In Praise of Doubt by Peter L. Berger and Anton C. Zijderveld challenges the long-held secularization theory; the belief that modernity inevitably leads to a decline in religion. Instead, Berger and Zijderveld argue that modernity’s primary effect is pluralisation, which shifts the experience of reality from fate (taken-for-granted certainties) to choice (conscious preferences). This is the same kind of move that Niklas Luhmann made in his Sociology of Risk, where he discussed the differenced between external danger and decision-based risk.

While religious traditions have proven resilient and even explosive in the modern era, they have undergone a fundamental structural change: they now operate as voluntary associations within a competitive market. This change creates a state of relativisation, where previous absolutes are weakened by cognitive contamination and the necessity of permanent reflection. The most acute challenge in this new landscape is moral plurality, as societies struggle to find common ground when fundamental ethical certainties conflict.

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I. The Falsification of Secularisation Theory

For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, social science was dominated by the belief that science and reason would eventually cause religion to evaporate. This secularization theory has been decisively falsified by contemporary global trends.

The Enlightenment Legacy

Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire and the French revolutionaries viewed religion as an illusion to be destroyed by reason. After that, sociological founders Marx and Durkheim welcomed the decline of religion, while Max Weber viewed it with melancholy resignation. The theory was supported by data from Europe, but World War II-era and subsequent developments showed a global religious explosion rather than a decline.

Global Religious Vitality

• Islamic Resurgence: A massive movement seeking meaning through Islam, spanning from North Africa to Southeast Asia.
• Pentecostalism: Described as the most rapid growth of any religious movement in history, with an estimated 400 million adherents globally.
• Resilience of Traditions: Robust health in the Catholic Church (outside Europe), the Anglican communion in Africa, Eastern Orthodoxy in Russia, and revivals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.
• Exceptions: Western and central Europe and a thin class of global secular intellectuals remain the only areas where secularisation theory appears plausible.

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II. The Pluralising Dynamic of Modernity

If modernity does not secularise, Berger and Zijderveld posit that it definitely pluralises.

Defining Plurality

They distinguish between two key terms:

• Plurality: A social reality where diverse groups live together under conditions of civic peace and social interaction.
• Pluralism: The ideology or attitude that welcomes this social reality.

Drivers of Pluralisation

Modernity weakens the walls of social segregation through several mechanisms:

1. Urbanisation: Cities force diverse groups to rub shoulders on an ongoing basis.
2. Mass Communication: Computer revolutions, television, and telephones allow people to access alternative approaches to reality instantly.
3. Migration: Large-scale movements of people bring diverse values into intimate contact.

Cognitive Contamination

Cognitive contamination occurs when people converse over time and begin to influence each other's thinking. It becomes difficult to view the other as evil or insane; the previously taken-for-granted view of reality becomes shaky. On a collective level, this leads to the blending of traditions, such as the Roman acquisition of the Greek pantheon.

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III. The change from fate to choice

Modernisation has fundamentally changed the human condition by moving life from the realm of fate to the realm of choice. This change is explained through the concepts of Foreground and Background.

Arnold Gehlen’s Conceptual Framework

• The Background: The area of life where choices are preempted by taken-for-granted programs for action (institutions). Behaviour here is automatic and unreflected.
• The Foreground: The area of life where choices are allowed and reflection is required.
• Modern Deinstitutionalisation: Modernity enlarges the foreground at the expense of the background. Subjects that were once fate (religion, gender roles, identity) are now projects that must be chosen.

Consequences of Choice

• Permanent Reflection: Individuals must constantly ask who they are and how they should live, leading to a surfeit of consciousness and increased anxiety.
• Secondary Institutions: To ease the agony of choice, new institutions (like therapists or support groups) offer packages of identity, though these are weaker than premodern institutions because they are still chosen and can be reversed.

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IV. The Transformation of Religious Institutions

In a pluralistic society, the how of religion changes even if the what (the doctrine) remains the same.

From Monopoly to Voluntary Association

Churches can no longer rely on state power or cultural taken-for-grantedness to fill pews. Religious affiliation becomes a preference or consumer choice. Berger and Zijderveld note the revealing American phrase "I'm into Buddhism," suggesting a lack of permanence. They also use the Catholic Church as a dramatic example of an institution forced to become a voluntary association, dependent on the uncoerced allegiance of the laity.

The Rise of Denominationalism

• The Denomination: A category defined by Richard Niebuhr as a religious body that recognises the right of its competitors to exist.
• Market Competition: Religious institutions now function as competitors in a free market, leading to both competition and ecumenical cooperation to regulate that market.

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V. Relativisation and the Moral Challenge

Relativisation is the process where the absolute status of a belief is weakened or obliterated.

"Of Course" Statements

Relativisation targets what sociologists call of course statements; definitions of reality so certain they are rarely questioned (e.g., the historical of course of heterosexual marriage). Challenges to these statements come as shocks (collective or individual) that shake people out of unreflected acceptance.

Religious vs. Moral Plurality

Berger and Zijderveld argue that moral pluralisation is significantly more difficult to manage than religious pluralisation. Theological differences (e.g., the nature of the Eucharist) often don't affect practical interactions between neighbours. Deep moral disagreements (e.g., abortion, same-sex marriage, honor killings, or female genital mutilation) involve judgments that require a degree of certainty for a society to function. It is much harder to maintain civic peace with a neighbour one considers to be a murderer or pervert than with a neighbor who simply holds a different view of the divine.

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