Aspects of secularization in the West

Abstract

I t has become fashionable among sociologists of to dispute the contention that this is a secular age. Some, like Luckmann, refer to man's ultimate concerns as his invisible religionas if religion were incapable of diminution. Others, such as David Martin, argue that this is no more secular than any other, and point to the relatively low degree of religious practice (in the churches) in past centuries. Yet others, and Andrew Greeley is conspicuous among them, point to the interests of the young in meditation, the establishment of new communes, and the emergence in the West of a number of exotic new cults from India, Korea, and the Middle East. Yet it seems to me true to assert that this in the West is secular in a sense that has never been true of any previous historical periodall the new marginal manifestations of religious curiosity notwithstanding. Let me deliberately correct that last statement. I t is not the age which is secular, in the sense that earlier sociologists and philosophers sometimes spoke of a cycle of ages. Rather, it is the structure of modern society that is secular. There may be a developmental sequence, at least with respect to Western society, but all that need be asserted is that there has been a developmental process in social organization. And modern social organization implies secularity.