ABSTRACT
The secularization of Western society is often presented as the result of an inevitable development from the dark medieval past to the sunlit uplands of modern times. This chapter shows that the process of secularization has not been an inevitable one as if it is the result of large forces of history against which human resistance is futile. Among the historical causes cited are the Enlightenment, the Reformation, the rise of modern science, capitalism, the Industrial Revolution, bureaucracy, and the "disenchantment" of nature. Disenchantment means in cultural terms the deliberate attempt, largely successful to this point, of eliminating any sense of purpose or a human dimension in nature; but mankind is a part of nature, and in eliminating the human dimension from nature, we are also eliminating it from mankind. Personal freedom is the one guarantee that the secular state makes to the individual, that every effort of law, policy, and regulation will be bent toward that end.
