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Church-State Relations and the Vitality of Religion in European Comparison

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Church and Religion in Contemporary Europe

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Abstract

If, thirty or forty years ago, a social scientist had tried to determine the social position and development prospects of religion and the churches in modern societies, he would probably have relied on the secularization theory. This theory assumes that the modern age and religion are in a strained relationship to each other, and that the more modern a society becomes, the less socially relevant are religion and the churches turn out to be. Industrialization, tertiarization – the growth of the service industry – urbanization, increasing prosperity, higher education levels, higher mobility, rationalization, cultural pluralism, individualization – all these factors and whatever other processes are normally viewed as being typical of modernity have, so say the secularists, a negative effect on the continued existence of religion.

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Authors
  1. Detlef Pollack
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  2. Gert Pickel
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Gert Pickel Olaf Müller

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Pollack, D., Pickel, G. (2009). Church-State Relations and the Vitality of Religion in European Comparison. In: Pickel, G., Müller, O. (eds) Church and Religion in Contemporary Europe. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-91989-8_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-91989-8_9

  • Publisher Name: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften

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