Where the church lost control, the state or private enterprisetook over because the production of ideas, and even more so technologicalinnovations, are costly, they always need financial support. In the freemarket economy of a capitalist society, money has to generate money. Ideasor technological innovations must have at least the potential to in someway benefit the system that enables their production. Otherwise, thefinancial support will eventually be withdrawn. The spiritus movens of capitalism is individual competition.
Capitalist societies promote individualism.
No wonder that the mostsuccessful secular ethical theories focus on the individual. The ethical'theory du jour' with a growing popularity at least in the UnitedStates, seems to be ethical egoism. At the same time, the 'classic' Protestant denominations with strong individualistic tendencies, forinstance Presbyterians, are struggling to maintain their membership. One ofthe explanations of why it happens is that the present secular theoriesplus the concept of individual spirituality satisfy the needs of formermembers. Overallhowever, the influence of traditional religions on people's lives in theWest is in decline.