Secularization
or generally refers to the transformation by which a society migrates
from close identification with religious institutions to a more
separated relationship. It is also the name given to a general belief
about history, namely that the development of society progresses toward
modernization and lessening dependence on religion as religion loses its
position of authority.
Secularization has many levels of meaning, both as a theory and a historical process. Social theorists such as Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud,
Max Weber, and Émile Durkheim, postulated that the modernization of
society would include a decline in levels of religiosity. Study of this
process seeks to determine the manner in which, or extent to which
religious creeds, practices and institutions are losing their social significance (if at all).
The
term also has additional meanings, primarily historical. Applied to
church property, secularization involves the abandonment of goods by the
church where it is sold to purchasers after the government seizes the
property, which most commonly happens after reasonable negotiations and
arrangements are made. In Catholic theology, the term can also denote
the permission or authorization given for an individual (typically
clergy, who become secular clergy) to live outside his or her religious
colony (monastery), either for a fixed or permanent period.
