God Is Dead: Secularization in the West

Christianity in the democracies of the ‘first' world has been declining in power, popularity and prestige for a century. However, many commentators, social scientists as well as church leaders, try and minimize the extent of this change. They maintain that religious sentiment remains strong despite declining levels of church involvement, and insist that secularization is an academic myth.

In this robust defense of the secularization paradigm, Bruce elaborates just what Weber, Durkheim, Berger and Wilson thought was happening to religion in the West, and responds to critics of this concept. Specific topics covered include the significance of New Age spirituality, the influence of eastern religions on the West, the impact of science, the charismatic movement, religion and politics in the USA, and the future of religion.

Bruce concludes the old orthodoxy was right: cultural diversity, in egalitarian and liberal democracies that place the individual above the community, undermines religious belief. Drawing on a diverse range of international examples, and written by one of the foremost sociologists of religion working today, God is Dead moves the debate about secularization forward. It will be an invaluable resource for students of sociology of religion, modern religion, Christianity, new religious movements and religion and culture.

Library Journal

Challenging "supply-side" proponents of the enduring vitality of religious belief in the modern world, Bruce (Univ. of Aberdeen; Religion in the Modern World) proclaims that religious "decline is not a sociological myth." The stress in the title should go on the word is: the data show that God really is dead, despite God's vestigial survival as a nostalgic relic or nebulous aid to self-realization. Modernization has caused religion to change in such ways that it has lost its social significance. As Bruce argues, "Individualism, diversity and egalitarianism in the context of liberal democracy undermine the authority of religious beliefs," making belief in God a personal option rather than a compelling necessity. Opponents to the secularization argument (chiefly Rodney Stark) point to the strength of religion in America. But under secularization, "It is not self-conscious irreligion that is important," Bruce writes. "It is indifference." Sociological research increasingly points to a growing cultural indifference to the supernatural and the exclusive truth claims of religion. Bruce's book is a compelling, vigorous, and scrupulously fair defense of what the secularization paradigm means and does not mean. Highly recommended for all libraries. Steve Young, McHenry Cty. Coll., Crystal Lake, IL Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Steve Bruce is the Professor of Sociology and Head of Department of Sociology at the University of Aberdeen. He has also held visiting posts at the universities of Virginia and Edinburgh. He is one of the world's leading sociologists of religion and has recently been elected a Fellow of the British Academy.
Professor Bruce has published 13 books and over 90 articles. The following are his most recent books: Pray TV: Televangelism in America (1990), Religion in Modern Britain (1995), Religion in the Modern World (1996), Conservative Protestant Politics (1998), Sociology: A Very Short Introduction (1999), Choice and Religion (1999), Fundamentalism (Polity, 2001), and Politics and Religion (Polity, 2003).