The Return of Religion and Conflicts in Western Societies: A Critical Review of the Concept of Secularism

Abstract

In the late twentieth century, two main hypotheses emerged regarding the relationship between religion and secularism. The first considers secularization as an inevitable process and a prerequisite for modernity, one that directed society toward the desacralization of religion and its disengagement from the public sphere. The second, however, views the return of religion as a form of protest against the prevailing model of modernity and as an alternative mode of engaging with and renewing modernity. This article examines the key literature focused specifically on the hypothesis of the "return of religion" and its connection to the rise of identity conflicts in Western societies. It adopts a historical-sociological approach that traces the emergence of the concept of secularism and the debates surrounding its relationship with religion. Through a critical comparison of foundational writings in this field—particularly the works of Olivier Roy and Marcel Gauchet—the article seeks to uncover the ideological foundations that fuel the conflict between the secular and the religious. The study concludes that secularization did not eliminate religion but rather reshaped it within a liberal political and social sphere, and that the so-called "return" of religion merely reflects transformations in the modes of its presence and uses. It further argues that critiquing exclusionary and hegemonic narratives of extreme secularism goes beyond deconstructing the "return of religion" hypothesis, extending instead to questioning the ideological foundations that legitimize exclusion and reproduce domination under the guise of excessive modernity.