Sacred and Secular Religion and Politics Worldwide [Hardcover]

This book demonstrates that although advanced societies have been moving toward secular orientation, the world has more people with traditional religious views.Nineteenth-century thinkers predicted that religion would gradually fade in importance with the emergence of industrial society, and the belief that religion was dying became the conventional wisdom in the social sciences during most of the twentieth century. Today, religion has not disappeared and is unlikely to do so, but the concept of secularization captures an important part of what is going on. In this context, this book develops a theory of secularization and existential security. This second edition confirms that the publics of advanced industrial societies have been moving toward more secular orientations during the past fifty years, but also that the world as a whole now has more people with traditional religious views than ever before.Nineteenth-century thinkers predicted that religion would gradually fade in importance with the emergence of industrial society, and the belief that religion was dying became the conventional wisdom in the social sciences during most of the twentieth century. Today, religion has not disappeared and is unlikely to do so, but the concept of secularization captures an important part of what is going on. In this context, this book develops a theory of secularization and existential security. This second edition confirms that the publics of advanced industrial societies have been moving toward more secular orientations during the past fifty years, but also that the world as a whole now has more people with traditional religious views than ever before.Seminal nineteenth-century thinkers predicted that religion would gradually fade in importance with the emergence of industrial society. The belief that religion was dying became the conventional wisdom in the social sciences during most of the twentieth century. The traditional secularization thesis needs updating, however, rlÃ*