in the Midst of the City Halle Between Secularism and Religious Diversity edited by Daniel Cyran a and Helmut

!bst for the "ran ish "oundation of Halle #he continuing decrease in church commitments re$uires now an e%&lanation' (ithin the sociology of religion) this &henomena e%&erienced a broader discussion for the first time in the *+s) and with recourse to the notion of secularism) which already (eber) #roeltsche) and others had im&orted into sociology) the thesis of secularism was formed' ,t was furnished with its decisive conce&tual s&ecifications above all by two te%ts) similar in their ey assertions and design- Bryan (ilson.s Religion in Secular Society /01**2 and 3eter 4' Berger.s Sacred Cano&y /01*52' Secularism) therefore) described a self6understood as&ect of the &rocess of moderni7ation in which the traditional religious legitimacy of the world shed ever more of its &lausibility for the modern &erson' Berger) for e%am&le) defined secularism as follows(e understand that by these &rocesses) &art of society and com&onents of culture are dismissed from the rule of religious institutions and symbols' ,f we are to s&ea on the society and institutions of modern (estern society) we must understand secularism naturally as the retreat of the Christian church from the areas which have stood &reviously under its control or its influence ,f we therefore are to s&ea on culture and symbols) we im&ly that they behave as more than 8ust a socio6sctructural &rocess' Secularism influenced the totality of the cultural life and ideation) and it can be observed that religious content has disa&&eared from the arts) &hiloso&hy) and literature) as well as 9 and this the chief thing 9 the emergence of the natural sciences as an autonomous worldview) secular through and through' :ven more) we im&ly that the &rocess of seculari7ation has

4una ; a sub8ective side' <s there is a secularism of culture and society) so too is there a secularism of consciousness' #hat is thus) that at least in :uro&e and the =nited States) an ever6growing number of &eo&le live such that they can e%&lain the world and their own being without religious blessings' #his classic definition of Berger.s showed that by secularism an im&licitly evolutionary &rocess is also meant' Religion was e%&lained as an e%&ression of a &remodern &hase of social develo&ment' #he modern scientific rationality overcame) as Ma% (eber already called it) the traditional magical) religious) or meta&hysical way of thought and thereby dis&laced religion gradually across ever more areas of life' <gainst this negative image of the role of religion in modernity) a decisive ob8ection was raised' #o date) the most influential of these is the thesis of #homas 4uc mann) &ublished under the title #he ,nvisible Religion) also in 01*5) in which he vigorously contradicted the thesis of seculari7ation' "or 4uc mann) secularism is a modern myth) as the decline of institutional religion cannot be e$uated with the decline of religion in general' Religion varies only in its social form' #he methodological starting &oint is an anthro&ological6functionalist definition of religion which made conscious ties with &hiloso&hical anthro&ology /3lessner2' "or 4uc mann) religion is that which enables a &erson to be human' #he religiously contained &rocess of incarnation involves for him a transcendence of the biological nature of the human wherein the individuation of the human consciousness becomes reali7ed only in social &rocesses,ncarnation is sociali7ation- &ractice and constraint in a structure of meaning which

4una > transcends an individual e%istence' ,f one wishes to s&ea on a religious constant) one must begin with this function' Sociali7ation understood as a religious &rocess can be called defining the human as a religious creature' #hereby religion became) as with 4uc mann) a universal anthro&ological constant) and the $uestion of religion in modern society had to be a&&roached anew' #he waning relevance of institutional denominational religiosity mar ed only the e%change of a s&ecific social form of religion) because the social form of the nascent religion is only the &rivate s&here' #he &rivati7ation of religion is for 4uc mann the core of the &rivati7ation of life in modern society) as caused by the functional differentiation of social structures' #he individual receives something li e a sacred status) and religious issues are transferred increasingly to the &rivate) where they then revolve around the the theme of individual autonomy along with self6re&resentation) self6 reali7ation) the ethos of mobility) se%uality) and familism' #his religious individuali7ation and &rivati7ation aim above all at &ersonal self6reali7ation) forms no &ermanent institutional structures) and is o&erated out of a colorful mar et of transcendence' 4uc mann submitted with his outline an alternative e%&lanation to the classical theory of seculari7ation' He shared only the assum&tion that institutional and traditional religion could have no great future within modern society) as he made clear again in a more recent statement,n any case) &rivati7ation can be characteri7ed as a &redominantly modern social form of religion by what it is not) rather than what it is- it is distinguished by the failure to &rovide a generally6credible and bindingly social model for the &ermanent) generally6a&&licable human e%&erience of transcendence' ,f one wishes to describe this or the wea ening and elimination of

4una ? s&ecific and traditional religious needs of legitimation for the structure of institutions as seculari7ation) it would be more correct' #hen) the word described not the end of the basic religious function) but rather its &rivati7ation' ,n o&&osition to the thesis of seculari7ation) religion does not lose its meaning for 4uc mann' ,t loses only its form and is encountered in &laces where one would not have earlier e%&ected to find it) from football to &sychothera&y' :s&ecially in @erman6s&ea ing areas) 4uc mann.s framewor has develo&ed a greathistorical im&act and its functional) broadly6defined image of religion designates a great &art of sociological research on religion to this day' ,n more recent times) both the classical theory of seculari7ation as well as 4uc man.s a&&roach have been discussed very critically' #here have been weighty ob8ections submitted against it) which are traced in the following' #hereafter) newer) alternative theoretical suggestions for the solutions of the word came about'

Studies on ,ndividuali7ation and Religious 3lurali7ation in @ermany

#he great strength of 4uc mann.s a&&roach a&&ears in the demonstrations of the e%&lanation for the occurence of alternative and diffuse forms of religion' <t the meeting of these &henomena in contem&orary sociological and theological discourses on religion 9 in which the 4uc mann a&&roach is $uite arbitrarily received 9 it became) in any case) almost a common&lace) with reference to 4uc mann that the loss of membershi& of the great @erman Churches was offset by the rise of alternative religious movements and orientations' #he following descri&tion of the situation of the @erman religious landsca&e can be seen as a ty&ical e%am&le-

4una A #he loss of im&ortance and the loss of acce&tance of the Christian church is not) however) at the same time an indicator for the disa&&earance of religion from society' !n the contrary) there is) at the moment) a religious boom to record' Religion is interesting in s&ite of the loss of im&ortance of the great Christian churches' :verywhere) the Bsense and taste for the eternal. is awa ened' #he religious field has) however) shifted and diversified' Ce%t to the increasingly strengthened religious movements) li e) for e%am&le) the Ceo6Sanyassins) the religious movements li e that which are called the Cew <geD various world religions li e Buddhism and ,slam are also en8oying increasing belief in @ermanyD esoteric &ractices including con8uring) communion) astrology) and religious meditationD and not least the surrogate of religion and its most visible forms are those which range from social &rotest movements) to &sychothera&eutic &ractices) to bodybuilding and football' #he em&irical &roof of this ind of descri&tion of the situation is very difficult) because of the inade$uate methods of measurement available to sociology' <n im&ortant &roblem is thereby re&resented in the conce&tuali7ation of the &rocess of individuali7ation' Eagod7ins i and Flein have wor ed out that the conce&t of individuali7ation in sociology has) to date) hardly been &lausibly theoretically develo&ed' #hey even doubt that it would effectively &romote theori7ation in this case'