Secular Religion: A Discourse–historical Approach to Religion in Contemporary Western Europe

In many countries in Western Europe today, religion is an important factor in public debates. Contrary to most expectations, religion has not vanished or even become subordinate under the influence of secularism. While this phenomenon has put the general theory of secularization under pressure, an alternative model for explaining the place of religion in Western Europe is only slowly taking shape. The present article is a contribution to this discussion. Making use of discourse analysis as it has been developed in the sociology of knowledge and in historiography, the article problematizes and transcends the secular–religious divide. It is argued that the entanglement of religious and secular discourses has produced new meanings and new realities since the rise of secularism in the eighteenth century. Four perspectives on the reconfiguration of the religious fields of discourse are introduced that have shaped contemporary religious landscapes in Western Europe. These perspectives are discussed with special attention to the situation in the Netherlands.     

Making Space for a Dialogical Notion of Religious Subjects: A Critical Discussion From the Perspective of Postsecularity and Religious Change in the West

In this article I address some topical themes from the ongoing discussion on contemporary religious change in the West and how it poses conceptual challenges to the study of religion. The academic discussion on religious change is vast and my observations are, of course, by necessity limited to my particular interest and argument in this article. On the one hand, I draw on some of the literature that has evolved within and around the concept of postsecularity and, on the other, on more general literature on contemporary religious change. Based on some selected observations, I underline the need to critically rethink how we conceptualize both religion and religious subjects. In my view, current research fosters a greater attentiveness of complexity with regard to religion, but simultaneously it requires us to take seriously a dialogical notion of religious subjects that provides a conceptual account of a subject constituted by being located within and emerging through ongoing social process. This dialogical notion provides a better tool for how current social and cultural reconfigurations of religion are simultaneously played out as a diversity of identities that challenge received categories, such as the religious and the secular.     

Pedagogies of piety: Comparing young observant Muslims and Christians in the Netherlands

In this article, I compare the active religious engagement found among many of today's young Dutch Muslims and Christians. I show that such comparison requires a move beyond the separate frameworks through which these groups are commonly perceived, found both in widely shared public discourses (‘allochthons’ versus ‘autochthons’) and in academic research (minority studies versus the sociology of religion). In their stead, this comparative analysis examines in what ways both groups give shape to observant religious practice in the shared context of contemporary Dutch society. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, I show that young Christians as well as Muslims participate in social settings of religious pedagogy, where they are encouraged to attain, sustain and improve personal piety in today's pluralist Dutch society. Such social participation does not preclude, but rather comes together with a strong emphasis on reflexivity and authenticity.     

Religiosity and Economic Development in Singapore

This paper examines religiosity in modern and industrialized Singapore. Several theories argue that economic development brings about secularization and the general decline of personal religiosity in modern and industrialized societies. Using data gathered from the World Values Survey-Singapore (2002) as well as data from other sources, this article finds that Singaporeans are not very secularized; they are religious (religion is important in people's lives); they have a high level of belief in (metaphysical) religious aspects; and they fulfill their religious obligations and activities. The main reasons for this apparent lack of secularization are, firstly, that religion is deeply embedded in Singapore society; secondly, that the state has both directly and indirectly promoted religion; and thirdly, that a process of religious rationalization has taken place.     

Erikson,psychology, and religion

The writings of the late Erik H. Erikson (1) have contributed directly to the psychological study of religion, (2) were amenable to the efforts of others to develop normative theological arguments, and (3) might be seen as themselves examples of contemporary, nontheological accounts of the religious dimension of human existence. This paper begins by reviewing the principal contributions that Erikson made to the psychological study of religion, followed by a review of the uses that have been made of Erikson's work for normative/constructive activities in such areas as practical theology and pastoral counseling. I will then argue that Erikson's writings — when viewed in the vein of William James's radical empiricism and functionalist accounts of human religiosity — identify an irreducibly religious dimension to normative human functioning. Erikson's functionalism constitutes a form of nontheological religious thinking that speaks directly to concerns presenting themselves in contemporary culture.     

THE RESPONSE OF A THEOLOGIAN TO CHARLES TAYLOR'S A SECULAR AGE

The author of this article confirms Charles Taylor's thesis that despite the growing spread of unbelief in modern society, i) religion remains an independent variable, ii) a creative “back and forth” continues to occur between secular wisdom and religious faith, and iii) the difference between these two does not necessarily produce opposition between them. The author also agrees with the importance Taylor attaches to the emergence of immanent humanism. Yet the author disagrees with Taylor's account of contemporary culture and religion as expressions of people's quest of identity; the article demonstrates instead that religion participates in all contemporary social movements.     

Explaining a Religious Anomaly: A Historical Analysis of Secularization in Eastern Germany

The sociology of religion is engrossed in a debate concerning the process of secularization. Some theories of secularization hold that religiosity decreases under the effects of modernization. In opposition, supply-side models of religious change maintain that declines in religiosity can be explained only through changes in the supply of religious goods. To further examine mechanisms of secularization, this article investigates the emergence of the most secularized society in the world today—eastern Germany. The extremely high percent of atheists in contemporary eastern Germany suggests that the public demand for religion has diminished. But the process of modernization did not bring about this change; instead, current drops in religious demand and religiosity in eastern Germany are the result of dramatic interventions in the supply of religious goods over the past two centuries. We trace the historical conditions that have created the most atheistic society ever.     

Inter‐religious Dialogue in EG,TTL, and CTC

This article explores how the theme of inter‐religious dialogue is addressed in Evangelii Gaudium, in comparison with Together towards life and also The Cape Town Commitment. Its thesis is that these mission documents of the three main global Christian denominations, drafted within three years of each other, address almost similar contextual concerns in the contemporary era. In particular, the reality and challenge of religious and cultural pluralism leave the churches with little choice but to attend to them, especially given that Christianity has become a post‐Western religion while at the same time the West is also becoming post‐Christian.     

Women, piety and practice: A study of women and religious practice in Malaysia

While the definition of religion in sociology has been highly contentious, we define religion in this article as simply the acts of piety that are conducted within the religious sphere. The point of this definition is to draw attention to practice and away from belief. This approach to religion appears to be especially useful in the case of contemporary Islam, where female piety has become a significant aspect of religious renewal. The idea of a religious sphere is taken from the work of Luc Boltanski and his colleagues who have coined the expression ‘the inspirational city’. Religion thus consists of acts of piety within the inspirational city, where this space is seen to be in tension with the secular city. The measurement of piety in everyday life sharply differentiates the profane world from religion. These ideas are explored in this article through qualitative data that are drawn from a small sample of pious women in contemporary Malaysia. We explore three aspects of female piety: veiling, polygamy and child-rearing. The article attempts to understand the terms in which piety is measured within the broader context of the Islamization of public life in Malaysia.     

Religious Counseling: To Be Used,Not Feared

Our society is placing more emphasis on religion and religious issues. Persons seeking counseling often request Christian counseling. Students in academic settings often express an interest in becoming Christian counselors. Often the religious aspect is left out or avoided in courses for training counselors. This article gives some specific ways in which religious issues can be used in a counseling setting using the three ps: place, personhood and philosophy.     

White sage,bears, and territory: contemporary indigenous religion among the Chumash

ABSTRACT

Since the 1960s, indigenous revitalization has been widespread in Native North America. However, few systematic studies of contemporary indigenous religion exist. This article provides an in-depth analysis of revitalized beliefs and practices as they are lived among the Chumash of Southern California. Shaped by a colonial history that almost eradicated indigenous culture, Chumash tradition is reinterpreted through religious practices that ground it in local territory and anchor it in pre-Catholic traditions. Although postcolonial agendas are significant in indigenous Chumash religion has existential significance beyond ethnicity politics. Contemporary Paganism is employed as a comparative perspective to discuss how religion provides a way for individuals to define and explore their cultural specificities when they relate to and participate in globalized society. The practices of healing, cleansing, and divination as well as beliefs in the unity with animals, spirits, and ancestors form a framework not only for individuals’ search for meaning, but also for reestablishing community.     

'Tserkov' - Sem'ya Detei Bozhiikh : An Indigenous Russian Neoreligious Phenomenon

Abstract

This article looks at Islam in contemporary Sweden in relation to civil society and the public space. Forms of Islam that advocate integration (‘Euroislam’) are promoted and accepted more easily by the majority population. The subject is set in the context of the decline of secularisation and of the return of religion. In the long run, this ‘return of religion’ to the public space leads to reinterpretations of religious traditions and also affects the impact of religion and the space that people can claim for it.     

Post‐Secularism,Secular Theology,and the Names of the Real

This article disputes the common view of religious and secular as oppositional terms. Our contemporary world is post‐secularist, because secularism is a modern ideology that imagines a strict separation of the religious and the political, where religion becomes a purely private affair. This situation is compromised by the “return” of religion in political terms. Constructively, following Jacques Lacan, we can say that secular theology concerns the Real; and with François Laruelle, we can think about a non‐theology that complements what he calls non‐philosophy. Finally, I speculate on three names of the Real: energy, capital, and nomos.     

Gendered contours of contemporary South Asian religious practices in the context of migration: second-generation Jain women and men in Britain and the US

Viewing religion through the social constructionist lens and adopting the methodological approach of ‘lived religion’, this article draws attention to the gendered contours of contemporary Jain practice. Although Jain dharma is a non-theistic, non-institutionalised religion, gender differences are embedded within lay practice in India. In contrast, analysis of qualitative data (interviews conducted with 50 second-generation, middle- and upper middle-class Jain women and men in Britain and the US) reveals a gender convergence in patterns of everyday religious practice and performance. I argue that the social turn in late modern societies, together with the dominance of a neo-orthodox approach among diasporic Jains, facilitates this convergence. Further, shifting patterns of religious practices suggest that religion is an important site for the negotiation of gender identities in the context of migration. The construction of Jain religious selves enables young Jains—both women and men—to navigate multiple and contradictory femininities and masculinities and to display more affective, relational, and compassionate selves in late modern societies.     

History,Theory, and Ideology

This review article argues that the critique of contemporary discourses about religious self-improvement offered by Craig Martin cannot bear the claim that the notion of individual religion must be dropped. On the one hand, comparable phenomena are not restricted to a Western present, and, on the other, they do not disprove the utility of heuristic terms like religion or individualisation. However, a religious semantic of entrepreneurship might be a phenomenon well worth further research.     

Religious Orientation,Identity, and the Quest for Meaning in Ethics Within an Ideological Surround

Controversies in the religious orientation literature may reflect the unavoidable influences of ideology in the psychology of religion. Support for this possibility was observed when religious intrinsicness was associated with the idealism and antirela- tivism of an absolutist ethical position. Quest Scales, in contrast, were incompatible with this absolutist search for meaning in ethics. Quest Scales also predicted identity confusion, were associated with a disinterest in religion, and included items that were evaluated as antireligious by individuals with an intrinsic religious comrnit- ment. In short, intrinsicness defined an idealistic and antirelativistic religious iden- tity, whereas Quest pointed toward other ethical and antireligious ideologies that were more vulnerable to identity confusion. Overall, these data confirmed once again that ideological factors may play a crucial role in the contemporary social scientific study of religion.     

Jakob Wilhelm Hauer's New Religion and National Socialism

Jakob Wilhelm Hauer (1881–1962) was a missionary to India and later both a professor of religious studies at Tübingen and a founder of a new religion, called the German Faith Movement (Deutsche Glaubensbewegung, DGB). According to Hauer, his movement was the essence of National Socialism. Because some contemporary scholars try to distance Hauer's scholarship and the DGB from National Socialism, this paper reviews existing literature about the Hauer phenomenon. It does so in light of the authors' research in the Federal Archives of Koblenz and Berlin and the German Literature Archive in Marbach. Hauer's personal development and determination to further Nazism are traced. Together, the literature review and Hauer's view of religion show that his religious thought and his Nazi politics are inseparable.     

Reconsidering religion and fandom: Christian fan works in My Little Pony fandom

Studies of religion and fandom have tended to explore the extent to which fan cultures might be seen as forms of surrogate religion. This article suggests that a more detailed examination of the way in which believers use their faith within their individual fandoms would offer more interesting insights into both contemporary religious practice and fandom. Conducting a case study of ‘Brony’ fandom (adult fandom of cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), this article explores the ways in which Christian fans use fan fiction and art to promote religious literacy, explore theological issues and engage in evangelism and exegesis. Fan knowledge is used as a way to quickly impart and explore complex religious concepts in a manner which utilises the shared culture of fandom. This should not be seen as a symptom of ‘mediatisation’ but as part of a complex synthesis of faith and popular culture.     

Ethnicity,religious belonging,and inter faith encounter: Some survey findings from East London

Mainstream religion in contemporary middle England has been described as a matter of believing without belonging (Davie, 1994). In multi‐ethnic inner city districts, however, religious belonging remains significant; indeed it is probably growing as a key dimension of ethnic and communal identity. Recent survey research in East London offers empirical evidence for this thesis and shows that both fundamentalist proselytising forms of religion and pluralist syncretistic forms are to be found. Detailed statistical analysis of the data suggest that each of these are associated with other variables, such as ethnicity, religious affiliation, and age. The patterns which emerge are complex. There can be no doubt, however, that they illustrate the continuing importance of religion as a significant variable in the daily lives of many East Enders.     

VIOLATIONS OF PAROLE: LANGUAGE,RELIGION, AND POWER AMONG THE MODERN UDASI MOVEMENT AND THE SGPC

This article explores a subaltern framework to examine language, religion, and power among contemporary Sikh movements, such as the Udasis, that oppose the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC). From the late nineteenth century, the Punjab environment progressively communalized as religious groups competed internally and externally to win supporters and define outsiders. Emblematic of these processes in Sikhism are those affirming ties to Hinduism, such as the Udasis, and those seeking a separate religious identity, such as the Tat Khalsa Singh Sabha. This paper begins with an overview of constructions of Hinduism and Sikhism in the colonial period. Next, the theory of parole is developed to trace the relationships among language, religion, and power transacted through speech. Finally, the SGPC's portrayals of the Udasis and modern Udasi responses are presented. The Udasis exemplify how certain sects fell outside of epi-colonial religious demarcations in the Punjab that progressed toward a single Sikh identity. As a theory linking language and power, parole surpasses the classification of religious groups as ‘orthodox’ and ‘heterodox’ to uncover histories where communities define Self and Other.