Desecularization

In sociology, desecularization (also spelled desecularisation) is a resurgence or growth of religion after a period of secularization. The theory of desecularization is a reaction to the theory known as the secularization thesis, which posits a gradual decline in the importance of religion and in religious belief itself, as a universal feature of modern society. The term desecularization was coined by Peter L. Berger, a former proponent of the secularization thesis, in his 1999 book The Desecularization of the World.

Proponents of the theory of desecularization point to examples such as the Islamic revival since the 1970s, in particular the Iranian Revolution, the resurgence of religion in Russia and China, where governments had practiced state atheism, and the growing Christian population in the Global South. Berger also cited the rise of evangelical Christianity in the United States and elsewhere, rising religiosity in Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism, and the prevalence of religious conflict as evidence of the continued relevance of religion in the modern world. He claimed that the world today "is as furiously religious as it ever was".

Berger has recognized that his original description of desecularization was overly broad. Desecularization refers primarily to a resurgence in a single country or region, rather than mere persistence or a global trend. Some researchers speculated that people with religious beliefs could grow as a share of world population, due to higher fertility rates in poorer, more religious countries, and among religious believers, but Pew Research Center estimates that between 2010 and 2020, the religiously unaffiliated share increased from 23.3% to 24.2%. According to Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart, "virtually all advanced industrial societies" have become more secular in recent decades, and Pew notes that economic development is positively correlated with irreligiousness. Vyacheslav Karpov states that secularization and desecularization are not mutually exclusive, but rather involve an interplay between the two phenomena.