Religion, Secularity, and Secularization in Europe

Abstract The first section of this chapter covers the conceptual understandings of secular, secularization, secularity and secularism, together with the rich sources of data available in Europe. It argues that secularization is neither linear nor predictable; it is a complex and contingent process that takes place differently in different places both within Europe and beyond. The second section recalls the long-term evolution of the secular in Europe as a whole. The core of the chapter, however, focuses on the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This period is considered both chronologically and thematically with the following question in mind: is Europe secular because it is modern, or is Europe secular because it is European? Given the growing conviction that Europe is unusually secular in global terms, it seems that the latter is more likely. Secularization is central to the self-understanding of modern Europe; it should not be assumed, however, that secularization is a necessary—thus universal—concomitant of modernization.