When the Gods Fall: Varieties of Post-Secularization in a Small, Secularized State

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Clayton Fordahl ◽  
Berglind Ragnarsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Typical Case ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Far Right ◽  
The West ◽  
The Public

Abstract Lengthy debates over the process of secularization in the West have concluded. In many ways, secularization theorists appear to have “won” the debate: traditional measures of religious vitality reveal a decline in religion. Yet, recent events, especially those involving politics and national identity, have encouraged scholars and members of the public to reconsider the ways in which something like religion might endure and influence public life in secularized Western nations. This paper uses the “exceptional-typical” case of Iceland—a modern, Western, secularized country of comparatively small population size—to observe and conceptualize a variety of processes which are here collectively named “post-secularization.” Its findings suggest that processes which may appear as unrelated or opposing forces—the emergence of new religious movements, the transformation of traditional religious symbols into profane branding, far right nationalist movements—may be part of a single, post-secularization process. Secularization, having fissured the sacred, leaves religion a pliable cultural tool.

Dialogue or Confrontation?

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ringo Ringvee
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Neoliberal Governance ◽  
Religious Associations ◽  
Liberal Attitude

The article focuses on the relations between the state , mainstream religions and new religious movements in Estonia from the early 1990s until today. Estonia has been known as one of highly secular and religiously liberal countries. During the last twenty years Estonian religious scene has become considerably more pluralist, and there are many different religious traditions represented in Estonia. The governmental attitude toward new religious movements has been rather neutral, and the practice of multi-tier recognition of religious associations has not been introduced. As Estonia has been following neoliberal governance also in the field of religion, the idea that the religious market should regulate itself has been considered valid. Despite of the occasional conflicts between the parties in the early 1990s when the religious market was created the tensions did decrease in the following years. The article argues that one of the fundamental reasons for the liberal attitude towards different religious associations by the state and neutral coexistence of different traditions in society is that Estonian national identity does not overlap with any particular religious identity.

On the Volatile Relationship of Secularization and New Religious Movements

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Holland
Keyword(s):  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Christian Science ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Action ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter considers the complex relationship between secularization and the emergence of new religious movements. Drawing from countervailing research, some of which insists that new religious movements abet secularizing processes and some of which sees these movements as disproving the secularization thesis, the chapter presents the relationship as inherently unstable. To the extent that new religious movements maintain a precarious balance of familiarity and foreignness—remaining familiar enough to stretch the definitional boundaries of religion—they contribute to secularization. However, new religious movements frequently lean to one side or other of that median, either promoting religious power in the public square by identifying with the interests of existing religious groups, or emphasizing their distinctiveness from these groups and thus provoking aggressive public action by the antagonized religious mainstream. This chapter centres on an illustrative case from Christian Science history.

Of Gods and Men: New Religious Movements in the West

1985 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
John D. McCarthy ◽  
Eileen Barker
Keyword(s):  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
The West

"I Saw You Disappear with My Own Eyes": Hidden Transcripts of New York Black Israelite Bricolage

2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob S. Dorman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
African American ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Black Religion ◽  
Secret Societies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sunday Schools

To date, scholars have tended to view Black Israelites as mercenary, derivative, or imitative. However, this microhistorical reading of the public, partial, and hidden transcripts of New York Rabbi Wentworth Arthur Matthew's beliefs and ritual practices demonstrates that Black Israelites did not simply imitate Jews, but rather they were bricoleurs who constructed a polycultural religion that creatively reworked threads from religious faiths, secret societies, and magical grimoires. Black Israelite religious identity was imagined and performed in sidewalk lectures and in Marcus Garvey's Liberty Hall; it was embodied through Caribbean pageants, and acted out in parades. Black Israelism was lived through secret Spiritualist and Kabbalistic rituals, and taught openly through Sunday Schools and Masonic affiliates. Finally, it was an identity that was formed and performed in a mixture of Sanctified and Judaic rites. Print culture, performance, and complex social networks were all important to the imagination and realization of this new Israelite religious identity. Recognizing the subversive quality of this bricolage and the complexity of its partial and hidden transcripts belies attempts to exclude esoteric African American new religious movements from the categories of protest religion and black religion. When one combines the study of Black Israelism with similar studies of African American NRM's of the 1920s, it is possible to appreciate a remarkable wave of overlapping esoteric religious creativity that accompanied the much more famous artistic creativity of the Harlem Renaissance.

Social networks could counter lone-actor terrorism

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Base Rate ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Far Right ◽  
The West ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
State Group

Subject Lone-actor terrorist motivations. Significance Recent lone-actor terrorist attacks in Orlando, Nice, Munich and elsewhere have made this threat salient for the public and policymakers alike. The number of lone-actor attacks has almost trebled since 1990 -- from a base rate of 5-6 per year, according to recent research. Yet the authorities find these types of attacks difficult to detect and disrupt ahead of time. Impacts Lone-actor attacks are likely to recur in the West while authorities struggle to respond. Islamic State group (ISG)-inspired lone-actor attacks may incentivise far-right lone actors to respond violently and vice-versa. The rise of encrypted messaging services and the dark net will fuel the debate around policing this problem without curbing free speech.

Secular Beats Spiritual

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Bruce
Keyword(s):  
Transcendental Meditation ◽  
New Age ◽  
Exercise Programme ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
The West

The decline of Christianity in the West is undeniable but commentators differ in their understanding of what this represents. For some, it shows a decline in interest in religion; for others, religion has not declined, only changed shape. Possible candidates for Christianity’s replacement are the new religious movements of the late 1960s and what is variously called New Age, alternative, or contemporary spirituality. This detailed study of the religious and spiritual innovations since the 1970s assesses their popularity in Britain and concludes that the ‘not-decline-just-change’ view is unsustainable. Serious interest in spirituality has grown far less quickly than has the number of people with no religious or spiritual interest. The most popular and enduring movements have been the least religious ones; those that have survived have done so by becoming more ‘this-worldly’ and less patently religious or spiritual. Yoga is popular but as a secular exercise programme; Transcendental Meditation now markets its technique as a purely secular therapy; British Buddhists now offer the secular Mindfulness; the Findhorn Foundation (Europe’s oldest New Age centre) no longer promotes counter-cultural communalism but sells its expertise to major corporations. The book also demonstrates that, although eastern religious themes such as reincarnation and karma have gained popularity as the power of Christianity to stigmatize them as dangerous has declined, such themes have also been significantly altered so that what superficially looks like the easternization of the West might better be described as the westernization of the easternization of the West.

Contemporary Japanese Buddhist Traditions

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Porcu
Keyword(s):  
Social Engagement ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
The Public ◽  
Japanese Buddhism ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Historical Developments

Based on the premise that there is no single and homogeneous Japanese Buddhism but a multifaceted religious tradition resulting from a long history of adaptations and cross-cultural interactions, this chapter explores some aspects of Buddhism in Japan, including Buddhism-based new religious movements, in connection to the challenges of contemporary society. These include the structure of today’s temples in terms of membership and activities, issues of politics and social engagement closely linked to the role of Buddhism in the public sphere, the innovative ways through which Buddhist institutions are reacting to a deeply mediatized society, and overseas developments. Before proceeding to the contemporary period, the chapter provides a brief overview of the historical developments of Buddhism from its inception to the postwar period.

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