This past week the focus of class discussions was on the various ideas about secularization presented through several Jigsaw readings. Each piece discussed a different theory about secularization and what it meant for the future of religion and society. I read the Demerath reading, “Secularization and Sacralization” which essentially discussed how secularization was a complicated topic and no single theory necessarily captured the complexity of it. I really agreed with this view after listening to the other groups present the ideas from their articles, while individual theories may be valid and explain the issue well, none of them seemed to cover the whole span of secularization. Demerath theorized that religion could be both on the decline and on the rise at the same time, which is very different from the one-or-the-other standpoints of the other readings. I think it was interesting to hear from each individual theorists view, and understand their reasoning behind that view and then encompassing all those ideas with the Demerath reading. At the same time each theorist was discussing secularization from their unique field of study so its possible that each article did not capture their whole idea about secularization. The discussion of secularization in class is super interesting to me because I have always viewed religion as something in decline, and it interests me to hear the debate on what the true state of religion is in regards to secularization and the future.