is taken to the point of unprecedented global integration causes the formation of religious traditionalism on a global level. Global religious mindset is now subjected to the western impact that causes the boost of the process of secularization in the world3. This is explained by the breakdown of religious values in the western countries. Modernity has an immense influence on the development of religious thought by the representatives of different schools of interpretation of the processes of Secularisation. According to Omar Lizardo and Michael Strand.
Recent writings on the relevance of postmodernism for contemporary inquiry in social theory appear to have largely converged in reaching the conclusion of the increasing waning of concern with the modern/postmodern religious problematic and its gradual replacement by the notion of religious globalization. Postmodernism has thus been tamed and safely integrated into the current social order where the place of religion is greatly affected by the concepts of secularism.
In general, this influence can be evaluated as religious decline in modern-day globalized society. People tend to pay more attention to material values and self-realization than to religious matters. This concept is reflected by modern secularization sociologists and philosophers from different angles. According to “Future Directions in the Sociology of Religion”.
Religious pluralism in the world tends to corrode the certainties of traditional faith for believers who previously occupied religiously homogeneous settings, tends to mobilize religious entrepreneurs into promotional activities to recruit more adherents, tends to exert homogenizing influences that reduce the distinctions between different religious groups, producing organizational isomorphism.
This situation explains why the decline in the popularity of religion in the world acquires such a scale.
The Major Theorists of the Genealogies of Modernity and Post-Modernity
Among the major theorists of modernity and post-modernity are Carl Marx, Emmanuel Kant, Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Peter Berger, Jean Baudrillard, Jurgen Habermas, and Zygmunt Bauman. Below, some of major contributions to the development of postmodern thought will be addressed.
Carl Marx is considered to be some of the major philosophers of modernity. He aimed to replace faith by the power of reason, and religion by science. Marx argued that with the beginning of the process of industrialization, modernity had increased that caused the decline of social significance of religion. Reflecting on the major developments in the post-industrial world, Marx emphasised the role of economy in changing social conceptions existing in society. His famous work on capital contained a number of facts showing that modern tendencies existing in the development of society including the attachment to material values alienate humanity form religious matters that becomes a strong foundation for the development of secularization thought.
Emmanuel Kant argued that people need to free themselves from the bondage of a religion for the attainment of an enlightened society. Kant argues that people submit to guardianship by religion not only because of the comfort guaranteed, but also because they, the people, feel inadequate to explore new territories without the help of religious guardians. Therefore, religious guardianship involuntarily instills fear in people and instead encourages them to seek help whenever in doubt. This, according to Kant, is inappropriate as it restricts people from being enlightened. Kant’s answers to the question on what constitutes enlightenment have been embraced and widely used by many scholars, teachers and clergymen, especially those who want to free their students from the fear of making personal choices. Followers of Kant’s philosophies encourage their students to think beyond religious dogma, academic disciplines and restrictive social norms. Kant’s followers believe in their own importance and that of their own conscience over commonly held beliefs. Through his assumedly liberating philosophies, Kant has created a legion of loyal followers, who ascribe to his rules, regulations and guidance on individual freedom. This implies that Kant himself is an authority, and thus, can be seen as a guardian as well. His followers do not live in the realms of free conscience un-impinged by alien guidance. Consequently, his follower’s sense of freedom and emancipation exists within the rules he prescribed, and thus influenced by his guardianship.
Émile Durkheim believed that religion had an important role as a society cohesion mechanism. In his famous work, “Elementary Forms of Religious Life”, he made an effort to explore the basic forms of religion and religious life existing within different societies. In this book, Durkheim makes a conclusion that religious organization of a particular society reflects the point of view of this society on the basic concepts of its organization. For example, Australian aboriginal society that worships totems sees the concepts of its organization in such a way in which it organizes its totem worship traditions. Thus, religion is nothing more than a way to reflect on the principles of organization by this society. Durkheim shows religion as something real, not as a fake as the majority of the other philosophers do. This is explained by the fact that he believes that religion has an important social role. For Durkheim, religion is a way of expressing collective conscience in societies.
Max Weber is considered to be one of the most prominent philosophers that explored secularism during the period of modernity. His works are used as a foundation for many theories of secularism nowadays. Weber majorly approached religious matters from the point of view of economical sociology. His main works are “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”, “The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism”, and “Economy and Society”. In these works, Weber shares his position regarding the connection of religion and rising of different social phenomena. He sees religion as a motivation factor for the formation of new social structures. In particular, in “Economy and Society”, he expresses his idea that capitalism emerged as a consequence of Calvinist thought. Among the most important findings by Weber is the identifying of three model types of religious attitudes. In addition, Weber defined magic as a sort of religious activity, but he stated that magic was a pre-religious phase of social activity.
Edmund Husserl was a famous Christian philosopher and a scientist whose works lit more light on the development of postmodernist thought. He argued that religion should be approached as a means of understanding intentional consciousness that would provide the methodological starting-point for the investigation of our shared, public and objective world and the structures that allow people to understand that world. Husserl thinks that an individual can analyze experience in abstraction from one’s actual environment, and the only important condition for such analysis is religious approach. According to Husserl, the foundations of logic can be clarified by means of religion and psychology, and religion has the most important role in the process of such clarification.
Martin Heidegger was the most prominent follower of Edmund Husserl, and in a number of areas he managed to excel his teacher. In exploring the nature of human existence, Heidegger is concerned with general structures of human experience; he is especially interested with human religious experience. In many respects Heidegger stands outside the realm of traditional religious thought. He exalts religion as a higher source of human knowledge that helps humanity ascend to the extremities of understanding. He argues that religion plays a central role in the process of development, and reflecting on this fact, it is better for humanity to leave the dangerous paths of secularization.
Peter Berger is famous for his outstanding achievements in the area of sociology of religion. The most prominent works by Berger are “The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge”, “The Sacred Canopy”, “Facing up to Modernity”, and “The Capitalist Spirit: Toward a Religious Ethic of Wealth Creation”. In these works, his explores the impact of economy on the situation in religious sphere. The most important contribution by Berger is the study of religion at the level of “meta-theory”. Using the meta-theoretical approach, he made a conclusion that pluralism leads to secularization. Berger’s vision of secularization theory was in endorsing the view that there is an intrinsic link between modernization and secularization. Despite his massive contribution to secularization theory, Peter Berger has never ceased paying attention to the fate of religion on the ground. He believed that secularization will not become the final stage of the development of religion in human society.
Jean Baudrillard’s contribution represents an attempt to establish a general theory of two fundamental social forms: the one based on secularism, and the one having its foundations in religion. In one sense, it is evident an attempt to rewrite Durkheim’s two basic fundamental social forms, but Baudrillard develops the theory of two fundamental social forms in a more detailed way offering more specifications from the contributions of the other philosophers of postmodernism.
Jurgen Habermas’s work was directed into studying the new paradigm of social philosophy that began with Heidegger’s deconstructive account of the destiny of the West. The main focus of his studies was in secularism researches. He came to a conclusion that the conditions existing in postmodern industrial society will lead to a final secularization of the world’s society.
Zygmunt Bauman argued that modernity is a wake of humanity from a long period of darkness. He relates the development of modern thought to the development of secularism phenomenon. Bauman was intereseted in developing models in which societies produced themselves, and in the impact of religion on societies.
Different Schools of Interpretation of the Process of Secularisation
There exist a number of schools that research the process of secularization. Among the most influential of them are the meta-theory school founded by Peter Berger, the Calvinist school founded by Max Weber, the demand-side theory school founded by Émile Durkheim, and the supply-side school founded by Zygmunt Bauman.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be stated that modernity has been strongly affected by globalization. Its influence can be seen in many areas, and especially in the area of religion. Nowadays, the spread of secularization ideas in society is mind-blowing. The situation with the decline in the popularity of religion is unprecendented. The representatives of diffferent socialogiclal and philosophical schools studying seculararism tendencies expalin such decline by the global impact of economy and politics. Among the most influential sociologists and philosophers whose contributions became critically impornat for nderstanfding modern secularism are Max Weber, Peter Berger, Émile Durkheim, and Zygmunt Bauman.
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