ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to make an empirical assessment of some major theoretical notions of secularization. For increasing numbers of people, moral and sexual choices are no longer matters of proscription or legitimation by religion or the church but are based on personal decision and lifestyle preferences. Due to processes of the individualization of lifestyles and the pluralization of world views, the codetermination of basic religious and moral norms is assumed to be a disappearing phenomenon in modern society. In general, the conclusion is that civic morality indeed decreased throughout Western Europe, although often the decrease is not very pronounced. Fragmentation implies a general decline in the interrelationships between religious and moral values. Civic morality has more to do with personal integrity and honesty and is less uniquel.
