Post-secularisation : the social significance of religious values in four Catholic European countries

Abstract

Since the beginning of sociology variants of the secularisation model have been employed to explain religious and social change. Depending on their understanding of religion and secularisation, sociologists have advanced divergent positions concerning the social significance of religion. Still others have questioned the significance of the sociological study of religion itself. In current sociology secularisation has become a multi-dimensional concept not easily verified or disproved by scientific investigation. At a time when many voices are heard about the return of the sacred and the impact of religion on society the need is felt for an approach that goes beyond the theory of secularisation. While we acknowledge secularisation as concomitant to modernisation, we observe the persistance of the traditional and the emergence of new forms of religion in post-modern society. Accordingly, a post-secularisation perspective is required in order to examine the social significance of the sacred and the secular in society. To enquire about the social significance of religion in today's world is to ask whether people find it meaningful to hold religious values and beliefs. Do they search for purpose and meaning in life? What are their religious values and beliefs? How does traditional religious practice and belief differ from new forms of religion? Are religious values related to social and political options? Do religious values orient people's decisions and action in society? The task of a post-secularisation approach is to account for the socially significant dimensions of religion in a secularised world.