I frequently describe our society as secular and it is. Sort of. Not really. So having made that clear let me try and explain. There are two competing claims: that the world is becoming less religious (and that being a good thing) and that the world is becoming more religious (and depending on your point of view that being a good thing). Clearer now?

Secularization is the process of change where people depend less and less on religious faith for meaning and comfort in their life. People see this happening in countries as they move from poor to rich. So it is explained thus:

This phenomenon reflects the fact that as societies develop, survival becomes more secure: starvation, once pervasive, becomes uncommon; life expectancy increases; murder and other forms of violence diminish. And as this level of security rises, people tend to become less religious.

Secularization doesn’t happen everywhere at once; it occurs when countries have attained high levels of existential security, and even then it usually moves at a glacial pace, as one generation replaces another. It can even reverse itself, with societies becoming more religious if they experience prolonged periods of diminished security. Secularization has been gradually taking place since the nineteenth century, starting with the societies of western Europe and North America that were most secure economically and physically and then spreading to more and more parts of the world.¹

So basically, the richer and safer you are the less religious a society is likely to be. You don’t need God to provide for you (don’t need him for daily bread), you can choose your lifestyle (you don’t need his will to be done), justify your choices (no need for forgiveness or to avoid temptation) and so on.

Yet even if religion, as most have encountered it, is declining it does not mean that people have stopped being believers. They are just believing in different things. So much so that some researchers have already started using the term post-secular. As this recent study from Iceland, a thoroughly post-Christian and secular country, suggests,

Its findings suggest that processes which may appear as unrelated or opposing forces—the emergence of new religious movements, the transformation of traditional religious symbols into profane branding, far-right nationalist movements—may be part of a single, post-secularization process. Secularization, having fissured the sacred, leaves religion a pliable cultural tool.²

These processes have led to a true pluralism in many societies which could be an opportunity for discussion, dialogue and witness. but there is also an increasing tendency, especially from the left, to muzzle religious voices. They are indeed doing what they accused religions of doing and demonstrating not-very tolerant attitudes along the way.

1. https://www.foreignaffairs.comworld/2020-08-11/religion-giving-god [↩]
2. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/politics-and-religion/article/when-the-gods-fall-varieties-of-postsecularization-in-a-small-secularized-state/6D295D03C68F42D62E4F8BE187A936B4 [↩]