The "Post-Secular" Era

Publication Date: October 2000

Publisher: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

Author(s): Eliezer Schweid

Research Area: Culture and religion

Keywords: Zionism; History; Culture; Church and State

Type: Other

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

The author contends that with the completion of the secularization process within the Jewish people, it is now clear that secularism is no substitute for religion. He writes that despite the influence of materialism and the unprecedented control of man over nature and over himself, the need for religion has intensified due to continuing moral, social, and spiritual-existential problems. The article includes a discussion of the definitions by which the "religious" present themselves in contrast to the "secularists," the historical background of secularization, and secularization in Israel, among other topics. The author argues that the time has come for the representatives of religious and secularist movements to begin a substantive dialogue that will enable creative life together.