God is Dead: Secularization in the West
Challenging "supply-side" proponents of the enduring vitality of  religious belief in the modern world, Bruce (Univ. of Aberdeen;  Religion in the Modern World) proclaims that religious "decline  is not a sociological myth." The stress in the title should go  on the word is: the data show that God really is dead, despite  God's vestigial survival as a nostalgic relic or nebulous aid to  self-realization. Modernization has caused religion to change in  such ways that it has lost its social significance. As Bruce  argues, "Individualism, diversity and egalitarianism in the  context of liberal democracy undermine the authority of  religious beliefs," making belief in God a personal option  rather than a compelling necessity. Opponents to the  secularization argument (chiefly Rodney Stark) point to the  strength of religion in America. But under secularization, "It  is not self-conscious irreligion that is important," Bruce  writes. "It is indifference." Sociological research increasingly  points to a growing cultural indifference to the supernatural  and the exclusive truth claims of religion. Bruce's book is a  compelling, vigorous, and scrupulously fair defense of what the  secularization paradigm means and does not mean. Highly  recommended for all libraries. Steve Young, McHenry Cty. Coll.,  Crystal Lake, ILCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.