Religious Involvement in a Secularized Society: An Empirical Confirmation of Martin's General Theory of Secularization

Abstract

Secularization is a loaded concept, both theoretically and emotionally. It has been used in diverse ways' and is rightly referred to as a multidimensional concept.2 But diversity is not necessarily a bad thing. What confuses and often obstructs the study of secularization is the lack of agreement over its intellectual validity as a scientific notion. Secularization is really a very controversial concept. Some sociologists have actually gone as far as to call for its elimination,3 while others have claimed it to be largely a myth.4 Following Glasner and Martin,5 I would argue that the intricacy of the notion of secularization lies in (a) the fact that there is a distinction that should be made between religion on the one hand, and what Glasner refers to as 'the religious' on the other, and (b) the wrong view that secularization operates in a socio-historical and cultural vacuum. That religion, as an identifiable system of beliefs and practices that find expression in and through the institution of the Church,6 is distinct from the all-too-human urge to seek and evolve ideational meaning systems and then endow these with a faith that is very akin to what we usually associate with religious fervour (hence 'the religious'), regardless of whether these explanatory varadigms involve the postulation of a transcendental reality or not, is not only a justifiable and rational distinction to make, but a very useful one too. The introduction of this distinction between religion and 'the religious' is useful, in thal; it throws light on much of the sociological literature on secularization and, in particular, the debate over the