Persistence and Reinterpretation of the Religious in Contemporary Society

Abstract

There is no doubt that the study of religion continues to hold an important place on the social research agenda, not only because analyzing religious practices and beliefs allows us to understand their value as regulators of the daily lives of groups and individuals, and their potential role in the reconfiguration of collective identities and social articulation, but also because religion is undeniably becoming more visible in contemporary society. In recent decades, for example, it has occupied significant media spaces, played a central role in the sociopolitical behavior of certain groups and actors, and has even been an essential dimension for understanding recent historical conflicts, both internationally and within countries and regions—without disregarding other dimensions such as culture, politics, and economics. The debate over its survival or its imminent decline in the face of the rise of scientific and rational thought, and what the advance of social secularization might entail, is long behind us.