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206 10. secularization, neotraditionalism, polarization Secularization and Differences Among Religions The debate on secularization has been confined mainly to the Christian context, and there has been disagreement on whether the term secularization is useful as a cross-cultural concept.1 I extend the debate in this chapter by showing how secularization can be conducted within the Jewish context, and I suggest that differences among religions should be brought into the discussion of the effects of modernity on religion. Most sociologists of religion are likely to acknowledge that the relationship between religion and the processes of modernity is an interactional or, as many prefer to call it, a dialectical one. But although the effects of Western religion, especially Protestantism, on the modern world have been endlessly debated, there has been little consideration of whether the effects of the processes of modernity (industrialization , urbanization, etc.) on religion depend on the characteristics of the religions . Religions are understood here to include all systems of beliefs and practices that are anchored in notions of the supramundane, and in its barest formulation the secularization thesis states that the processes of modernity are accompanied by or result in a decline or contraction of such beliefs and practices.2 Both proponents and opponents of the secularization thesis have supported their arguments mainly with data from the Christian context, but they have generally assumed that their arguments are applicable to other religious contexts. Peter Berger wrote that the seeds of secularization can be found in ancient Judaism and Protestantism but that the modern industrial economy is the major secularizing “carrier” in the contemporary West and that the spread of Western civilization involves the spread of secularization. Even though other religions may never have carried within themselves the seeds or the potential of secularization, Berger implied that they would be similarly affected by the forces of modernity.3 Bryan Wilson wrote that certain characteristics of Christianity, such as its effective cir04 Part 4.indd 206 9/20/10 10:25 AM 207 Secularization, Neotraditionalism, Polarization cumscription of the sacred, have made a difference with respect to the secularization process, but he argued that the model of secularization was intended to have general validity, and he expected that similar technological, economic, and political changes would have similar effects on religion in societies with different religious traditions.4 Problems of comparing possible secularization patterns among societies with different religious traditions are compounded not only because the different religious contexts might make a difference but also because the many factors, such as industrialization, urbanization, growth of science and technology, and political developments, that many believe produced secularization in the West also vary enormously in their relative importance and patterns. Sociologists have long questioned the thesis of a uniform process of modernization, and if neither the “dependent variable” (religion) nor the “independent variables” (the various dimensions of “modernization”) are strictly comparable, then the problems of extending the secularization debate beyond its current Western Christian focus do appear formidable . The comparative problems in this area do not appear to me to be insurmountable or of such a magnitude as to make comparative analysis worthless, but where should we begin the comparisons? Although a case could be made for a number of comparative strategies, I believe one profitable strategy is to begin with Judaism. This may not take us very far outside the Western context, but it takes us out of the Christian one, and it has the advantage at this stage of widening the comparative range while retaining Western patterns of modernization as parameters. The minority position of Jewish communities has meant that modernization has affected Judaism in special ways, but the comparative analysis can include the case of Judaism in Israel, where Jews are in the majority. Two characteristics of Judaism that differentiate it from Christianity are likely to be relevant in considering the effects of modernity on religion or on patterns of secularization: (1) the integral tie between the religion and a particular people and (2) the emphasis on practice. In his comparison of Christian societies, David Martin showed that where religion had become an important component of ethnicity or nationality, as in Poland and Ireland, religiosity continued at relatively high levels.5 The importance of religion in such cases was contingent on factors in the nations’ histories, but where there is an essential identity of religion and peoplehood, as signified by the covenant in Judaism, the implications for secularization may well be different. The differentiation in the modern period of what...

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