Qualitative changes of secularization discourse at the turn of the 21st century

By the end of the 20th century the scientific discourse regarding secularization had underwent qualitative changes. A set of factors has influenced this change of discourse parameters. First of all, the emergence of certain publications in the 1990s proved that the USA is an exception when compared to Europe, and that regulations of the secularization paradigm do not apply to the US religious market. Secondly, the "new" paradigm proposed by American sociologists played a significant role in this transformation. Thirdly, visible changes of the place and role of religion in many regions of the world incited sociologists to research these processes (for example, the resurgence of religion in post-socialist countries, a massive shift of Christianity towards the Southern Hemisphere, and the development of Islam into a prominent factor of the modern world order). Taking these conditions into consideration, the view of secularization as a continuing process was bound to change. The author points out that the work of two scientists, D. Martin and P. Berger, constitute a prime example of a wider approach to the evaluation of secularization. It is concluded that both scientists are certain, that the modern sociology of religion is in need of new theories.