ABSTRACT
Debates about the process of secularization have, centred on the work of a group of sociologists and historians, mostly British, who have put forth and debated what is known as ‘the secularization thesis’. Secularization is attributed almost exclusively to socio-economic change, without significant reference to the state, to ideas, or to political movements. The secularization thesis concentrates heavily on Great Britain, with some attention to western Europe. The original secularization thesis, and even its modifications, tended to see secularization as a one-way street. The very strengthening of a state demanded by modern economies requires considerable state control of public education, civil law, welfare and other spheres that is more secular than anything that existed in the past. Rapid modernization has contributed not only to secularism but to major anti-secularizing trends, especially in countries with growing fundamentalist movements. A large degree of secularism is a necessary concomitant of the modern industrial world.
