REL 310
Is God Dead? Secularization in the Modern World Fall 2025
Division II

As casual observers of contemporary culture, we often have two contradictory assessments of the place of religion in our modern society. On the one hand, we speak of ourselves as living in a mostly secular society. We assume that religion is increasingly declining in influence and relevance, and that we clearly live in an age that is less religious than earlier times. In fact, so much of the self-identity of “the West” is centered around being a secular (and thus more advanced and enlightened) society, in contrast to the dogma and irrationality of the Other. On the other hand, we also speak of our current moment as one marked by religious resurgence: from overflowing megachurches and the rise of Evangelicalism, to the growing political power of the Religious Right–not to mention the vast proliferation of eclectic spiritualities and occult practices outside the bounds of “organized religion.” So which is it? Are we a secularized society or not? This course takes this ambiguity and question as a point of departure. We begin with various theories and narratives that offer conflicting interpretations of the state of religion in modern Euro-American society. Through this, we assess what has been called the “secularization thesis”–the idea that there is a necessary link between modernization and secularization. From there, we pursue a number of interrelated themes and questions: How have “traditional religions” transformed in this modern secular age? What forms of transcendence, sacredness, and meaning have replaced “organized religion”? What should we make of seemingly secularized forms of Christianity (or Buddhism and Hinduism)? What would a truly thoroughgoing secularization actually entail or look like? What is the relationship between secularization and individualism? Between secularization and Euro-American Christianity (and Protestantism in particular)? Between secularization and Whiteness, colonialism, and racial capitalism? Between secularization and post-humanism or trans-humanism (particularly in their techno-utopian varieties)? Focusing primarily on the history and experience of religion in the US, we address these themes through a broad interdisciplinary engagement with works of sociology and anthropology, social and intellectual history, philosophy and theology, as well as journalism and documentary films.