Qualifying Secular Sacralizations

Abstract

We propose a model for qualifying the experiences that people have with “free floating objects and events of religion.” The theories of implicit religion or nonreligion do not offer such a refinement. With the help of Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age we conceptualize both religion and secularity in a positive way. Using Meerten ter Borg’s theory, we distinguish within the secular field three degrees of religiosity that are rather near to religion in the strict sense: (1) functional equivalents of religion, (2) moments of sacralization, and (3) fragments of sacralization. Some examples and analogies confirm the adequacy of this model.