Prospects for Religion in the Modern World

How an observer evaluates the place or prospects of religion in the modern world depends very much on their point of observation. Here we will examine the traditional "Western" perspective, then look at some major currents of religious activity today. Finally, we will explore the relation between :religion and modernity, considering some of the practical implications which emerge if the assumptions of secularization can no longer be taken for granted. One Of these concerns the study of international relations; others relate more closely to the representative organizations of the Christian churches, not least the World Council of Churches itself.

The secularization thesis -- the "traditional" Western view

One of the clearest accounts of what has become known as the secularization thesis can be found in Bruce (1996). Building on the work of the founding fathers of sociology, and more recently on that of Talcott Parsons, Peter Berger (1967), David Martin (1978) and Bryan Wilson (1982), Bruce sets out with admirable clarity what he feels are the necessary connections between the onset of modernity and the demise of traditional forms of religious life. The key is to be found in the Reformation, which hastened the rise of both individualism and rationality, two currents which were to change fundamentally the nature of religion and its place in the modern world. Bruce expresses these essential connections as follows: "[I]ndividualism threatened the communal basis of religious belief and behaviour, while rationality removed many of the purposes of religion and rendered many of its beliefs implausible" (1996: 230). The two qualities of individualism and rationality go together and epitomize the nature of modern cultural understanding.

The process should not be oversimplified; it is both complex and long-term. An underlying pattern -- which took four centuries to complete -- can none the less be discerned. For at least three of these centuries, religious controversy dominated much of Europe's political, military and cultural life, taking the form of competing convictions about the nature of God and his (sic) relationship to the individual believer (notably in the form of Catholic and Protestant understandings about the right -- and only -- way to salvation). This is, moreover, the time associated with the emergence of the nation-state as the effective form of political organization in Europe, a process inseparable from the break-up of Christendom. Only very gradually did a modus vivendi emerge as greater toleration of difference became the norm both within and among the states of Europe. But toleration is itself two-edged: it implies, following Bruce, a lack of Conviction, a capacity to "live and let live" which becomes not only dominant but pervasive. A further epistemological shift is, it seems, inevitable. In the late modern period the notion of God, him- or herself, becomes increasingly subjective; individuals simply "pick and mix" from the diversity of concepts on offer. Religion, like so many other things, has entered the world of options, life-styles and preferences. For the great majority, serious convictions are not only rejected from a personal point of view, they become difficult to comprehend altogether. Religious institutions evolve accordingly: church and sect give way, in Bruce's terminology, to denomination and cult -- forms of religious organization that reflect the increasing individualism of religious life. Notably absent is the overarching "sacred canopy", the all-encompassing religious frame expressed organizationally as the universal church. This no longer resonates in the modern world.

Critical voices

What, though, do we mean by this phrase the "modern world,"? Bruce is concerned with modern societies in so far as these display basically egalitarian cultures and democratic politics (1996: 232). In other words, he is concerned with modern Western democracies, including Europe (for the most part Western Europe), the United States and the English-speaking dominions (Canada, Australia and New Zealand). There is passing reference to Latin America. Even this relatively limited selection of societies reveals, however, widely different religious profiles. At one extreme can be found the Protestant cultures of Northern Europe with their tolerant and well-funded state churches, co-existing with low levels of religious practice and only moderate levels of religious belief (Sweden especially has epitomized these characteristics). At the other extreme lies the United States, also Protestant in culture but with an astonishing range of vibrant churches alongside extraordinarily (from a European point of view) high levels of religious belief. In between can be found (a) the Catholic cultures of Southern Europe, rather more intact than their Protestant neighbours but with historically strong oppositional or anti-clerical tendencies, and (b) the English-speaking dominions which display a half-way position between Europe and the New World. Even within modern Western democracies, then, individualism and rationality appear to have different cultural and social outcomes in different places; nor are they necessarily linked with each other.