...and Secularism” and “Rethinking Secularism” the authors do just that. What we find is that secularism is related to differentiation—keeping different aspects of social life separate and specifically differentiating between religion and the state. The forms of secularism vary depending on the religious composition of the nation. Secular is derived from the Latin word saeculum, a unit of time roughly equal to the maximum life expectancy of person (Calhoun 38). In the Middle Ages, this notion of impermanence was extended to mean ‘the world’, as opposed to the Church. ‘Secular’ priests worked out in the world at local parishes while ‘religious’ priests worked within the seclusion of a monetary (Kosmin 2). Later, during the Reformation, secularization referred to the seizure and reappropriation of Church property for non-religious use (Kosmin 2). Thus secular began to indicate a separation from the Church or the divine. However, It wasn’t until the 18th century that secularism as a core element of a nation’s political realm developed. The American and the French Revolutions produced the two main “intellectual and constitutional traditions of secularism”— a “soft secularism” and a “hard secularism” (Kosmin 2). The variations are a reflection of the symbolic and cultural encoding of the religious legacies in national institutions and mentalities. In France, the absolutist monarchy tied its legitimacy in the Catholic religion (Kosmin 2). The Revolution against the State was therefore...
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...Perhaps, some might bemoan the advent of a secular Ireland. Evaluate this statement. The process of ‘secularization’ can be described as the process of organizing society around non-religious values or principles. In otherwards, the state would no longer offer preferential treatment to religion from the equal rule of law. This would rather give the space for individuals of all creeds to grow their beliefs based on their own values and not the values imposed on them by the state. Secularization aims to allow each indivudal to pursue their own beliefs on religion. The value of secularism is best described by Mahatma Gandhi, who said: “If I were a dictator, religion and state would be separate. I swear by my religion. I will die for it. But it is my personal affair. The state has nothing to do with it. The state would look after your secular welfare, health, communications, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody’s personal concern!” In recent years, many have questioned whether Ireland has become a secularised society. The findings of recent surveys suggest that the Irish continue to be religious but that they lack confidence in church leadership. Indeed, “Russians have more confidence in their religious leaders than the Irish”. This is said to be mainly due to the “well publicised cases of sexual and physical abuse by clergy and religious”. The lack of confidence in Churhces and religious organisations can be seen in Figure 6 in which...
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...SUMMARY OF PETER BERGER, THE SACRED CANOPY CHAPTER 1: RELIGION AND WORLD-CONSTRUCTION CHAPTER 2: RELIGION AND WORLD-MAINTENANCE CHAPTER 3: THE PROBLEM OF THEODICY CHAPTER 5: THE PROCESS OF SECULARIZATION CHAPTER 1: RELIGION AND WORLD-CONSTRUCTION Berger begins his interpretation of religion by observing that very little in human life is determined by instinct. Because we humans have a relatively short gestation period in the womb (compared to other species), we don't have time to develop very elaborate instinctual equipment. We have very few instincts, and the ones we have are quite weak. So we have few specific responses to specific stimuli "patterned" into us. This means that in every situation we have a very large range of options for responding. We are constantly forced to choose how to interact with the world. In Berger's terminology, we must choose how to "externalize" ourselves, which means how to relate to and shape the environment around us. (Berger claims that in this respect we are different from all other animal species. He may well be wrong about other animal species; other animals may be a lot like us. But that doesn't mean he is wrong about human life.) Every time we externalize ourselves we change the environment, which creates a new set of choices to be faced. since the relationship between self and world is always changing, we are always "off balance." What we want more than anything else, according to this sociological view, is to be in balance--to...
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...The secularization is a process which describes the loss of importance of the widespread religious lifestyle and the sacred behaviours in front of a scientific point of view on the reality and a non-religious set of values. Indeed philosophical and scientific methods allowed not to consider a concept or a statement as sacred and immutable but they sharpened the social changes. This process has started in Europe during the Age of Enlightenment with the scientific discoveries of physicians and chemicals and with the development of social sciences and humanist philosophy. Secularization spread in the second half of the twentieth century; in particular it had a strong incentive after the second World War because of the industrialization process and the economic globalization. I strongly believe that even if Secularization started in Europe, it does not concern just the western world; for instance in some other societies (non-western countries) the role of the sacred has been replaced with technologies, modern education, scientific medicine and modern political and judicial systems. In addition to this the globalization is also a great communications medium between different societies which diffuses non-religious systems of knowledge, common values and datum points. In my opinion people should be Eurocentric for thinking that secularization concern just Europe; the distinction between the sacred and the profane is not only a prerogative of the Christianity, I think it is a system...
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...beliefs and more towards arguments such as science. However, many argue this isn’t happening, or that it isn’t exclusive to Europe. In addition, it is a highly contested concept, where there are deep methodological and theoretical debates over what it is, how to measure it or if it is occurring. It is often contested there was a golden age of faith, and those who suggest secularization is occurring need to prove society was more religious. The idea of this golden age is based on the belief that everyone previously went to church, but there lies problems in examining the past. Historical data records are sparse and there were no opinion polls or interviewers to carry our surveys to explore this, and therefore this argument lacks validity, reliability and representativeness. The idea of Golden age is far-fetched, however, as it was found by the first Census of religion in 1851 on England and wales that 40% of the population attended church. This suggests that there is no secularization, as European countries such as England weren’t largely religious then and there are not so now, so secularization hasn’t taken place. Secondly, Christianity still remains strong in the UK. Pentecostal denominations are growing, and evangelical Christianity is the fastest growing form of religion. Evangelical Christianity is a form of fundamentalism, where god’s literal word is taken and they believe in the second coming of Christ. With strict rules and beliefs such as anti-witchcraft and...
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...religious beliefs and more towards arguments such as science. However, many argue this isn’t happening, or that it isn’t exclusive to Europe. In addition, it is a highly contested concept, where there are deep methodological and theoretical debates over what it is, how to measure it or if it is occurring. It is often contested there was a golden age of faith, and those who suggest secularization is occurring need to prove society was more religious. The idea of this golden age is based on the belief that everyone previously went to church, but there lies problems in examining the past. Historical data records are sparse and there were no opinion polls or interviewers to carry our surveys to explore this, and therefore this argument lacks validity, reliability and representativeness. The idea of Golden age is far-fetched, however, as it was found by the first Census of religion in 1851 on England and wales that 40% of the population attended church. This suggests that there is no secularization, as European countries such as England weren’t largely religious then and there are not so now, so secularization hasn’t taken place. Secondly, Christianity still remains strong in the UK. Pentecostal denominations are growing, and evangelical Christianity is the fastest growing form of religion. Evangelical Christianity is a form of fundamentalism, where god’s literal word is taken and they believe in the second coming of Christ. With strict rules and beliefs such as anti-witchcraft and...
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...Martin Luther had different views on the catholic religion and he tried to express them to the people in his 95 theses. The catholic leaders did not appreciate that so they went ahead and made Luther a heretic which in turn made Charles V (Leader of HRE at the time) to write the Edict of Worms which also made Luther an enemy of the state. The powers were so closely tied here, you could not just be an enemy of the catholic religion, you would also be an enemy of the state. This started the questioning that religion should not be tied with political power. Luther only questioned religious views on Catholicism had nothing to do with anything political related. We call the start of religious power declining for greater state control secularization. Secularization is when a society slowly separation from a close identification with religious values to an institution that is not religious and relies on laws and politics. One great example of the decline of religious power for greater state control was the movement called the Enlightenment. The enlightenment called people to question everything their government, religious...
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...Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian politician, historian, and author of The Prince, a novel written in 1513 about the rise to political power and maintaining political power. Through Machiavelli’s text we gain insight to politics during the Renaissance and learn Machiavelli’s thoughts on what makes a good leader. Even though the book was written in specific after Machiavelli had been tortured for a week as a prisoner after the fall of the Florentine Republic, we still use The Prince as a foundation for political theory as the book transcends historical moments. By comparing The Prince to Jacob Burckhardt, analyzing Machiavelli’s principles, and looking into Machiavelli’s notion of virtù we are able to better comprehend the Italian Renaissance and how an article written for a specific historical moment can still be used as a political foundation. Jacob Burckhardt was a historian of art and culture and the author of, “The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy,” which laid the foundation for our understanding of the renaissance. Now how does that play into the text, The Prince? Burckhardt brought to light two main concepts that play defining roles in what we understand of the renaissance. The first of these two concepts is individuality. Up until the 14th century, at the beginning of the Italian Renaissance, people didn’t view themselves as individuals and therefore didn’t identify in an individualistic light. Before the Renaissance people always identified as a part of something...
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...society's future attitude toward religion. Religion developed early in human history. There exists a disagreement between scientists on what caused it to come about. Some state that religion has evolutionary advantages and thus was pushed into existence by natural selection. Others state that religion is merely the by product of past biological mechanisms in the brain that used to serve some other purpose. We are going to explore Secularization theory. Secularization theory puts forth the idea that as a society progresses technologically and socially, the importance of religion in peoples lives decreases. Religion was used to explain things outside of our understanding. As we begin to unlock the mysteries of nature using science and rational thought, the need for religion to explain these things goes away. Some claim that religion is humanities moral center and that without it society will break down into anarchy; however there have been several scientific studies done to show that morality is ingrained in us biologically. Based on Secularization theory it stands tor reason more advanced countries will be more secular and less religious. So if we compare some secular countries to religious ones we should be able to confirm or deny this hypothesis. Secular countries for example...
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...Introduction to Sociology – HW 4 Directions: All homework (HW) assignments must be typed and numbered in the text box provided. Answers to all questions should be well-written (i.e. clear, complete sentences) and well thought out. 1. Do you believe that the traditional family should be saved? Why or why not? This response should be a minimum of 1 solid paragraph. A traditional family usually is a family that keeps together and has some kind of a dictatorship usually the father figure. They believe in certain type of religion and where the mother has to stay at home and take care of the children while the husband goes to work and provides for the family. I personally believe that maybe having that type of family is not bad if it keeps them happy, but it is not necessary to keep around. There is nothing bad with different types of families. The type of family does not matter it does not have to be the picture-perfect family that the media projects; A family by definition is a social institution found in all societies that unites people in cooperative groups to care for one another, including any children. Weather the family should be saved or not depends weather the people want it or not if that is what the members of the family want. Maybe having a few around is not a bad to probably look back and refer to the start of a family. 2. How serious a problem is single-parent childrearing? How ought our society respond to this concern? This response should be a minimum of 1 solid...
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...ularism Modern Myths, Locked Minds by T. N. Madan Introduction: Scope, methods and Concepts 1. Secularization, secularism, Christian tradition and the Enlightenment: a brief history T. N. Madan differentiates between secularism, secularization and secularity. 1) Secularization refers to socio cultural processes in which the role of the sacred is progressively limited; 2) Secularism is the ideology that argues for the historical inevitability and progressive nature of secularization everywhere and 3) Secularity is the resultant state of society. The term "secularism" was first used by the British writer Holyoake in 1851 to describe his views of promoting a social order separate from religion. The English word ‘secular’ comes from the Latin ‘saeculum’, which means ‘an age’ or ‘the spirit of an age’ and has the same meaning as the Greek ‘aeon’. In general terms, secularism means “belonging to this age, or worldly” along with a denial of other worldly realities (i.e. religious). The Bible introduces the idea of divine creation in the book of Genesis. God speaks directly to Man in Genesis: “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it”. As Peter Berger, a social theorist notes that in this the idea of a secular world is sown as a God who stands outside of the Cosmos which is his creation. This opens the way for self making activity which Berger calls ‘historization’. Caesar was the emperor of Rome. In a famous passage Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things...
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...Assess the impact of cotemporary ideas of the present state of religion in the world. Clearly, the diversity of religions in the world has been a fact throughout the entire history of all the world's major living religious traditions. Nevertheless, this diversity has been made the basis for contention rather than community in many cases, and the monotheistic religions have often been among the worst offenders on this score. The strong tendency to display hostility toward different religious positions is connected with a strong tendency toward xenophobia and ethnocentrism. The study of religion in the modern world calls for theories, approaches and methods that engage with the issues and processes that have affected the world within the last two hundred years, such as the impact of colonialism and subsequent postcolonial developments, globalization and the rise of global religious movements. For a start, it is worth asking if secular states and their underlying ideology, political secularism, are really under siege everywhere. Secularism was severely jolted with the establishment of the first modern theocracy in 1979 in Iran. By the late 1980s, Islamic political movements had emerged in Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Chad, Senegal, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and even in Bangladesh. Movements challenging secular states were hardly restricted to Muslim societies. Protestant movements decrying secularism emerged in Kenya, Guatemala, and the Philippines...
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...SECULARISM IN INDIA : CONCEPT & PRACTICE Dr. Shriram Yerankar Associate Professor & Head, Deptt. of Political Science, Jijamata College, Buldana (M.S.) shriramyerankar@gmail.com Historical Background : The concept of secularism as we take it to mean today had originated in the 13th century Europe. But we can trace the philosophical concept of secularism in the writings of Kautilya, a thinker of ancient India, who lived in the 3rd century B.C. The history of Indian secularism the protest movements in the 5th century B.C. The three main protest movements were by the Charvaks, Buddhism and Jainism. All three of them rejected the authority of the Vedas and any importance of belief in a deity. It can thus be seen that the ancient thought had a profound impact on the development of the theory of secularism over the centuries. Writers differ about the origin of the concept of secularism as to whether it had its roots in the eastern or the western thought. D. E Smith says, “The Secular State is, in origin, a western not an Asian Conception. This is not to deny the obvious fact the certain elements of the ‘secular state – have a long tradition in Asia.’ The term “Secularism” was first used by the British writer George Holyoake in 1851. Although the term was new...
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...world, not the next. Without having to consider original sin from Adam and Eve, which would have made it impossible to achieve perfection. Unlike Puritans who believed they had to reach moral perfection to please God. Franklins deism allowed him to strive for this perfection. His strategy for accomplishing his goal was by following his thirteen virtues. He made a little brown book so he could recorded the faults he had that day. In his Autobiography Franklin hints at his secularization of virtue, “vicious actions are no harmful because they are forbidden, but forbidden because they are hurtful”(818). Franklin did not feel that he truly reached this perfection, mainly because, “inclination was sometimes too strong for reason”(913). Later stating that, “I was by the endeavor a better and happier Man than I otherwise should have been, if I had not attempted it”(917). As we look at Franklin’s thirteen virtues all of them deal with the betterment of oneself and mankind. Franklin has truly defined his secularization of...
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...stage from out of thin air (Am merman 1987). Although there were earlier movements [such as the Jewish Gush Emunim (the Bloc of the Faithful) in 1974], the Iranian Revolution was the first unmistakable indicator of a growing phenomenon. Fundamentalism also resurged in the United States, this time as a much more politically active strain. Fundamentalist movements emerged in most of the world’s religions on most of the earth’s continents. Something was happening. In a 1979 article, Ethridge & Feagin noted a lack of “a coherent sociological definition and theoretical context for the term fundamentalism” (p. 37). And no wonder. The accepted wisdom among those who studied religion and society was that societies were secularizing. According to secularization theories, religion was not supposed to resurge and take a center spot on a global stage. Sociologists fumbled to understand, and it took them nearly a decade to begin making serious progress. Indeed, many of the most notable early works on the relationship between fundamentalism and society were not written by sociologists. Duke religious historian Bruce Lawrence published an important book in 1989 that anticipated a growth in the study of fundamentalism as a sociological category. In Defenders of God: The Fundamentalist Revolt against the Modern Age, Lawrence (1989) argued that fundamentalism is an ideology rather than a theology and is formed in conflict with modernism. His study set the groundwork for sociology because in his work...
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