U radu se na temelju novovjeko-vnih društvenih promjena pokušava detektirati stanje religije i religijskih promjena u sekulariziranom društvu. Prelaskom iz srednjovjekovlja i feudalnog sakraliziranog društvenog uređenja u moderno društvo, religija sve više gubi ne samo središnje značenje nego i mjesto na gotovo svim područjima od kulture i znanosti do etike i obrazovanja. Takvom, stanju stvari u modernom društvu bitno je pridonijela racionalizacija života, koja je zasigurno i kamen temeljac modernog društva. Racionalizacija pak vodi k racionalizmu, a sekularizacija radikalizaciji svjetovnosti i sekularizmu. Radikalizacija sekularizacije, međutim, gotovo u pravilu rada novim religijama. Dok su mnogi suvremeni seizmografi religijskog fenomena nastojali proniknuti pojavak sekularizacije, dotle su drugi opravdano primjećivali da se teorija sekularizacije temelji na rezultatima istraživanja tradicionalne crkvene religije, te da ona nema što reći o suvremenom buđenju želje za neposrednim, doživljajem i iskustvom svetoga i njegovu »povratku« novim religijskim grupama i pokretima. Potkraj šezdesetih godina prošlog stoljeća pa sve do danas dolazi ne samo do stagniranja sekularizacije nego i do pravih antisekularizacijskih »pobuna«. A antisekularizacija je po sebi i na izravan način reakcija na pretjeranu svjetovnost svijeta i eklezijalno »paktiranje« s tim i takvim svijetom. Samo u akcentima doživljajnog, emotivnog, zajedničarskog, osobnog, iskustvenog, »bitnog«, u novim religijskim i eklezijalnim pokretima sociolog (religije) može »pročitati« i(sta) obilježja postmoderne pobune protiv vjere u razum, znanost, svjetovne religije, globalne ideologije i utopije, pravi fijasko obećanja nove ljevice i njezinih »revolucionarnih« obećanja. Nadanja i očekivanja moderne nisu se ostvarila niti su se mogla ostvariti. Vjera u znanost, napredak i realizaciju pravednoga društva (parareligija) nije mogla biti primjerena zamjena autentičnoj religiji i religioznosti.On the basis of changes in the modern world, the author attempts to detect the state of religion and of religious changes in the secularized society of today. With the transition from the Middle Ages and the feudal sacralized social system towards modern society, religion looses more and more not only its central importance, but also its place in almost all fields of culture and science, ethics and education. To this state of affairs in modern society most importantly contributed the rationalization of life which is undoubtedly the basic stone of modern society. The rationalization leads then towards rationalism and secularization towards the radicalization of secularity and secularism. The radicalization of secularization brings birth, however, almost as a rule, to new religions. While many contemporary seismographers of the religious phenomenon made efforts to understand the appearance of secularization, others observed with good reason that the theory of secularization was founded on results of investigation of traditional church religion, and that it has nothing to say on the contemporary awakening of the desire of immediate experience of the holy and its »come back« to new religious groups and movements. From the end of the sixtieths of the past century until now has occurred not only a stagnation of secularization but also true anti-secularizing »rebellions«. And anti-secularization is by itself, in a direct way, a reaction to the exaggerated secularity of the world and the ecclesial »pactizing« with such a world. Only in accents of the experienced, emotional, societal, personal, »essential«, a sociologist (of religion) can »decipher« in new religious and ecclesiastical movements the (same) marks of the contemporary rebellion against the faith in reason, science, secular religion, global ideology and utopia, and a true fiasco of the promise of the left and its »revolutionary« promises. Hopes and expectations of the Modern were not fulfilled and could not be realized. The faith in science, progress and realization of a just society (para-religion) could not be an adequate substitute to an authentic religion and religiosity
