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Secularization thesis (view source)
Revision as of 21:58, November 28, 2015
, 21:58, November 28, 2015no edit summary
[[Alister McGrath]] points out that many [[Atheism|atheists]]/[[agnosticism|agnostics]] were angry that the secularization thesis failed because religion was "supposed to" disappear. <ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=creNs9-Ui6A 'Why God Won't Go Away'] by Alister McGrath</ref> After nearly three centuries of failed predictions of the secularization thesis and mankind practicing religion for thousands of years, most reasonable social scientists would simply modify/abandon their thesis and attempt to replace it with a better theory or theories. The stubbornness of many secularists to cling on to their failed thesis suggest a rigid and limited thinking.
[[Alister McGrath]] points out that many [[Atheism|atheists]]/[[agnosticism|agnostics]] were angry that the secularization thesis failed because religion was "supposed to" disappear. <ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=creNs9-Ui6A 'Why God Won't Go Away'] by Alister McGrath</ref> After nearly three centuries of failed predictions of the secularization thesis and mankind practicing religion for thousands of years, most reasonable social scientists would simply modify/abandon their thesis and attempt to replace it with a better theory or theories. The stubbornness of many secularists to cling on to their failed thesis suggest a rigid and limited thinking.
== Failed assumptions and the shock of secular social scientists to a failed theory ==
Douglas S. Winnail wrote:
{{cquote|Secular leaders and scholars have been surprised by the resurgence of religion, because they put their faith in the assumption that modernization would lead to secularization and to the decline of religion. This idea—the so-called "secularization theory"—is widely accepted in academic and political circles. It assumes that as societies modernize and become more secular, religion will wither away as an archaic and useless branch of knowledge. Their assumption was that if religion became irrelevant, and human beings became more reasonable, they would dwell together in peace and happiness in a modernized world.
However, human history did not follow this "reasonable" path to a secular utopia. The closing decades of the 20th century "provide a massive falsification of the idea" that modernization and secularization will lead to a decline in religion. Instead, we are witnessing a massive upsurge in religion around the world (The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics, Berger, p. 6). This resurgence of religion has also played a part in an increasing number of violent conflicts around the world. Secular intellectuals and elites have been shocked by this development, because it is proving that their fundamental assumptions about human beings and human society are absolutely wrong! The modern secular notion that religion is archaic and irrelevant has caused many to overlook the importance of religion in human affairs. As a result, they have been taken by surprise by the return of religion. As Peter Berger, one of the world's leading sociologists of religion, wrote: "Those who neglect religion in their analysis of contemporary affairs do so at great peril" (Berger, p. 18). But what has spawned the modern revival of religion, and the spreading rejection of secular society?<ref>[http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/magazines/2005/november-december/the-return-of-religion The Return of Religion]</ref>
==References==
==References==
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{{reflist|2}}
[[Category: Atheism]]
[[Category: Atheism]]