ABSTRACT
The chapter explores some of the reasons why the study of social phenomena inspired by religion has become a challenge for modern societies. In terms of the importance of studying the subject, there are crucial issues facing contemporary societies that have to do with religion in one way or another. Migrations, jihadism, multiculturalism, diversity management, conflicts, revolts, extreme right-wing movements, moral debates on euthanasia or abortion, new forms of solidarity, efforts to build self-sustainable communities, to name but a few, are all linked to religion. However, secularization, as a sub-process associated with modernization, has been taken for granted. Predictions about the fate of religion in modern societies revolve around the idea of irrelevance or de-emergence. This chapter elaborates on the idea that secularization (a descriptive theory) has been mixed up with secularism (a normative proposition). Thus, the ability to relate to problems or phenomena having to do with religion has diminished. Finally, the chapter addresses the added challenge posed by the naturalization of liberal theory and the unquestioning acceptance of its assumptions. Liberalism has become the framework that determines the logic of public debate under a cloak of supposed neutrality.
