Humanist Organizations and Secularization in Germany
Abstract
Among social scientists, humanist and freethinker organizations are often described as secularizing agents within society with a critical and confrontational relation to religions. This article provides a re-evaluation of this theory with respect to a contemporary example of German freigeistig organizations, the German Humanist Association ( Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands [HVD]). Through being incorporated into German religio- political arrangements, the author argues, the HVD rather imitates religion, thereby unfolding secularization-opposing effects. Drawing on a grounded theory-based analysis of found data as well as interviews and participant observations, and with reference to the comparative frameworks regarding ‘multiple secularities’ (Burchardt/Wohlrab-Sahr) or ‘different modes of nonreligion’ (Quack), the article concludes by distinguishing two different types of freigeistig organizations in contemporary Germany, only one of which can by described as a secularizing agent.
