Humanist Organizations and Secularization in Germany

Titelangaben

Schröder, Stefan:
Humanist Organizations and Secularization in Germany.
In: Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe. Bd. 10 (2017) Heft 1 . - S. 21-34.
ISSN 1553-9962
DOI: https://doi.org/10.20413/rascee.2017.10.1.21-34

Volltext

Link zum Volltext (externe URL):

Abstract

Among social scientists, humanist and freethinker organizations are often described as secularizing agents within society with a critical and confrontational relation to religions. This article provides a re-evaluation of this theory with respect to a contemporary example of German freigeistig organizations, the German Humanist Association (Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands [HVD]). Through being incorporated into German religio-political arrangements, the author argues, the HVD rather imitates religion, thereby unfolding secularization-opposing effects. Drawing on a grounded theory-based analysis of found data as well as interviews and participant observations, and with reference to the comparative frameworks regarding ‘multiple secularities’ (Burchardt/Wohlrab-Sahr) or ‘different modes of nonreligion’ (Quack), the article concludes by distinguishing two different types of freigeistig organizations in contemporary Germany, only one of which can by described as a secularizing agent.