secularize
Strip divine authority
To secularize is to remove religious character or control from something.
A society secularizes when it shifts authority from religious institutions to civil ones: The government secularized the schools.
Buildings can be secularized when repurposed from sacred to ordinary use: The old church was secularized and converted to apartments.
The process suggests a transition from the sacred to the worldly.
Remove clerical status
- disestablishWithdraw official status from
- deconsecrateRemove sacred designation
- profaneIrreverent toward the sacred
- unhallowMake no longer sacred
disendow · disentangle · disaffiliate · neutralize · decanonize · demystify · desanctify · remove
Profound spiritual awakening
- rationalismReason as knowledge source
- humanismPhilosophy prioritizing earthly reason
- modernizationAdoption of current methods
- progressivismPhilosophy advocating societal reform
liberalism · freethought · skepticism · science · reason · democracy · civil rights · social change
State of being apart
- disestablishmentWithdrawal of official status
- deregulationRemoving governmental business restrictions
- privatizationState sells public assets
- nationalizationGovernment acquisition of industry
state control · public education · civil marriage · civil law · constitutional · nonsectarian · pluralism · neutrality
Release from legal bondage
- autonomyIndependent decision-making capacity
- independenceFreedom from external control
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
- freedomAbsence of constraint
disenthrall · unshackle · unyoke · unfetter · extricate · disengage · unbind · release
laicize
Remove clerical status
- disestablishWithdraw official status from
- deconsecrateRemove sacred designation
- profaneIrreverent toward the sacred
unhallow · disendow · disentangle · disaffiliate · neutralize · decanonize · demystify · desanctify · remove · separate
enlightenment
Profound spiritual awakening
- rationalismReason as knowledge source
- humanismPhilosophy prioritizing earthly reason
- modernizationAdoption of current methods
progressivism · liberalism · freethought · skepticism · science · reason · democracy · civil rights · social change · advocacy
separation
State of being apart
- disestablishmentWithdrawal of official status
- deregulationRemoving governmental business restrictions
- privatizationState sells public assets
nationalization · state control · public education · civil marriage · civil law · constitutional · nonsectarian · pluralism · neutrality · impartiality
emancipation
Release from legal bondage
- autonomyIndependent decision-making capacity
- independenceFreedom from external control
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
freedom · disenthrall · unshackle · unyoke · unfetter · extricate · disengage · unbind · release · disencumber
- innovateinnovate, modernize, revolutionize, transform, overhaul
secularizeconsecrate
Make sacred officially
sanctify · sacralize · hallow · spiritualize · make sacred
secularization, secularity, secularized, secularised, secularizes, secularise, secularises, secularizing