It has been stated in academic studies and popular media that Islam began its rise in dominance in Turkey with the accession of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to power in 2002 under the ...leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. However, contrary to claims of societal Islamization, in light of quantitative and qualitative studies this study argues that despite the AKP and its leader Erdoğan being in power, the following evidence has been observed in Turkey: praying rates have decreased, extramarital sexual relationship has become prevalent, the number of mosques per person has decreased, the belief in virginity is a point of honour for fewer people, people‘s clothes have become more flatteringly formfitting and more attractive, including women’s head-scarves; secular experts rather than religious officials are being sought for help concerning problems in daily life, homosexuality has become more socially acceptable visible, traditional family structures has been shattered. Therefore, it is claimed that AKP (or Erdoğan) has failed in efforts to Islamize Turkey over the past 15 years (2002-2017) despite having all the governmental means and opportunities to do so. This study argues that the classical theory of secularization, which claims that modernization leads to secularization, can still explain not only the social transformation seen in historically Christian and Western European countries and their offshoots, but also the social transformation of Turkey, a Muslim-majority country that has been governed for the past 15 years by a political party with clear Islamic sensitivities.
El pluralismo religioso actual ha sido clave para revisar tanto el concepto de secularización como el de libertad religiosa. Asistimos a una vuelta a lo sagrado. No se ha cumplido la tesis de la ...secularización ilustrada: la religión desaparecería de la esfera pública con el progreso de la ciencia. Sin embargo, el resurgimiento religioso significa, de una parte, la presencia en el espacio público de la religión tradicional institucional junto a formas de espiritualidad narcisistas; de otra parte, que es necesario revisar qué se entiende por religión y mostrar el porqué la fe religiosa es un bien que ha de ser protegido jurídicamente.
Nowadays, it is possible to notice an increasing visibility concerning popular cultures which arouse the interest of public powers and cultural market. In Pernambuco, maracatus-nação are an example ...of such context, which frames their activities into a shape of spectacle, contributing to the change of their senses, especially the ones related to their sacred dimension. When entering the market, ruled by a capitalist logic, instead of a probable "secularization", a movement of "sacralization" is observed. This article aims to comprehend how does the process of sacralization of the maracatus-nação took place and in which way it would be related to strategies used by maracatuzeiros to legitimate decisions and power positions as well as encourage their insertion in the market.
This article analyses the trajectories of secularization, de-secularization and re-secularization in Bangladesh. It is about mapping broad historical developments with reference to basic ...understanding of secularization and its progress in Bangladesh. The central question in the article is: How have the trajectories of secularization, de-secularization and re-secularization in Bangladesh been influenced by the nexus of internal–external dynamics of political and social forces developed in the 1980s? The article argues that a decisive attempt to rediscover liberal and secular character of politics is currently evident in Bangladesh. The attempt to reestablish secularism in the society also faces a host of challenges, stemming from national, regional and global contexts that echo the 1980s. Methodologically, it is based on policy outlook and trend analysis.
After Modernity, the human has become the subject, and the world redefined by the human has turned into a painting. However, the efforts of human subjectivity to reveal the world in the Anthropocene ...Era, with negative practices such as the “planned obsolescence theory,” which is the research subject, even prepares for the end of its existence. According to the research hypothesis evaluated through the theory’s effect on architectural problems, “secular- ization should take place against planned obsolete architecture.” The research aims to show that positive feedback can be provided in society and ecology by reversing architectural consump- tion. It is to open up for discussion that architecture, which is left in the tension of life and death but revived by the urbanites and nature despite the negativity of decay, can be sustained by becoming secularized. How planned obsolete architectures become secularized is revealed through visual documents and tables and discourse and descriptive analysis methods through architectures of different scales and geographies, which can be reactivated in human-nature activity while in crisis of decay. At the micro and macro scale of architecture, Hawthorne Plaza Shopping Center, Banker Han (Banker Kastelli), Doel Village, and Houtouwan Village were selected as purposeful examples.
This study discusses theological assertions concerning the public role of religion in post-secular societies. In the context of religion’s renewed emergence in the public sphere, it is being called ...upon to overcome the beliefs of individual and private realms and actively assume the role of a participant in the common goal of a better society. Religion, in this context, is not confined to the personal sphere but is recognized as a crucial participant in shaping a more desirable societal landscape. Religion holds the potential to renew the spirituality of citizens, foster a sense of belonging, and contribute to the formation of social ethics. In response to these circumstances, Christianity is engaging with a new theological methodology known as public theology, proposing a public role for the church and advocating for the public participation of Christians. This study aims to propose public roles for the church and theology in post-secular societies.
This article deals with the concepts, processes, and antagonisms that are associated with the notion of postsecularity. In light of this article’s expanded interpretation of José Casanova on the ...secular and secularization, as well as thoughts on James A. Beckford’s take on public religions, five rubrics on the postsecular derived from critical theory and an understanding of ‘reflexive secularization’ are presented. This term focuses on secularization processes and how these practices unleash complementary as well as antagonistic tendencies, a confrontation of normativities and specific social-empirical challenges. From this basis it is argued that social-empirical analysis should focus on non-naturalistic relations between individuals occupying structurally equivalent positions in narrative networks. A plurality of normativities are seriously considered as ideas circulating through social relations where the critical competence of the participants of such communication processes are provoked to subvert anything – including any normative positionality – as taken for granted. Moves towards the decolonization of the secular/postsecular dyad are emphasized, with ramifications for thinking about the urban, which point to the universal and authentic foundations of the human condition that are brought into play.
During the first half of the 19th century in Mexico, the concept of fanaticism, which had been re-semantized in France at the end of the previous century, became particularly important in debates ...about religious tolerance. On the one hand, it was used to identify what was impossible to preserve in the modern world, and what it was necessary to eliminate to achieve the prosperity of other nations. From the opposite perspective, it served to disqualify those who dared to question the Catholic unity, accusing them of leading the country to anarchy instead of the promised prosperity. Mexican elites used this concept to discuss how much traditional religion could adapt to modern civilization.
The meaning of Sunday Thiessen, Joel
The meaning of Sunday,
2015, 2015, 2015-10-30, 2015-11-01
eBook
Fewer Canadians identify with a religion, believe in a god, or attend weekly religious services than in past decades. What explains higher and lower levels of religiosity? Is secularization a myth or ...reality? What impact does religiosity or secularity have on a society's social and civil fabric? In The Meaning of Sunday, Joel Thiessen addresses these questions by weaving together narratives from interviews with members of both religious and secular communities. Exploring the meanings and motivations behind people's religious beliefs and behaviours, the book features discussions with three groups of people: those who attend religious services weekly, those who attend services mainly for religious holidays and rites of passage, and those who do not identify with any religious group and never attend religious services. Interview responses show that religiosity levels correlate to one's personal experiences with the supernatural, religious organizations, and social ties with those who either encourage or discourage religious identification, belief, or practice. Concluding that the demand for religion is waning regardless of what religious groups include in their programs, Thiessen suggests that, apart from some initial social and civic concern, Canadian society may be just fine without it. Testing two dominant theories in the sociology of religion - secularization and rational choice theory - The Meaning of Sunday provides in-depth qualitative research on people's "lived religion" and contributes to a major ongoing debate concerning the nature and importance of religion in contemporary society.
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