A process of decline in the influence of religions is called:-
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Secularization
Option (1) Communalism — Incorrect. In everyday Indian usage, communalism means aggressive chauvinism based on religious identity, an aggressive political ideology linked to religion. It sharpens the role of religion rather than reducing it.
Option (2) Modernization — Incorrect. Modernisation is the wider process of change towards modern technology, production and values. Theorists of modernisation assumed that modern societies become more secular, but the name for the decline of religion itself is secularisation.
Option (4) Secularization — Correct. In the modern west, secularisation has usually meant a process of decline in the influence of religion, measured by involvement with religious organisations, their social and material influence and the degree to which people hold religious beliefs.
NCERT (2025-26): “Modernisation and Secularisation … In the modern west, secularisation has usually meant a process of decline in the influence of religion. It has been an assumption of all theorists of modernisation that modern societies become increasingly secular. Indicators of secularisation have referred to levels of involvement with religious organisations, the social and material influence of religious organisations, and the degree to which people hold religious beliefs. Recent years have, however, seen an unprecedented growth of religious consciousness and conflict world over.” |