secularization
Religion losing influence
Secularization is the process of becoming less religious or removing religious influence from institutions, governance, or daily life.
A society undergoing secularization sees declining church attendance, weakening religious authority, and growing separation between religious and civil affairs.
The secularization of public education removed prayer from schools.
The term can also describe converting religious property to non-religious use: the secularization of monastery lands.
Withdrawal of official status
- separationState of being apart
- church-stateReligion-government relationship
- disenchantmentLoss of cherished belief
- rationalizationInventing acceptable motives afterward
liberalization · privatization · deconsecration · dechristianization · disaffiliation · disentanglement · demarcation · institutional
Adoption of current methods
- industrializationTransition to factory-based economy
- urbanizationPopulation shift toward cities
- pluralismCoexistence of differing views
- globalizationWorldwide economic and cultural integration
differentiation · individualization · privatization · democratization · education · social-change · worldliness · temporal
German scholarly surname
- DurkheimFounding French sociologist
- TaylorSeamster-derived name
- BruceMasculine given name
- CasanovaProverbial ladies' man
disenchantment · rationalization · differentiation · privatization · sociological · contested · reversible
Philosophy prioritizing earthly reason
- freethoughtReason-based belief formation
- atheismRejection of deities
- agnosticismDoubt about divine existence
- rationalismReason as knowledge source
naturalism · anticlericalism · positivism · Enlightenment · freethinkers · humanist · materialist
Absence of faith
- disbeliefRejection of truth claims
- deconversionAbandoning religious belief
- apostasyRenunciation of former beliefs
- unbeliefLack of faith
nonreligious · lapsed · nones · abandonment · erosion · waning · diminishing · fading
disestablishment
Withdrawal of official status
- separationState of being apart
- church-stateReligion-government relationship
- disenchantmentLoss of cherished belief
rationalization · liberalization · privatization · deconsecration · dechristianization · disaffiliation · disentanglement · demarcation · institutional · legal
modernization
Adoption of current methods
- industrializationTransition to factory-based economy
- urbanizationPopulation shift toward cities
- pluralismCoexistence of differing views
globalization · differentiation · individualization · privatization · democratization · education · social-change · worldliness · temporal · this-worldly
Weber
German scholarly surname
Casanova · disenchantment · rationalization · differentiation · privatization · sociological · contested · reversible
humanism
Philosophy prioritizing earthly reason
- freethoughtReason-based belief formation
- atheismRejection of deities
- agnosticismDoubt about divine existence
rationalism · naturalism · anticlericalism · positivism · Enlightenment · freethinkers · humanist · materialist
irreligion
Absence of faith
- disbeliefRejection of truth claims
- deconversionAbandoning religious belief
- apostasyRenunciation of former beliefs
unbelief · nonreligious · lapsed · nones · abandonment · erosion · waning · diminishing · fading
- church historychurch history, apostles, Protestant Reformation, Christian history, baptism
- Early ModernRenaissance, 1500s, 1600s, Reformation, sixteenth century
- QuebecQuebec City, Montreal, premier, National Assembly, premiers
- religious historyChristian history, Jewish history, early Christianity, early church, church councils
- sociologysocial structure, social class, social institutions, social norms, social mobility
- church-statechurch-state, separation, church-state separation, establishment clause, religious accommodation
secularizationreligious revival
Renewed collective spiritual fervor
Islamization · Christianization · evangelization · religious awakening · spiritual renewal
secularizationfundamentalism
Strict adherence to core tenets
spiritualization · supernaturalism · transcendentalism · anti-modernism
secular, secularism, secularist, secularize, secularity, secularized, secularizes, secularizing, secularly