The Fall and Rise of Religion

The Fall and The Rise of Religion

The world is a place of constant change where it is hard to predict how the outcome of certain transformations would affect other factors. Many sociologists and theorists thought that modernity and rationality brought by the enlightenment movement in 18th century would leave no place for religion in people’s lives. However, their secularist theories were proved wrong by the rise of sacralization which is verified by fundamentalist movements that stir up the world such as the Evangelical movement.

Peter Berger, who used to be a defender of the secularization theory, defines it “as a process in which religion diminishes in importance both in society and in the consciousness of individuals”(Berger, Secularization and De-Secularization ,291). It has been thought that the major reason for the fall of religion was the rise of modernity. However, looking at the heat that religion is bringing up in the world, such as the Evangelical movement and Islamic revival movement, Berger has come to believe that the world is as religious as it has been before only with some exceptions. He has concluded that secularity is not the norm of the world but the norm of a small minority which are the international intellectuals and Western Europe.

When Berger says international intellectuals, he aims to talk about people who receive “Western-style higher education, especially in the humanities and social sciences” (Berger, Secularization and De-Secularization, 293). This type of education leaves a secularizing effect on people who believe they represent the way of thinking of the outside world.

Berger also stresses on the importance that Europe is not the norm but the exception in terms of secularity. Religion may have lost its significance in Europe but it still has a big impact