Is secularism inevitable?

Many believe secularism goes hand in hand with modernity. But our capacity for religious enchantment is as strong as ever.

Prayer
(Image credit: (Najlah Feanny/Corbis))

For a long time, sociologists and social theorists assumed that modernity inevitably leads to secularization. If the United States remained religious, that was because it was less modern than its more thoroughly disenchanted European cousins. But America was bound to catch up, sooner or later.

In recent decades, the academic consensus in favor of inevitable secularization has begun to break down. But that hasn't stopped some writers — including those who express considerable sympathy for faith — from doubling down on the secularization thesis.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.