When the Gods Fall: Varieties of Post-Secularization in a Small, Secularized State

• Published in: Politics and Religion
• Main Authors: Fordahl, Clayton, Ragnarsdóttir, Berglind
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2020
• Subjects: Sociology and Political Science; Religious studies; Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1755048320000516; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1755048320000516

Abstract Lengthy debates over the process of secularization in the West have concluded. In many ways, secularization theorists appear to have “won” the debate: traditional measures of religious vitality reveal a decline in religion. Yet, recent events, especially those involving politics and national identity, have encouraged scholars and members of the public to reconsider the ways in which something like religion might endure and influence public life in secularized Western nations. This paper uses the “exceptional-typical” case of Iceland—a modern, Western, secularized country of comparatively small population size—to observe and conceptualize a variety of processes which are here collectively named “post-secularization.” Its findings suggest that processes which may appear as unrelated or opposing forces—the emergence of new religious movements, the transformation of traditional religious symbols into profane branding, far right nationalist movements—may be part of a single, post-secularization process. Secularization, having fissured the sacred, leaves religion a pliable cultural tool.