Secularization and the Sources of Morality： Religion and Morality in Contemporary Europe 高清正版分享.docx

Chapter 5 Secularization and the Sources of Morality: Religion and Morality in Contemporary Europe Loek Halman and Erik van Ingen Introduction For a long time in history, a religious “Weltanschauung dominated peoples lives. God was the central point of reference to understand and interpret the natural and social order, human consciousness, and peoples moral concerns. Public or civic behavior was to a large extent determined and restricted by religion and often took place within the churches or in activities organized by the churches? Churches were important resources for groups to mobilize; they created a sense of belonging and contributed to social integration, civic engagement, and associational life (see also Herbert 2003). In public affairs, moral decisions, and value judgments, churches and church leaders provided guidelines or directions grounded in a theology in which God was the ultimate authority, and fear of the Gods was for a long time an important motive to enforce the laws of society (Smith quoted by Yinger 1970: 52-53). Religion was a major source of inspiration of morality and the churches were the moral guardians of society. A process of secularization is assumed to have made an end to this religious dominance in the modern world. Religion ceased to be “the all-encompassing reality in which the secular realm found its proper place” (Casanova 1994: 15), or as Peter Berger (1967) noted, the idea of religion as a sacred canopy has become questionable to a growing number of people. Due to social differentiation and specialization, religion gradually lost its overarching claims and its dominant position in society. The various institutional spheres, such as health care,judicature, economy, welfare, education, and family are no longer under the presidency of religion,^ (Wilson 1996: 17). They developed independent from religion their own secular norms, which increasingly restricted the validity of the church norms to the specifically religious sphere?