Secularization theory proposes that modern societies are necessarily secular. Sociologists during the mid-twentieth century, building off the work of Max Weber and Talcott Parsons, argued that secularization was the inevitable consequence of modernization. Secularization meant that the sacred was privatized and that societal functions formerly performed by religious institutions were placed under the aegis of the State or other secular institutions. Religion was barred from the Habermasian public sphere, a relic consigned to the dust heap of modernity.

But during the 1970s and 80s sociologists and political scientists were confronted with the resurgence of religion in countries formerly thought to be secularized. The rise of the Religious Right in the US was matched by the growth of fundamentalisms around the globe. Clearly some of the assumptions of the secularization thesis need to be revised. Read the rest of this entry »

Today President Obama gave a speech at the Pentagon in remembrance of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Many other politicians joined him in honoring the officeworkers, policemen, and firefighters who died nine years ago. This public ceremony mirrored the thousands of other private ceremonies commemorating the nearly 3,000 lost husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers.

In a comment on Lincoln’s recent post about civil religion, Andrew asked a question that can perhaps be best answered on a day like today: “It seems like a significant portion of Americans…want to make Ground Zero sacred. Can they do so? How does it happen?” Read the rest of this entry »