SECULARIZATION

Definition 

Secularisation- the activity of changing something( art or education or society or morality etc.) so it is no longer under control or influence of religion.

Secularisation according to Byan Wibson "Religious thinking is perhaps the area which evidences and most conspicuous change. Men act less and less in response to religious motivations, they assess the world in empirical and rational term.".

According to Oxford Dictionary of Sociology "Secularisation is the process whereby especially in modern industrial societies, religious beliefs, practices and institutions lose social significance."

Secularisation f culture involved not simply an increase in rationality in the thinking of man but also 'a diminution of the sacred' which is often characterized a 'desacralisation'  of the attitudes towards person and things. Desacralisation actually means 'the withdrawal of kind of emotional involvement which is to be found in religious response the sacred.' Thus the Secularisation of religion means both desacralisation and rationalization. The religions world view is no longer the basic frame of reference for thought.

Characteristic 

Moojan Momen 1999 says there are five ways of looking at Secularisation

1. "Decline of popular involvement in institutionalized  of religion. These can be seen as decline of church attendance, with fewer marriages, baptisms, and funerals being perform under religious auspices."
2. The loss of prestige of religious institutions and symbols and the decline in influence of religious organisations.
3. The separation of society from the religious world, so that religion becomes purely personal matter.
4. The loss of the idea of the sacredness. As science increases our understanding of humanity and of the world, the idea of  'mystery' and the supernatural decrease.
5. Religious groups themselves become increasingly concerned with the things of this world rather than the spiritual world.

Secularization is Inevitable

The secularization thesis maintains that secularization is an inevitable features of the rise of individual society and the modernization of cultural. It is argued that modern science has made traditional belief less convincing or persuasive to the world, the imaginable of life world has broken the monopoly of religious symbols, rituals and beliefs. And the urbanization of society has created a world which is individualistic and anomic;  the erosion of family life has made religious institutions less relevant and the technology has given people greater control over their environment, making the idea of an omnipotent God less relevant or reasonable. In this sense, secularization is used as a measure of what Max Weber meant by the rationalization of society.