Secularisation and The Diminished Influence of Religion in Society

Others have countered the ideas of Marx by arguing that the strong links between church and state were a good thing. Max Weber contended that Christianity in general and Protestantism in particular had brought social and economic benefits to large parts of Europe, Weber’s most important contribution to sociology was the seminal. ‘The Protestant work ethic and the spirit of capitalism’ that argued that Protestantism had made capitalism more dynamic than it would have been without the Reformation (Crystal, 1998, p.982). Protestantism in Northern Europe drove social and economic forward with the eventual consequence of losing its doctrinal dynamism and losing the most influence due to secularisation (MacCulloch, 2004, p.701)

The onset of capitalism combined with Protestantism proved to be the catalyst for secularisation and eventually liberalisation. The process did not happen overnight and was not discernible until the twentieth century, in many countries secularisation has certainly reduced the influence of religious doctrine, yet it had not necessarily reduced the influence of political doctrines (

Fernandez-Arnesto & Wilson

, 1996, p. 290). Whilst secularisation has certainly diminished the influence of Christian doctrine in much of Europe and North America it has not reduced the influence of other religions such as Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism in non-Christian societies (Hobsbawm, 1994, p.489). Islam in particular seems able to resist move towards secularisation than most other religions (Fisk, 2006, p.1282).

Therefore the processes of secularisation and liberalisation are closely linked, although the former does not automatically lead to the other. Certainly in Christian societies the Reformation inadvertently speeded up secularisation. The immediate impact of the Reformation had been to strengthen the partnership between the secular authority and the church. Protestantism was a catalyst for both capitalist economic development and the further secularisation of societies. The enlightenment and the French Revolution further added to the momentum of secularisation and liberalisation as well as providing the ideological foundations of liberalism and socialism. The nineteenth century saw the further weakening of the hold of Christian doctrine, although it was the twentieth century that saw secularisation come to the core. Indeed, communist states such as the Soviet Union were officially atheist countries.

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