Religious Pluralization and Secularization in Continental Europe, with Focus on France and Germany

Abstract

Change processes are taking place in different European countries, based on different contextual backgrounds, with diverse motives, actors, and aims, but nevertheless in a way that similarly affects both religious pluralization and secularization. In European societies, religious pluralization is not only a fact, but it also poses a challenge for a better or a new understanding of the different religions themselves and for the role they play in society. The following contribution focusses on France and Germany, with special attention to one of the federal German states: Hamburg. The results show: A new interest in religion and interreligious dialogue on the one hand, and an ongoing secularization on the other are not in confrontation but related to each other. Despite an institutional tradition of separation between state and religion especially in France, there is a growing awareness that attention to religion need not counteract this tradition but may be necessary as an instrument including all parts of a religiously and culturally diverse population. This is also the case, in a different and striking manner, in Germany as a whole and in Hamburg in particular. We find a new interest in religion and dialogue in many different academic disciplines as well as by actors from different religious communities, in school, society, and politics.