The article I read, Secularization and Its Discontents by Rob Warner, there were several sociologists claiming about secularization. However, few of them said secularization doesn’t mean extinction of religion. I was wondering what it means by that. According to dictionary, “secular” means “denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis”. If secularization is not disappearance of religious/spiritual things, then what is it?
I think it depends on how you define “religious” and “spiritual”, but anyway, in the article one of sociologist Wilson said, “religious must now compete in the private with other providers of meaning, mystery and consolation, from psychotherapists to the movies”(37). One of thing that religion does is provide meaning in one’s life. However, today, there are more stuff that can do that other than religion. Religion will eventually become privatized, according to Wilson, and that leads to secularization. So, if people start to talk about religion like movie or tv show, like “what’s your favorite movie?” or “do you watch that tv show?”, that’s secularization? In the future, if secularization continues, do people eventually talk about religion like privatized hobby, accessory, pet, or even friends?