ABSTRACT
The role of religion in contemporary societies continues to be a highly controversial issue in the human sciences. In view of the diversity of religious phenomena across different cultural areas of the world, and the emergence of new forms of religiosity, a first aspect of this dispute concerns the problem of the definition of religion. What is the common core of all these phenomena which are commonly called “religious”, and how can it be ascertained and measured empirically? A second focus of attention is directed at the social functions of religion, i.e. why people turn to it and its effects on the individual conduct of life and on society at large. Is religion primarily a conservative social force, which meets the human need for security, stability and maintenance of the social order? To what extent is it also an incentive for individual self-realization and the striving for freedom and social justice? Why are specific individuals and groups within society more religious than others? A third issue concerns the general development of religion in modern societies. Is there in fact a causal relationship between higher degrees of modernization and a decrease in religiosity, as postulated by the classical theory of secularization? Is it rather the case that the pluralism of values and life-styles in modern societies only involves a shift from universal and communitarian religion towards individual and privatized forms of religiosity? Or should we dispense altogether with the idea of a general development of religion in modern societies and instead assume that the formation of the religious field depends on specific social and cultural conditions?
