Questions to think about for Friday  1. Michael Budde and Robert Brimlow :  “We think that military chaplaincies are indefensible compromises of Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom of God (p.2).”  What do the authors have against military chaplains? What broader problems of American Christianity do they believe military chaplains illustrate? Do you agree with them? Why or why not?  2. Do you see any of the religious resources for social movement activism described by Smith at work in the area you are thinking of focusing on for your paper?

Quiz Question: These are four periods of relations between political and religious actors described in chapter 3 of God’s Century. Arrange them in historical order, from earliest to most recent.  A. The Rise of Politically Assertive Religion  B. Friendly Takeover of Religious Actors  C. Hostile Takeover of Religious Actors  D. Friendly Merger of Religious and Political Authority

God’s Century Pre- Modern( To 1500) Friendly Merger of Religious and Political Authority Consensual Integration of Religious and Political Authorities (Box III) Each side provide supports support for the other (Political Authorities tend to provide protection and material support) (Religious authorities provide legitimation) Early Modern ( ?) From Friendly Merger to Friendly Takeover Consensual Integration of Religious and Political Authorities (Box III) Similar to the previous period, but with the balance of power shifting towards political authorities Growing Power of the Nation-State States’ Hostile Takeover of Religious Actors States Assert Greater Control, moving from consensual to more hostile relations with religious authorities A movement towards stripping of religious privileges and, often, towards greater control over religious actors Movement towards Box IV Conflictual Integration (Many Communist countries) or Box III Conflictual Independence (France, Turkey?) 1970-> The Rise of Politically Assertive Religion

Why the Rise of Politically Assertive Religion?  1. Perceived Failure of Secular Alternatives (Nationalism, Communism, )  2. Growing Independence of Religious Actors  a. Religious actors stripped of state privileges  b. Democratization  c. Globalization: transnational communications and travel help religious actors mobilize and strengthen their position versus national states  3. Rise of more assertive Political Theologies

Secularization Thesis  Short version (C. Wright Mills):  Once the world was filled with the sacred-in thought, practice, and institutional form. After the Reformation and the Renaissance, the forces of modernization swept across the globe and secularization, a corollary historical process, loosened the dominance of the sacred. In due course, the sacred shall disappear altogether except, possibly, in the private realm.

Why Might Secularization Theory still be relevant  1. Even the authors of God’s Century see it as largely valid until about  2. One does see evidence of a decline of religion in economically developed nations (especially Europe).  3. Even when religion doesn’t decline overall, secularization theory may help us understand how religion adapts to or resists “modernization”.

Strength of Religion by Level of Development (From Norris and Inglehart/ World Values Survey)

% Who Go to Church at Least Once a Week

% Who Believe in God

% Who Believe in Life After Death

Religious Decline in the U.S.?  Belief in God 1950s 99%  %  Unaffiliated with any  Religious tradition1990 8% %  Never attend religious  Services %  %

One Version of the Secularization Thesis (Drawing on the Work of James Davison Hunter)  Features of “modernity”  Functional Rationality  Cultural Pluralism  Structural pluralism  Impacts on Religion  Isolation (the Amish?)  Decline/Death of Religion (Strong Secularization Hypothesis)  Adaptation (Religion changes to be more compatible with “modernity.”)  Resistance (Religious actors organize to resist the forces of “modernity.”)

Functional Rationality  "the infusion of rational controls through all spheres of human experience."  Impacts on Religion  Decline/Death of Religion (Strong Secularization Hypothesis)  Adaptation  Resistance (Is resistance futile?)

Cultural Pluralism  "the division of society into subsocieties with more or less distinct cultural traditions."  Impacts on Religion  Decline/Death of Religion (Strong Secularization Hypothesis)  Adaptation  Resistance

Structural Pluralism/Differentiation  "the historically unique dichotomization of life into public and private spheres."  Impacts on Religion  Decline/Death of Religion (Strong Secularization Hypothesis)  Adaptation  Resistance