International Theological Video Conference

27 February 2004

General Topic:

The Church, New Age and Sects

Johannesburg Intervention

Modernity as a multiplying element for institutions and religious thoughts: Secularisation and the problem of plausibility and legitimation

Prof. Stuart C. Bate OMI

Sociologists describe secularisation as the process by which sectors of society and culture are removed from the domination of religious institutions and symbols (Berger 1969:107). It is a feature of modern societies.

Scientific and technological innovation has promoted rapid economic development in modern societies. One consequence of this has been the emergence of new theoretical systems of belief, based on human rather than spiritual power. Secular foundational systems such as liberalism, Marxism and pragmatism have become acceptable as people increasingly experienced the benefits (or lack thereof) of human development in areas of life like health and economic well-being.

The growth of secularisation has been accompanied by the eclipse of religion as the main legitimating authority of human society. This has led to increasingly pluralistic societies like France, for example, where Catholicism was the foundation of society until the revolution. Today, however, it is only one amongst many religious and non religious belief options in that country.

Secularisation and the problem of plausibility

For social scientists, the main task religions have in secular societies is to construct and maintain an effective ‘plausibility structure’ within which the religion continues to be true and valid, presenting itself ‘to consciousness as reality’ (Berger 1969:150). To do this religions have to ‘market’ themselves since secularisation and the plurality of religious choice implies that ‘religion can no longer be assumed or imposed but that it must be marketed’ (:145).

Thoughts like these are not as new as they might sound. Indeed, the history of Christianity contains an essential ‘marketing’ component, though we are more familiar with the Christian terms ‘evangelisation’ and ‘mission’. This reveals a major problem with the sociological analysis of religious issues, which, though helpful, are always deeply flawed. This is because the human sciences limit themselves to human activity and refuse to even consider the proper object of religion which is the supernatural and the spiritual world. For example, the principal agent of mission and evangelisation (Berger’s ‘marketing’) is not the human subjects, the evangelisers and missionaries, but the Holy Spirit (RM 21). It is also simplistic to consider pre-modern societies as homogeneous since even the most cursory investigation reveals plurality of belief and conviction there too. Indeed the problem of plausibility is not new with modernity but was dealt with in one way or another in every age of the Church’s history as a simple reading of the Church Fathers, for example, rapidly reveals.

Secularisation and the Problem of Legitimation

The problem of legitimation asks how a religion can continue to survive in a society which no longer accepts religious definitions of reality (Berger 1969:156). But legitimation is also an issue which goes beyond secularisation and affects all societies in one way or another. Authors such as Lyotard (1983) have widened the debate to question the validity of all foundational belief systems both sacred and secular. He suggests that all societies are maintained in truth and order by the existence of ‘Grand Narratives’, which outline and express the principal values and beliefs. The ‘American dream’, ‘European civilisation’ and ‘scientific objective truth’ are examples of Western grand narratives. Postmodernism questions the ability of such grand narratives to access objective and real truth about things because they are always conditioned by identifiable historical and cultural factors.

In the end such a position is untenable and Realism has been the major response to this in philosophy (Bhaskar 1997 and Lonergan), in the social sciences (Sayer 2000) and in theology (Sweetman, Kirk, John Paul II). Sweetman (2001:31) argues that post-modern positions ‘are based on the abstract rather than the concrete’. This is because their proponents theoretically proclaim the underlying relativism whilst actually living life in terms of a set of beliefs and values which they seek to dogmatically impose on others; for example that all should be relativists. The Catholic position, especially as outlined by John Paul II in Fides et Ratio offers a serious and reasoned position that objectively true knowledge about reality is not only accessible through reason but is also accessible through faith (FR 8 cfr. DF, III).

Berger, P 1969. The Sacred Canopy. NY: Doubleday.

Bhaskar, R 1997. A Realist Theory of Science (2nd edition). London: Verso.

DF Dei Filius. Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith, 24 April 1870 Vatican I.

FR Fides et Ratio Encyclical Letter of Pope John Paul II to the bishops of the Catholic Church on the relationship between faith and reason. 14 September 1998.

Kirk J 1999. ‘Christian Mission and the Epistemological Crisis of the West’. In Kirk & Vanhoozer To Stake a Claim: Mission and the Western crisis of Knowledge. 157-171. NY: Orbis.

Lyotard, J-F. 1983. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

RM. Redemptoris Missio Encyclical Letter of Pope John Paul II, on the Permanent Validity of the Church's Mis-sion-ary Man-date, December 8 1990.

Sayer, A 2000. Realism and Social Science. London: SAGE.

Sweetman, B 2001. Reason and Religion at the Millenium. In Miller, G & Stancil, W Catholicism at the Millennium. Kansas City: Rockhurst University Press.