Editing Secularization (section)

==Criticism of secularization theory==
Today, criticism is directed against the assertion that religion has become less important in the modern age. Critics point to developments in South Korea, Russia and the United States. The combination of institutional religion with other interests, such as economic or political interests, leads to the strengthening of these religions in their respective societies. However, there are also factors that lead to a diminishing importance of religion. This is the main trend in Western Europe.[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Säkularisierung#cite_note-28] Some scholars point to the permanent interplay between secularization and (re)sacralization in Western societies. For example, after the first democratic revolutions in the 18th and 19th centuries, religious traditions quickly regained strength.[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Säkularisierung#cite_note-29] It has also been denied that secularization ever took place in the United States - a country that was co-founded by many religious sectarians who were expelled from their home countries and where witches were still being persecuted in 1692. Detlef Pollack [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detlef_Pollack], on the other hand, argues that the higher religiosity of Americans compared to Europeans is well compatible with the assumptions of secularization theory: among other things, it can be explained by the unusually high degree of existential insecurity and social inequality in the United States and the millions of religious immigrants from Latin America. However, liberal Americans have increasingly distanced themselves from church and religion due to the growing fusion of evangelical and conservative positions.[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Säkularisierung#cite_note-30]

Another point of criticism in the discourse on secularization is the inadequate examination of the Eurocentric nature of general terms, concepts, and definitions. For example, the religious studies scholar and intercultural theologian Michael Bergunder [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bergunder] criticizes the fact that the terms religion and esotericism [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_esotericism#:~:text=Somewhat%20crudely%2C%20esotericism%20can%20be,the%20divine%20aspect%20of%20existence.] are tainted by a Eurocentric origin thinking. This inaccurate use of the terms hinders a constructive discussion about secularization in a global context. As an alternative, Bergunder [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bergunder] argues for a historicization from the present of these general terms according to Foucault's [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault]. In this way, hitherto unseen connections and the origins of the modern understanding of secularization from the 19th century can be revealed.[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Säkularisierung#cite_note-:0-31]