Paul VanderKlay's Podcast The Convenient but False Division of our World into Religious and Secular is Ending
Mar 5, 2026
Kevin Flatt, historian who studies secularization and the history of religion. He and the host challenge the neat religious versus secular split and the assumptions behind secularization theory. They probe how politics, institutions, and lived belief blur that divide. They trace American restorationist impulses and debate why the subtraction story of religion endures.
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Modern Secularization Relies On Convenient Definitions
- Secularization theory often relies on novel definitions that split the world into neat religious and secular spheres.
- Paul Vanderklay highlights five presuppositions critics use, including that scholars can always distinguish religious from secular in any historical setting.
Secularity Doesn't Erase Human Enchantment
- Human minds show recurring openness to supernatural or 'enchantment' even when raised without church influence.
- Vanderklay cites Clay Routledge's work to argue new atheism underestimated persistent supernatural cognition.
Religion Is Often Shrunk To Church Authority
- Scholars frequently reduce religion to the institutional church and clergy when defining secularization.
- Vanderklay argues this collapse ignores other legitimated supernatural authorities like monarchs, guilds, or universities.
