Secularization: in defence of an unfashionable theory

The decline in power, popularity, and prestige of religion across the modern world is not a short-term or localised trend nor is it an accident. It is a consequence of subtle but powerful features of modernisation. This book elaborates the secularisation paradigm and defends it against a wide variety of recent attempts at rebuttal and refutation. Using the best available statistical and qualitative evidence, the book considers the implications for the role of religion in modern society in the twenty-first century.

Describing secularization -- Explaining secularization -- Clarifying secularization -- Religion outside the churches -- Contemporary spirituality -- Superstition -- The supply-side alternative -- Unexceptional America -- Secularization elsewhere -- Will conflict reverse secularization?