Day 2.

Religion and Modernity

On Secularization, Toward a Revised General Theory, by Martin

David Martin is a famous sociologist who was born in 1929. He has studied and written
extensively about the sociology of religion. On Secularization was his main book published in
1969. This book is part of IV chapters. I- Orientations, II- Europe, III- Narrative and
Metanarrative, IV-. The main chapter is chapter I because it is about Sociology, Religion and
Secularization and the relations between them.
It exist a relation of sociology to religion and sociology to theology because from this relation
follows an account of an issue, this issue is Secularization. Sociology as a social science is part
of the process of secularization because it represented the study of Man in society. Secularization
and Secularism arent the same thing. Secularization or secularization thesis refers to the belief
that as society progress through modernization and rationalization, religion loses its authority in
all aspects of life and governance. Secularism is the belief that religion should not play a role in
government, education or other public parts in our society.
Classical secularization theories tend to view religion as a barrier for modernity- apart from the
role of Protestantism. Secularization and modernization are thought to go hand by hand.
Classical secularization theories are therefore for the most part theories of religious decline. Its
defenders typically point to historically declining rates of religious participation in Western
Europe and the growth of various non-Christian beliefs (e.g., in astrology, magic and
reincarnation) as evidence that religious institutions and worldviews are losing their influence. It
is now generally assumed that these theories dominated the sociology of religion until the 1980s.
David Martin has been one of the earliest and most trenchant critics of these classical models.
Also Karl Popper in his work The Poverty of Historicism had criticized secularization because
it was just a trend, he criticized it as an ideological and philosophical imposition on history rather
from history
Its very important to say that here were important extensions of secularization theory, for
example the growth of pluralism, where church and state were separated because there was
religious pluralism and competition. There were more things on the pattern of secularization. A
lot of countries who were under communism like Croatia, Serbia, Greece, Romania etc, had
given religion a role as the only possible focus of an independent social existence, but in other
hand there were complicated differences in secularization, for example Romania had strong Latin
traditions and had emphasized the union of religion with the defense of its historic culture. In the
field of religion one would expect the identification between historic churches and national

identity. From the year 1960 till 1980 the paradigm of secularization shifted under a critique by
various scholars. This can be explained with the debate edited by Steve Bruce , Religion and
Modernization. We have to analyze history down to the present. There we can count three
developments of the importance. 1. Was the extension of the Western European Pattern
deepening their secularity according to the peripheries. We know that the Church attendances fell
after the Culture crisis 1968. The difference between countries mainly Protestant, where
Enlightenment and religion overlapped and even fused and Catholic countries where
Enlightenment and religion clashed.
Sociology and modernity were born together and so the focus of sociology was on what
happened to religion under conditions of modernity and change. Modernity is known like a way
from the religious mode to the secular. Emile Dukrheim and Max Weber founded their
reflections on what they saw aas a crisis on religious conseiousness. Since seculariyation was the
undisputed paradigm, few sociologists took a interest in religion apart from the debate about
Max Weber s thesis that Calvinistic Protestantism was one of the midwives of capitalism and so a
sort of modernity.
This book is a reflection on the state of religion in the modern world although it is published as
a reflection on secularization. In this regard, it illustrates once more that the theme of
secularization has put religion on the agenda of sociological research again. Throughout this
book, Martin explores different ways in which religious values (Christian values in particular)
remain relevant and influential today despite the differentiation of society. He presents a wide
range of observations on the multiple ways in which religions and modernities can go together in
our world. After the French Revolution and the 'secularization' of society, the Catholic Church
reacted in different Western European nations under the banner of ultramontanism.
What about the privatization of the religion and Church. Martin thinks that this can be explained
very well from the book of Jose Casanova,- Public Religions in the Modern World. In 1980 Jose
Casanova argued that religion reserved one of the presuppositions of secularization theory by
refusing to be privatized and marginalized. It is like a big actor in the public sphere like in
pollution, abortion, migration. What about the Roman Catholic Church in the USA? Casanovas
view of Roman Catholic church is that it has accepted the liberal concept of the secular state, but
rejects the privatization of religion. Normally in Eastern Europe 1980-1990, the churches
contributions were in changes. Also the Lutheran Church in Germany is an example that also a
quite weak church can provide a social space to raise the problems of civil society. Peter Beyer,
in his work Religion and Globalization has suggested that in a different society is an advantage
to be the guardian of values.

Day 3. Religion and Nationalism

Religion and nationalism: four approaches--- Rogers Brubaker

Rogers Brubaker is a famous sociologist who wrote a very important book called Religion and
nationalism in 2012. From this book we are going to talk about the first chapter known as
Religion and Nationalism: four approaches. In this article Brubaker tried to specify how that
relation between religion and nationalism can be studied.
Religion can be conceived as the belief in a god or in a group of gods, or like an an organized
system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods.
Nationalism is a political ideology, a shared group feeling in the significance of a geographical
seeking independents for its culture, its more like patriotic feelings.
For a long time Nationalism and Religion have been contested terms. Both terms give large and
multidimensional fields of phenomena. There are a lot of assertions that nationalism is
intrinsically secular or religious

Day 6. Religion and Modernity II

The Bosnian Muslims and Albanians: Islam and Nationalism---- Aydin Babuna
In Balkan religion played a huge role in the nation building process, because we know that in
Balkans before 1999 existed a lot of wars in territory aspects, and many states there wanted their
independent. From the Ottoman period till to the end of Cold War, Islam had a role in the
Bosnian Muslim and Albanian national movements. In Bosnia were the Sunni Muslims, and
Albanians who are divided into three religions, and a variety of sects.
To understand Balkans, is very important to take a look throw the relations and differences
between the Albanians and the Bosnian Muslims in historical perspective, for understanding the
recent development in Balkan. The year1990 for most people Balkans was known as a place of
the return of the suppressed. Why? They were a lot of wars and also Religion problems.
Religion and ethnic nationalism were considered the most important factors. Muslim
communities there were ignored. Our focus is from the perspective of the religious brotherhood
between the two Muslim communities.
Bosnia was occupied by Ottomans in 1463 and 20 years later the Ottomans did it with
Herzegovina too. Normally this process wasnt very short and easy, it continued step by step for
many years. For more than 100 years Bosnia and Herzegovina were parts of European Turkey or
like Rumeli Beylerbeylik. During the Ottoman period, an intensive Islamization process took

place in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This process took place for many years and it included not
only the aristocracy but the peasants too. Ottoman society was organized on the Millet basis.
Bosnian Muslims werent bad under the Ottoman society because they enjoyed a lot of rights.
In Millet system, religion and nationality were near each other, it affected the Bosnian Muslims
more than the Serbs and Croats and the religion would play a huge role in their national
development. In that time Bosnian society was divided sipahis the high class known as clerics
and the low class reaya know as peasants. Ajans with the kapetan were against Mahmud II and
his reforms, also the Ottoman Sulltan had a strong opponent in front. The Ottomans destroyed
the ajans in 1850-51.
By the end of the 17th century, the Ottomans fought a lot against Europe- especially against
Austria, Russia, Venice, so the situation of Bosnian Muslims were bad- thats because Serbs and
Montenegrin nationalism was in expansion. So Ottoman Empire got shocked and it became a
struggle between Islam and Christianity. The higher class of Bosnian society sipahis got forced,
but not peasants, because they had to pay high taxes, they had to come closer in order to survive.
Here the religion played a huge role of a unifying political ideology and provided a basis for the
development of a common culture among the Muslims.

THE Albanians.
the Northen Albania was conquered in 1464-79 from the ottomans. That happened only after
Skenderbegs Time. After his death, Shkodra was the last city to fall in 1478. Before the Ottoman
occupation, the Albanians had been divided between the Catholic and the orthodox churches.
Ottomans introduced a new religion in that region- it was called Islam. The Catholics were
situated in Northern Albania, in Shkodra and the Orthodox were situated in under the river
Shkumbin, in Korca and Gjirokaster. The culture thee in South was mostly Greece culture with
Orthodox religion. ottomans didnt force the Christian Lords to become Muslim.
In Balkans Muslims were situated throughout Albania but were concentrated mainly in the center
regions and in Kosovo. The Albanian Muslims like Bosnian Muslims were Sunni.