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144-505: In 1648, both prince-bishoprics were secularised , meaning that they were transformed into hereditary monarchies by constitution, and from then on both the Duchy of Bremen and the Duchy of Verden were always ruled in personal union , initially by the royal houses of Sweden, the House of Vasa and the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken , and later by the House of Hanover . With the dissolution of

288-441: A theory and as a political process. Karl Marx (1818–1883), Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), Max Weber (1864–1920), and Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) postulated that the modernization of society would include a decline in levels of formal religiosity . Study of this process seeks to determine the manner in which, or extent to which religious creeds , practices, and institutions are losing social significance. Some theorists argue that

432-590: A Baltic trade monopoly, to be run by some imperial favourites including Spaniards and Poles. The idea was to win Sweden 's and Denmark 's support, both of which since long were after the destruction of the Hanseatic League . In May 1625 Christian IV of Denmark, Duke of Holstein was elected – in the latter of his functions – by the Lower Saxon Circle 's member territories commander-in-chief of

576-618: A Diet. In 1730, Bremen-Verden's government was reorganised and retitled as Royal British and Electoral Brunswick-Lunenburgian Privy Council for Governing the Duchies of Bremen and Verden , which colloquially turned into the "Royal Government". Stade remained the capital. In Hanover , the electoral capital, the Privy Council of Hanover installed a new ministry in charge of the Imperial Estates ruled in personal union by

720-645: A Free Imperial City. A Danish attempt to conquer Bremen-Verden during the Dano-Swedish War (1657–1658) failed. But the Danish threat to Bremen-Verden turned more virulent in 1667. In that year the local branch of the House of Oldenburg ruling in the County of Oldenburg , adjacent to Bremen-Verden's western border, died out with Anton Günther, Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst . Therefore, Christian Albert, Duke of Schleswig and Holstein at Gottorp inherited

864-648: A Swedish military administration with John Frederick being officially the Administrator. The reconquest of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen – helped by forces from Sweden and from the city of Bremen – was interrupted by Leaguist forces under Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim , coming as a relief to Stade , where they joined the Catholic imperial and Leaguist forces still holding out. On May 10, 1632, they were granted safe-conduct and left

1008-592: A church (2019). Similarly, divorce was legalized in 1981, as was abortion and same-sex marriage soon after. Like other European countries, Germany has recorded a decrease in religiosity (in terms of proportion of individuals affiliated to a Church and baptisms for example) but the trends in East and West Germany are significantly different. In East Germany, the process of secularization has been significantly quicker. These differences are explained by sociologists ( Jörg Stolz , Detlef Pollack and Nan Dirk de Graaf ) by

1152-580: A consequence, seem to encourage pre-marital sex. However, in other countries, such as Jordan and Palestine , support for sharia and Islamist ideas seems to grow. Even in countries in which secularization is growing, there are backlashes. For instance, the president of Egypt, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi , has banned hundreds of newspapers and websites who may provoke opposition. John Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp John Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (born 1 September 1579 in Gottorp ,

1296-480: A desperately impoverished city of Stade after its siege by John Frederick's forces. John Frederick was back in his office, only to realise the supremacy of Sweden, insisting on its supreme command until the war's end. The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen continuously suffered from billeting and alimenting soldiers. The relation between the Estates, who had to maintain administration under Catholic occupation, and

1440-481: A different name. The secularization thesis expresses the idea that through the lens of the European enlightenment modernization , rationalization , combined with the ascent of science and technology, religious authority diminishes in all aspects of social life and governance. In recent years, the secularization thesis has been challenged due to some global studies indicating that the irreligious population of

1584-421: A dominant role in public life or in other aspects of decision making. Jack David Eller (2010) outlined Peter Glasner's 10 different institutional, normative, or cognitive versions of secularization, most of which do not lead to irreligion or atheism: C. John Sommerville (1998) outlined six uses of the term secularization in the scientific literature. The first five are more along the lines of 'definitions' while

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1728-402: A husband befitting their social status or who didn't want to marry, with a decent livelihood. So when an unmarried woman of that status joined a nunnery she would bestow earning assets (real estate) or – restricted to her lifetime – regular revenues paid by her male relatives, on the nunnery, making up in the former case part of the nunnery's estates (not to be confused with the political body of

1872-525: A loan amounting to 100,000 rixdollars , for which in return Swedish Bremen-Verden had to pawn its exclave of the town of Wildeshausen and the pertaining adjacence to the Prince-Bishopric of Münster . In the 1690s, the usual practise, that tax laws had a certain maturity, was abolished, so that the Swedish and Bremen-Verden's Estates had no chance any more to demand any concessions in return for

2016-441: A member of the clergy, and to deconsecration , removing the consecration of a religious building so that it may be used for other purposes. The first use of "secular" as a change from religion to the mundane is from the 16th century that referred to transforming ecclesiastical possessions for civil purposes, such as monasteries to hospitals; and by the 19th century it gained traction as a political object of secularist movements. In

2160-697: A number of Lower Saxon princes in Leipzig , all of them troubled by Habsburg 's growing influence wielded by virtue of the Edict of Restitution in a number of Northern German Lutheran prince-bishoprics. John Frederick speculated to regain the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and therefore in June/July 1631 officially allied himself with Sweden. For the war being John Frederick accepted Swedish overlordship, while Gustavus Adolphus promised to restitute

2304-466: A number of Lower Saxon princes in Leipzig , all of them troubled by Habsburg's growing influence wielded by virtue of the Edict of Restitution in a number of Northern German Lutheran prince-bishoprics. John Frederick speculated to regain the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and therefore in June/July 1631 officially allied himself with Sweden. For the war being John Frederick accepted the supreme command of Gustavus II Adolphus , who promised to restitute

2448-568: A part of today's Schleswig ; died 3 September 1634 in Altkloster  [ nds ] , a part of today's Buxtehude ) was the Lutheran Administrator of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen , the Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck and the Prince-Bishopric of Verden . His parents were Adolf I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and Christine, Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel . John Frederick and Anna Dobbel from Bremervörde ,

2592-408: A process of functional differentiation and emancipation of the secular spheres—primarily the state, the economy, and science—from the religious sphere and the concomitant differentiation and specialization of religion within its own newly found religious sphere". Casanova also describes this as the theory of "privatization" of religion, which he partially criticizes. While criticizing certain aspects of

2736-619: A ransom of 10,000 rixdollars in order to spare its siege. The city remained unoccupied. Wallenstein had meanwhile conquered all the Jutish Peninsula , which made Christian IV to sign the Treaty of Lübeck , on May 22, 1629, in order to regain possession of all his feoffs on the peninsula, he in return agreed to formally end Denmark's participation in the Thirty Years' War and waived for his son Frederick II, Administrator of

2880-532: A religion, but who now identify as having no religion, so-called "non-verts", had different rates of leaving the religion of their upbringing, namely 14% for Jews, 10% for Muslims and Sikhs, and 6% for Hindus. The proportions of the non-religious who convert to a faith are small: 3% now identify as Anglicans, less than 0.5% convert to Catholicism, 2% join other Christian denominations, and 2% convert to non-Christian faiths. In 2018, Pew Research Center that large majority (89%) of those who were raised as Christians in

3024-535: A religion, still hold religious beliefs and participate in religious practices, thus complicating the situation. Secularization, in the main, sociological meaning of the term, involves the historical process in which religion declines in social and cultural significance. As a result of secularization the role of religion in modern societies becomes restricted. In secularized societies faith lacks cultural authority, and religious organizations have little social power. Secularization has many levels of meaning, both as

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3168-466: A renewal of tax laws. As in Sweden proper, the constitutional and administrative bodies in the Swedish dominions gradually lost de facto importance due to ever growing centralisation. Bremen-Verden's Estates lost more and more influence, they less and less often convened. After 1692, the estates' say had almost vanished. This led to considerable unease among the Estates, so that in May 1694 representatives of

3312-523: A sign of modernity [...] has ironically left China for centuries without a powerful and stable source of morality and law. All this simply means that the pursuit of wealth or power or simply the competition for survival can be and often has been ruthless without any sense of restraint. [...] Along with the early secularization of Chinese society which was equally early, the concomitant demise of feudalism and hereditary aristocracy, another remarkable development, transformed China earlier than any other country into

3456-891: A unitary system politically, with one single power centre. It also rendered Chinese society much more egalitarian than Western Europe and Japan. In this arguably secular setting, the Chinese Communist Party régime of the People's Republic of China (in power on the Chinese mainland from 1949) promoted deliberate secularization. Many countries in the Arab world show signs of increasing secularization. For instance, in Egypt , support for imposing sharia (Islamic law) fell from 84% in 2011 to 34% in 2016. Egyptians also pray less: among older Egyptians (55+) 90% prayed daily in 2011. Among

3600-426: Is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism, irreligion, nor are they automatically antithetical to religion. Secularization has different connotations such as implying differentiation of secular from religious domains, the marginalization of religion in those domains, or it may also entail

3744-456: Is compatible with religion since most versions of secularity do not lead to atheism or irreligion. The term "secularization" also has additional meanings, primarily historical and religious. Applied to church property , historically it refers to the seizure of church lands and buildings, such as Henry VIII 's 16th-century dissolution of the monasteries in England and the later acts during

3888-449: Is sometimes credited both to the cultural shifts in society following the emergence of rationality and the development of science as a substitute for superstition — Max Weber called this process the "disenchantment of the world"—and to the changes made by religious institutions to compensate. At the most basic stages, this begins with a slow transition from oral traditions to a writing culture that diffuses knowledge. This first reduces

4032-470: The Edict of Restitution illegitimate. But the Swedish occupants had to be persuaded first, to accept Frederick's succession. So Chapter and Estates ruled the Prince-Archbishopric until the conclusion of the negotiations with Sweden. In 1635 he succeeded as Lutheran Administrator Frederick II in the Sees of Bremen and of Verden. But he had to render homage to the minor Queen regnant Christina of Sweden . In

4176-642: The Edict of Restitution , in favour of his youngest son, the Roman Catholic Leopold Wilhelm, Archduke of Austria , already prince-bishop of Halberstadt (1628-1648), Passau (1625-1662) and Strasbourg (1626-1662). Ferdinand II left John Frederick in office, against Leaguist resistance, for he had always kept loyalty to him. The Catholic League wished the Roman Catholic Franz Wilhelm, Count of Wartenberg , prince-bishopric of Osnabrück (1625–1661), onto

4320-734: The Electorate of Hanover on 26 May and installed — among others — two occupation companies in Bremen-Verden's capital Stade on 18 June. According to the Convention of Artlenburg from 5 July 1803, confirming the military defeat of Hanover, the Hanoverian army was disarmed and its horses and ammunitions were handed over to the French. The Privy Council of Hanover, with minister Friedrich Franz Dieterich von Bremer holding up

4464-660: The Estates ). In many territories, where the majority of the population adopted Lutheranism , the nunneries' function to provide sustenance for unmarried women wasn't to be given up. So it happened that the Prince-Archbishopric's former Roman Catholic nunneries of Himmelpforten , Lilienthal St. Mary's Nunnery in the Valley of Lillies  [ de ] , Neuenwalde , and Osterholz with all their estates had turned into such foundations (German: das Stift , more particular: Damenstift , literally Ladies' foundation ), while

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4608-608: The First Bremian War (March to July 1654), arguing to act in self-defence. The Free Imperial City of Bremen had meanwhile urged Ferdinand III for support. In July 1654, the emperor ordered his vassal, as duke, Charles X Gustav of Sweden , who had succeeded Christina after her abdication, to cease the conflict, which resulted in the First Stade Recess  [ de ] in November 1654. This treaty left

4752-814: The Free Imperial City of Bremen the requested confirmation ( Diploma of Linz  [ de ] ). The political entities of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and the Prince-Bishopric of Verden were transformed by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 into the Duchy of Bremen and the Principality of Verden , however, colloquially the Duchies of Bremen and Verden, without changing the territories' status of imperial immediacy and imperial estate . Every imperial estate, thus Bremen and Verden separately,

4896-850: The Imperial Diet , strongly opposed by the representatives of the Swedish Duchies of Bremen and Verden therein. In March 1664, the Swedish Diet came out in favour of waging war on the Free Imperial City of Bremen. Right after, Leopold I, busy with wars against the Ottoman Empire , had enfeoffed the minor King Charles XI of Sweden with Bremen-Verden, and with the neighbouring Brunswick and Lunenburg (Celle line) being paralysed by succession quarrels and France being not opposed, Sweden started from its Bremen-Verden

5040-757: The Jesuits , in order to finance them and their missioning in the course of the Counter-Reformation in the Prince-Archbishopric. The expelled conventuals were denied to get the real estate restituted, which they bestowed on the nunnery, when they entered it. Ferdinand II suspended the capitulars from penalty, if they would dismiss the Lutheran coadjutor Frederick, later Crown Prince of Denmark from office. The Chapter refused, still backing Frederick , whom it had elected with full legal validity in 1621. So Ferdinand II himself dismissed him by way of using

5184-623: The Kingdom of Prussia , after it had turned against France, was defeated in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (11 November 1806), the Privy Council of Hanover returned from Lauenburg to Hanover City for a month, only to have to flee again from the Second French Occupation of Hanover (November 1806-January 1810), including Bremen-Verden. Secularisation In sociology , secularization ( British English : secularisation )

5328-410: The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen into his inheritable ducal monarchy. The Chapter demanded that John Adolf would resign, what he did in 1596 in favour of John Frederick . In 1607 John Adolf also handed over the Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck to his brother. At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War John Frederick and his prince-bishoprics of Bremen and Lübeck maintained neutrality, as did most of

5472-557: The Prince-Bishopric of Münster captured Bremen-Verden in the course of a Reichsexekution during the Scanian War . The allied forces occupied Bremen-Verden, until they withdrew — under French influence — according to the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 1679 and the favourable Treaty of Celle . By the latter Baron Ferdinand II of Fürstenberg  [ de ] , the Prince-Bishop of Münster, granted Sweden

5616-617: The Prince-Electorate of Brunswick and Lunenburg , or colloquially called after its capital, the Electorate of Hanover; ( German : Kurfürstentum Braunschweig und Lüneburg, or Kurhannover ) took de facto possession of Bremen-Verden and stipulated in the Treaty of Stockholm of 1719 , settling the war with Sweden, to compensate the latter by 1 million rixdollars . In 1728, Emperor Charles VI enfeoffed George II Augustus , who in 1727 had succeeded his father George I Louis, with

5760-693: The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and the Kingdom of England under James I . After Christian IV was defeated at the Battle of Lutter am Barenberge , on 27 August 1626, by the troops of the Catholic League under Johan 't Serclaes, Count of Tilly , he and his remaining troops fled to the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and set up headquarters in Stade. Administrator John Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp , who

5904-596: The Second Bremian War (1665–1666). The siege of the city by the Swedes under Carl Gustaf Wrangel brought Brandenburg-Prussia , Brunswick and Lunenburg (Celle), Denmark-Norway, Leopold I and the United Netherlands to the scene, all in favour of the city, with Brandenburgian, Brunswickian, Danish and Dutch troops at Bremen-Verden's borders ready to invade. So Sweden had to sign on 15 November 1666

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6048-527: The Treaty of Habenhausen , obliging it to destroy the fortresses built close to Bremen while banning the Free City of Bremen from sending its representative to the Diet of the Lower Saxon Circle . From Bremen-Verden, no further Swedish attempts to violently capture the city sprang out. Asked in 1700 what to do by Charles XII of Sweden , Bremen-Verden's General Government recommended to concede Bremen's status as

6192-505: The 18th-century French Revolution , as well as by various anti-clerical enlightened absolutist European governments during the 18th and 19th centuries, which resulted in the expulsion and suppression of the religious communities which occupied them. The 19th-century Kulturkampf in Germany and Switzerland and similar events in many other countries also were expressions of secularization. Still another form of secularization refers to

6336-475: The 1910s " legal realism " gained prominence, de-emphasizing the religious basis for law . That same decade publishing houses emerged that were independent of the Protestant establishment. During the 1920s secularization extended into popular culture and mass public education ceased to be under Protestant cultural influence. Although the general public was still highly religious during this time period, by 1930

6480-482: The 1960s as part of a much larger social and cultural revolution. Until then the postwar years had seen a revival of religiosity in Britain. Sociologists and historians have engaged in vigorous debates over when it started, how fast it happened, and what caused it. Sponsorship by royalty, aristocracy, and influential local gentry provided an important support system for organized religion. The sponsorship faded away in

6624-451: The 20th century, "secularization" had diversified into various versions in light of the diversity of experiences from different cultures and institutions. Scholars recognize that secularity is structured by Protestant models of Christianity, shares a parallel language to religion, and intensifies Protestant features such as iconoclasm, skepticism towards rituals, and emphasizes beliefs. In doing so, secularism perpetuates Christian traits under

6768-440: The 20th century, as the local élites were no longer so powerful or so financially able to subsidize their favorite activities. In coal-mining districts, local collieries typically funded local chapels, but that ended as the industry grew distressed and the unionized miners rejected élite interference in their local affairs. This allowed secularizing forces to gain strength. Data from the annual British Social Attitudes survey and

6912-523: The Bremian prince-archiepiscopal residence, had two children: Friedrich and Christine . In 1621 Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor , legitimated them and ennobled them as von Holstein . After John Frederick's brother John Adolf succeeded their brother Philip, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp as Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp , the Bremian Chapter feared John Adolf would integrate

7056-589: The British Electorate of Hanover , and a peace treaty with France was under negotiation until it failed in 1799. By this time the War of the Second Coalition against France (1799–1802) started and Napoléon Bonaparte urged Brandenburg-Prussia to occupy Hanover. In the Treaty of Basel of 1795 which Brandenburg-Prussia and France had stipulated, Brandenburg-Prussia would ensure the neutrality of

7200-712: The British army, supported by troops from Brandenburg-Prussia , Hesse-Kassel and the Principality of Brunswick and Lunenburg (Wolfenbüttel) expelled again the occupants. Bremen-Verden remained unaffected for the rest of the war and after its end peace prevailed until the French Revolutionary Wars started. The War of the First Coalition against France (1793–1797) with Britain and the Hanover Electorate and other war allies forming

7344-603: The Catholic occupants were withdrawn, since on 26 June Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden had landed with 15,000 soldiers at Peenemünde , opening a new front in the Thirty Years' War . He had been won by French diplomacy to join a new anti-imperial coalition, soon also joined by the United Netherlands . In February 1631 John Frederick, the exiled Lutheran administrator of the Prince-Archbishoprics of Bremen and Lübeck conferred with Gustavus II Adolphus and

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7488-478: The Danish throne as Frederick III of Denmark in 1648. With the impending enfeoffment of the military great power of Sweden with the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, as under negotiation for the Treaty of Westphalia , the city of Bremen feared falling under Swedish rule as well. Therefore, the city beseeched an imperial confirmation of its status of imperial immediacy from 1186 ( Gelnhausen Privilege  [ de ] ). In 1646 Emperor Ferdinand III granted

7632-464: The Estates was curtailed. Bremen and Verden declined from independent territories of imperial immediacy to a collectively governed dominion of a European great power with all the pertaining restrictions and opportunities. For her new fief, the Duchy of Bremen, the Queen regnant Christina of Sweden , ruling from 1644 to 1654, from 1648 on simultaneously Duchess of Bremen and Verden, sought after annexing

7776-504: The Estates, who had to maintain administration under Catholic occupation, and the returned Administrator were difficult. The Estates preferred to directly negotiate with the occupants, this time the Swedes. After John Frederick's death in 1634 Chapter and Estates regarded the dismissal of the Danish Prince Frederick as coadjutor bishop by Emperor Ferdinand II by virtue of the Edict of Restitution illegitimate. But

7920-557: The Free Imperial City of Bremen for it would be an important taxpayer. Earlier the city of Bremen had de facto participated in the Diets of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. The latter's successor state, the Swedish Duchy of Bremen, tried to regain the city, arguing the Treaty of Westphalia named the city of Bremen as part of the to-be-established Duchy. As Duchess of Bremen and Verden Christina of Sweden installed her residence in

8064-545: The Free Imperial City of Bremen, provoking two wars . In 1381 the city of Bremen had captured de facto rule in an area around Bederkesa and westwards thereof up to the lower Weser stream near Lehe (aka Bremerlehe) . Early in 1653 Bremen-Verden's Swedish troops captured Lehe. In February 1654 the city of Bremen achieved that the Emperor granted it a seat and the vote in the Holy Roman Empire's Diet, thus accepting

8208-630: The General Government of Bremen-Verden and the Estates met at the former convent of Zeven to confer on the status of the Duchies. In 1700, Bremen-Verden introduced — like all Protestant territories of imperial immediacy — the Improved Calendar , as it was called by Protestants, in order not to mention the name of Pope Gregory XIII . So Sunday 18 February, Old Style, was followed by Monday 1 March, New Style , while Sweden proper only followed suit in 1753. In 1712, in

8352-538: The Hanoverian stake, had fled to the trans-Elbian Hanoverian territory of Saxe-Lauenburg on 30 May, taking seat in Lauenburg upon Elbe. In the summer of 1803, the French occupants raised their first war contribution with 21,165 rixdollars alone levied in Bremen-Verden. In 1803, the Duchy of Bremen had 180,000 inhabitants and an area of 5,325.4 square kilometres, the Principality of Verden 1,359.7 square kilometres and 20,000 inhabitants in 1806, while Hadeln comprised 311.6 square kilometres and had about 14,000 inhabitants. In

8496-498: The Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Bremen-Verden's status as fiefs of imperial immediacy became void; as they had been in personal union with the neighbouring Kingdom of Hanover , they were incorporated into that state. The territory belonging to the Duchies of Bremen and Verden covered a rough triangle of land between the mouths of the rivers Elbe and Weser on the North Sea , in today's German federal states of Hamburg and Bremen (the Elbe-Weser Triangle ). This area included most of

8640-448: The Holy Roman Empire in all the latter's territories north the demarcation line of the river Main , including Hanover. To this end also Hanover had to provide troops for the so-called demarcation army maintaining the armed neutrality. But in 1801, 24,000 Prussian soldiers invaded Hanover, which surrendered without a fight. In April 1801, Brandenburg-Prussian troops arrived in Bremen-Verden's capital of Stade and stayed there until October

8784-538: The Lower Saxon troops. More troops were recruited and to be billeted and alimented in the Lower Saxon territories, including the Prince-Archbishopric. In the same year Christian IV joined the Anglo-Dutch war coalition. In 1625 Johan 't Serclaes, Count of Tilly warned John Frederick to further accept the stationing of Danish troops and Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor , demanded the immediate end of his and Verden's alliance with Denmark , with Verden being already ruled by Christian's son Frederick II, Administrator of

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8928-435: The Prince-Archbishopric and captured its southern parts. The city of Bremen shut its city gates and entrenched behind its improved fortifications. In 1628 Tilly beleaguered Stade with its remaining garrison of 3,500 Danish and English soldiers. On May 5, 1628 Tilly granted them safe-conduct to England and Denmark and the whole Prince-Archbishopric was in his hands. Now Tilly turned to the city of Bremen , which paid him

9072-565: The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and thus its successor Duchy of Bremen belonged to the Saxon Circle (later the Lower Saxon Circle; German : Sächsischer or later Niedersächsischer Kreis ), a fiscal and military substructure of the Empire. The Prince-Bishopric of Verden and thus its successor, the Duchy of Verden, on the other hand, belonged to the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle ( German : Niederrheinisch-Westfälischer Kreis , colloquially Westphalian Circle). The Holy Roman Empire's taxes were collected and armies recruited and financed along

9216-494: The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and took their headquarters in Stade . John Frederick fled to his Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck and left the rule in the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen to the Chapter and the Estates. By 1627 Christian IV had de facto dismissed his cousin John Frederick from the Bremian See. In the same year Christian IV withdrew from the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, in order to fight Wallenstein's invasion of his Duchy of Holstein . Tilly then invaded

9360-406: The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen to its exiled elected Administrator. In October, an army newly recruited by John Frederick started to reconquer the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and — supported by Swedish troops — to capture the neighboured Prince-Bishopric of Verden, de facto dismissing Verden's intermittent Catholic Prince-Bishop Francis of Wartenberg who ruled 1630–1631, and causing

9504-477: The Prince-Archbishopric to its former Administrator. In October an Army, newly recruited by John Frederick , started to reconquer the Prince-Archbishopric and – supported by Swedish troops – to capture the neighboured Prince-Bishopric of Verden, de facto dismissing Verden's Catholic Prince-Bishop Franz Wilhelm, Count of Wartenberg , (ruled 1630–1632) and causing the flight of the Catholic clergy wherever they arrived. The Prince-Bishopric of Verden became subject of

9648-422: The Prince-Bishopric of Verden to be the ruler of the bishopric. Since he was Lutheran, the Holy See denied him the title of bishop . Nevertheless, he and later administrators were often referred to as prince-bishops. Frederick II was a son of King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway . In 1626, Christian IV, who was also Duke of Holstein , and thus a vassal of the Emperor, joined the anti-imperial coalition of

9792-478: The Prince-Bishopric of Verden , being as well the provided successor of John Frederick . He declared again his loyalty to the Emperor and neutrality in the conflict. But all in vain. Now Christian IV ordered his troops to capture all the important traffic hubs in the Prince-Archbishopric and entered into the Battle of Lutter am Barenberge , on 27 August 1626, where he was defeated by the Leaguist troops under Tilly . Christian IV and his surviving troops fled to

9936-438: The Prince-Bishopric of Verden , the administration of that prince-bishopric as well as the provided succession as Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Halberstadt . John Frederick , exiled in the Imperial Free City of Lübeck , was in a markedly weak position. So in 1628 he consented that the Lutheran convent in the former Premonstratensian Our Lady's Friary  [ de ] in Stade – under Leaguist occupation –

10080-525: The Protestant territories in the Lower Saxon Circle , a fiscal and military subsection of the Holy Roman Empire . The neighbouring Prince-Bishopric of Verden also tried to maintain neutrality, but, being part of the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle , which was troubled by confrontation between Calvinist, Catholic and Lutheran rulers and their territories, Verden soon became involved in the war. In 1623 Verden's cathedral chapter , consisting mainly of Lutheran capitulars, elected Frederick II, Administrator of

10224-402: The See of Bremen for his son Frederick, later Crown Prince of Denmark (September 1621). Coadjutorship usually included the succession of a See. In November 1619 Christian IV of Denmark, Duke of Holstein stationed Danish troops in the Bremian city of Stade , officially on behalf of his son the provided to be Administrator successor, suppressing an unrest of its burghers. In 1620 Christian,

10368-576: The See. After all, the See included at those years an annual revenue of 60,000 rixdollars at the free disposal of its holder, making up half the Prince-Archbishopric's budget. Franz Wilhelm, Count of Wartenberg , appointed by Ferdinand II as chairman of the imperial restitution commission , carrying out the provisions of the Edict of Restitution in the Lower Saxon Circle , dismissed John Frederick in 1629, who acquiesced. In February 1631 John Frederick conferred with Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden and

10512-691: The State repression in the 1950s and 1960s, which challenges predictions of natural cohort replacements stated by the Voas model. India , post-independence, has seen the emergence of an assertive secular state. One traditional view of Chinese culture sees the teachings of Confucianism - influential over many centuries - as basically secular. Chang Pao-min summarises perceived historical consequences of very early secularization in China: The early secularization of Chinese society, which must be recognized as

10656-435: The Swedish occupants had to be persuaded first, to accept Prince Frederick's succession. So Chapter and Estates ruled the Prince-Archbishopric until the conclusion of the negotiations with Sweden. In 1635, he succeeded as Lutheran Administrator Frederick II in the sees of Bremen and of Verden. But he had to render homage to the minor Queen Christina of Sweden . In 1635–1636 the Estates and Frederick II agreed with Sweden upon

10800-512: The USA - a country that was co-founded by many religious sectarians who were expelled from their home countries and where witches were still being persecuted in 1692. Detlef Pollack [3] , on the other hand, argues that the higher religiosity of Americans compared to Europeans is well compatible with the assumptions of secularization theory: among other things, it can be explained by the unusually high degree of existential insecurity and social inequality in

10944-527: The USA and the millions of religious immigrants from Latin America. However, liberal Americans have increasingly distanced themselves from church and religion due to the growing fusion of evangelical and conservative positions. [4] Another point of criticism in the discourse on secularization is the inadequate examination of the Eurocentric nature of general terms, concepts, and definitions. For example,

11088-614: The United Kingdom still identify as such, while the remainder mostly self-identify as religiously unaffiliated. Spain used to be one of the most religious countries in Europe, but secularization has progressed fast during the past few decades. This was partly due to the role of the Catholic Church constituting the "doctrinal basis of the most significant organizations of the anti-democratic and anti-liberal right-wing" and

11232-487: The United States (a debate still taking place). Finally, some claim that demographic forces offset the process of secularization, and may do so to such an extent that individuals can consistently drift away from religion even as society becomes more religious. This is especially the case in societies like Israel (with the ultra-Orthodox and religious Zionists ) where committed religious groups have several times

11376-844: The Younger , titular Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg-Wolfenbüttel , the Lutheran Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric Halberstadt requested that the Lutheran Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen would join the war coalition of the Protestant Union . John Frederick and the Bremian Estates met in a Diet and declared for their territory their loyalty to Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor , and their neutrality in

11520-550: The act of Prince-Bishops or holders of a position in a Monastic or Military Order - holding a combined religious and secular authority under the Catholic Church - who broke away and made themselves into completely secular (typically, Protestant ) hereditary rulers. For example, Gotthard Kettler (1517–1587), the last Master of the Livonian Order , converted to Lutheranism , secularised (and took to himself)

11664-436: The authority of clerics as the custodians of revealed knowledge. The shift of responsibility for education from the family and community to the state has had two consequences: A major issue in the study of secularization is the extent to which certain trends such as decreased attendance at places of worship indicate a decrease in religiosity or simply a privatization of religious belief, where religious beliefs no longer play

11808-804: The autumn of 1805, at the beginning of the War of the Third Coalition against France (1805–1806) the French occupational troops left Hanover in a campaign against the Archduchy of Austria (End of the First French Occupation of Hanover , 1803–1805). British, Swedish and Russian coalition forces captured Hanover, including Bremen-Verden. In December, the First French Empire , since 1804 France's new form of government, ceded Hanover, which it didn't hold anymore, to Brandenburg-Prussia, which captured it early in 1806. But when

11952-498: The biennial European Social Survey suggest that the proportion of Britons who identify as Christian fell from 55% (in 1983) to 43% (in 2015). While members of non-Christian religions – principally Muslims and Hindus – quadrupled, the non-religious ("nones") now make up 53% of the British population. More than six in 10 "nones" were brought up as Christians, mainly Anglican or Catholic. Only 2% of "nones" were raised in religions other than Christian. People who were brought up to practice

12096-459: The birth rate of seculars. The religious fertility effect operates to a greater or lesser extent in all countries, and is amplified in the West by religious immigration. For instance, even as the white British became more secular, London , England, has become more religious in the past 25 years as religious immigrants and their descendants have increased their share of the population. Across the board,

12240-534: The brother-in-law of Christian IV of Denmark , started a new anti- Habsburg campaign. Thus the troops of the Catholic League were bound and the Prince-Archbishopric seemed relieved. But soon after the imperial troops under Albrecht von Wallenstein headed for the North in an attempt to destroy the fading Hanseatic League , in order to subject the Hanseatic cities of Bremen , Hamburg and Lübeck and to establish

12384-399: The city of Bremen to join, the city refused, but started to enforce its fortifications. In 1623 the territories comprising the Lower Saxon Circle decided to recruit an army in order to maintain an armed neutrality, with troops of the Catholic League already operating in the neighboured Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle and dangerously approaching their region. The concomitant effects of

12528-479: The city's status as Free Imperial City . Ferdinand III ordered Queen Christina of Sweden , who was his vassal as Duchess, to compensate the city for the damages caused and to restitute Lehe. When in March 1654, the city started to recruit soldiers in the area of Bederkesa, in order to prepare for further arbitrary acts by Swedish Bremen-Verden, the latter's governor general , Hans Christoffer von Königsmarck enacted

12672-541: The coalition, didn't affect Bremen-Verden's territory, since the French First Republic was fighting on several fronts, even on its own territory. But also in Bremen-Verden men were drafted in order to recruit the 16,000 Hanoverian soldiers fighting in the Low Countries under British command against Revolutionary France. In 1795, the Holy Roman Empire declared its neutrality, which of course included

12816-520: The conflict. With Danish troops within his territory and Christian the Younger's request John Frederick tried desperately to keep his Prince-Archbishopric out of the war, being in complete agreement with the Estates and the city of Bremen . When in 1623 the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , fighting in the Eighty Years' War for its independence against Habsburg 's Spanish and imperial forces, requested its Calvinist co-religionist of

12960-893: The contrary that the modern age, including its belief in progress, grew out of a new secular self-affirmation of culture against the Christian tradition ." Wolfhart Pannenberg , a student of Löwith, has continued the debate against Blumenberg. Hans Blumberg's assumption that secularization did not exactly grow out of a western-christian tradition also seems to be in line with more recent findings by Christoph Kleine and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr who have shown that similar historical developments can also be found in largely non-christian contexts such as Japan or Sri Lanka. Charles Taylor in A Secular Age (2007) challenges what he calls 'the subtraction thesis' – that science leads to religion being subtracted from more and more areas of life. Proponents of "secularization theory" demonstrate widespread declines in

13104-529: The countries in the former Soviet Union or large cities in the Western world with significant amounts of religious immigrants. There is no particular monolithic direction or trend for secularization since even in Europe, the trends in religious history and demographical religious measures (e.g. belief, belonging, etc) are mixed and make the region an exception compared to other parts of the world. Even global studies show that many people who do not identify with

13248-483: The county, but ceded it to his father-in-law Frederick III, King of Denmark and Norway , Administrator of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and the Prince-Bishopric of Verden from 1635 until he had been expelled by the Swedish occupants in 1645. So the Danes ruled territories clung around Bremen-Verden at its northern and western border. Both powers entered into a dangerous competition for the exclusive opportunity to levy

13392-599: The course of the Great Northern War (1700–1721) against the Swedish supremacy in the Baltic , Denmark-Norway occupied plague stricken Bremen-Verden . In 1715, Frederick IV of Denmark , still fighting in the Great Northern War , gained a new ally in the anti-Swedish coalition, George I , King of Great Britain since 1714, and Elector of Hanover . In return for George I's aid, Denmark-Norway sold to him Bremen-Verden, which it kept under occupation since 1712. So

13536-792: The electors, it was called the Department of Bremen-Verden, Hadeln, Lauenburg and Bentheim . In the course of the Anglo- French and Indian War (1754–1763) in the North American colonies, Britain feared a French Invasion of Hanover . Thus George II formed an alliance with his cousin Frederick II of Brandenburg-Prussia , combining the North American conflict with the Austro–Brandenburg-Prussian Third Silesian or Seven Years' War (1756–1763). In

13680-463: The end of the year 1629 the Roman Catholic visitors issued an ultimatum to the Lutheran conventuals to convert to Catholicism or to leave the convents . No conversion had been recorded, so at different dates between before Christmas 1629 and April 1631 all Lutheran conventuals had been thrown out from the nunneries, with the estates of Himmelpforten and Neuenwalde then being bestowed to

13824-519: The existing privileges and constitutions of the Estates in Bremen-Verden and in Hadeln, thus confirming 400-year-old traditions of Estate participation in their governments. Being a Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire and represented in its Diet by virtue of his Electorate of Hanover, George II Augustus didn't bother about Bremen-Verden's status of imperial estate. Since Bremen-Verden had turned Hanoverian, it never again sent its own representatives to

13968-491: The flight of the Catholic clergy wherever they arrived. The Prince-Bishopric of Verden was then subjected to Swedish military administration. The reconquest of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, helped by forces from Sweden and from the city of Bremen, was completed by 10 May 1632. John Frederick was back in his office, only to realise what Swedish supremacy meant. The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen continuously suffered from billeting and alimenting soldiers. The relation between

14112-459: The former Benedictine Zeven Convent  [ de ] . She abolished witch-burning in Bremen-Verden. In 1650 Charles Gustav, Hereditary Duke of the Palatinate of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg , since 1649 declared and 1650 recognised heir to the Swedish throne and thereby simultaneously to Bremen-Verden's dukedoms, came to Stade for interlocutions of unknown content. In 1650 the Lutheran clergy

14256-489: The former capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Verden. The Swedish takeover in 1648 became a milestone for Bremen-Verden's interior constitution. Bremen-Verden turned from two elective monarchies into a hereditary double monarchy, with a personal rule of the prince-(arch)bishop or administrator exchanged for a viceregent government bound by Swedish instructions. The lax administrative structures were replaced with strictly hierarchic authorities with fixed competences. The co-rule of

14400-599: The fraction of Americans who did not identify with any particular religion steadily rose from 14.6% in 2008 to 19.6% in 2015. At the same time, the fraction of Americans identifying as Christians sank from 80.1% to 69% in 2021. In December 2021 ~21% of Americans declared no religious identity or preference. Given that non-Christian religions stayed roughly the same (at about 5-7% from 2008 to 2021) secularization thus seems to have affected primarily Christians. However, researchers argue that being unaffiliated does not automatically mean objectively nonreligious since most of

14544-514: The idea of a historical continuity – fundamental to the so-called 'theorem of secularization'; the Modern age in his view represents an independent epoch opposed to Antiquity and the Middle Ages by a rehabilitation of human curiosity in reaction to theological absolutism. "Blumenberg targets Löwith 's argument that progress is the secularization of Hebrew and Christian beliefs and argues to

14688-653: The lands of Semigallia and Courland which he had held on behalf of the order - which enabled him to marry and leave to his descendants the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia . Perhaps the most widely known example of such secularization is that of 1525, which led to the establishment of Prussia , a state which would later become a major power in European politics. The 1960s saw a trend toward increasing secularization in Western Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. This transformation accompanied major social factors: economic prosperity, youth rebelling against

14832-472: The latter strictly subjected to Stockholms generalty. Especially in jurisdiction, Bremen-Verden's Estates maintained their stake. But Bremen-Verden's tax-levying department, almost entirely manned with Swedes and using Swedish as administrative language, was directly subordinated to the finance ministry in Stockholm. From 1675 to 1676, troops from Brandenburg-Prussia , Lüneburg-Celle , Denmark-Norway , and

14976-404: The lines of the imperial circles. Bremen and Verden sent their representatives to the circle diet (Kreistag) of their respective imperial circle. The circle diet decided how to share the burden of the taxes to be levied among the member territories. Thus Bremen and Verden even conflicted on the border between each other — i.e. on who may levy taxes where — which were not solved, even though

15120-438: The local strongholds for a reCatholicisation within the scope of Counter-Reformation . Under the threat of the Edict of Restitution John Frederick consented to Canonical Visitations of the remaining monasteries, those clinging to Roman Catholic rite and those converted to voluntary Lutheran convents alike. Nunneries had traditionally been institutions to provide unmarried daughters of the better off, who couldn't be provided

15264-785: The lucrative tolls from ships heading for Hamburg and Bremen , with the former at that time being a ducal Bremian and the latter a comital Oldenburgian privilege. After a stay in Hamburg (1666–1668) with the administrators of her Swedish estates, Diego Texeira de Sampayo  [ de ] and his son Isaac Chaim Senior Teixeira  [ de ] , in order to reorganise her revenues, in 1668 Christina of Sweden (after her Catholic conversion in 1655 Christina Alexandra), stopped by in Stade on her way home to Rome. The rise of Swedish centralisation and absolutism found its way partially into Bremen-Verden's practise. Bremen-Verden wasn't streamlined as to its jurisdiction and its military system, but

15408-471: The main issue, accepting the city of Bremen's imperial immediacy, unresolved. But the city agreed to pay tribute and levy taxes in favour of and cede its possessions around Bederkesa and Lehe to Swedish Bremen-Verden. Sweden and Swedish Bremen-Verden protested sharply, when in December 1660 the city council of Bremen rendered homage to Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor . In 1663, the city gained seat and vote in

15552-454: The medieval period, but coexisted and interacted naturally. Significant contributions to principles used in modern secularism came from prominent theologians and Christian writers such as St. Augustine , William of Ockham , Marsilius of Padua , Martin Luther , Roger Williams , John Locke and Talleyrand . The term "secularization" can also mean the lifting of monastic restrictions from

15696-465: The modern counties (German singular: Kreis ) of Cuxhaven (southerly), Osterholz , Rotenburg upon Wümme , Stade and Verden , now in Lower Saxony ; and the city of Bremerhaven , now an exclave of the State of Bremen. The city of Bremen and Cuxhaven (an exclave of Hamburg) did not belong to Bremen-Verden. The Land of Hadeln , then an exclave of Saxe-Lauenburg exclave around Otterndorf ,

15840-555: The northern and north-western parts of the Holy Roman Empire, with Swedish Pomerania , a member in the Upper Saxon Circle , covering the Empire's North East. The Swedes installed a new authority, Bremen-Verden's General Government ( German : Brem- und verdensches Generalgouvernement ), and chose Stade to be the new seat of government, with Bremervörde being the former Bremian capital, and Rotenburg upon Wümme being

15984-401: The nunnery of Zeven was in the process of becoming one, with – among a majority of Catholic nuns – a number of nuns of Lutheran denomination, usually called conventuals. Other expressions like abbess, for the chairwoman, and prioress for conventuals of certain hierarchic function, were – and are partly – continued to be used in such Lutheran Stifte . Within the scope of the visitations by

16128-492: The old Protestant establishment was in "shambles". Key to understanding the secularization, Smith argues, was the rise of an elite intellectual class skeptical of religious orthodoxies and influenced by the European Enlightenment tradition. They consciously sought to displace a Protestant establishment they saw as standing in their way. 2000–2021 . Annual Gallup polls from 2008 through 2015 showed that

16272-416: The original monolithic institutions break up. This is a devolution from single, less differentiated institutions to an increasingly differentiated subset of institutions. Following Parsons, this concept of differentiation has been widely applied. As phrased by José Casanova , this "core and the central thesis of the theory of secularization is the conceptualization of the process of societal modernization as

16416-576: The origins of the modern understanding of secularization from the 19th century can be revealed. [9] 1870–1930 . Christian Smith examined the secularization of American public life between 1870 and 1930. He noted that in 1870 a Protestant establishment thoroughly dominated American culture and its public institutions. By the turn of the 20th century, however, positivism had displaced the Baconian method (which had hitherto bolstered natural theology ) and higher education had been thoroughly secularized. In

16560-499: The prevalence of religious belief throughout the West, particularly in Europe. Some scholars (e.g.,  Rodney Stark , Peter Berger ) have argued that levels of religiosity are not declining, while other scholars (e.g., Mark Chaves, N. J. Demerath) have countered by introducing the idea of 'neo-secularization', which broadens the definition of secularization to include the decline of religious authority and its ability to influence society. In other words, rather than using

16704-651: The prince-bishoprics' neutrality. But this didn't last long, because in the Danish-Swedish Torstenson War of 1643–1645 the Swedes seized de facto rule in both prince-bishoprics. Christian IV of Denmark and Norway had to sign the Second Peace of Brömsebro on 13 August 1645, and a number of Danish territories, including the two Swedish occupied prince-bishoprics, were ceded into Swedish hands. So Frederick II had to resign as Administrator in both prince-bishoprics. He succeeded his late father on

16848-421: The process of change from the so-called primitive societies to increasingly advanced societies. In the United States, the emphasis was initially on change as an aspect of progress, but Talcott Parsons refocused on society as a system immersed in a constant process of increased differentiation, which he saw as a process in which new institutions take over the tasks necessary in a society to guarantee its survival as

16992-436: The proportion of irreligious apostates as the sole measure of secularity, 'neo-secularization' argues that individuals increasingly look outside of religion for authoritative positions. 'Neo-secularizationists' would argue that religion has diminishing authority on issues such as birth control , and argue that religion's authority is declining and secularization is taking place even if religious affiliation may not be declining in

17136-468: The question of secularization has generated considerable (and occasionally heated) debates in the social sciences. Today, criticism is directed against the assertion that religion has become less important in the modern age. Critics point to developments in South Korea, Russia and the USA. The combination of institutional religion with other interests, such as economic or political interests, leads to

17280-479: The religious studies scholar and intercultural theologian Michael Bergunder [5] criticizes the fact that the terms religion and esotericism [6] are tainted by a Eurocentric origin thinking. This inaccurate use of the terms hinders a constructive discussion about secularization in a global context. As an alternative, Bergunder [7] argues for a historicization from the present of these general terms according to Foucault's [8] . In this way, hitherto unseen connections and

17424-937: The request, arguing that it had to consult in a diet with the Estates, which would be a lengthy procedure. Meanwhile, Christian IV arranged for Dutch, English and French troops to land in Bremen. The Chapter's pleas for a reduction of the contributions, Christian IV commented by arguing once the Leaguists would take over, his extortions will seem little. In 1627, Christian IV withdrew from the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, in order to fight Wallenstein's invasion of his Duchy of Holstein . Tilly then invaded Bremen and captured its southern parts. The city of Bremen shut its city gates and entrenched behind its improved fortifications. In 1628, Tilly besieged Stade with its remaining garrison of 3,500 Danish and English soldiers. On 5 May 1628 Tilly granted them safe-conduct to England and Denmark-Norway and

17568-488: The resulting anti-clericalism that was one of the roots of the Spanish civil war . Notably, the dictatorship of Francisco Franco 's core ideology was national Catholicism . However, agreements linked to the constitution of 1978 separated church and state. In 2001, 82% of Spaniards identified as Catholic but only half did in 2021. Only around 20% of Spaniards go to mass regularly and only 20% of weddings are taking place in

17712-429: The returned John Frederick were difficult. The Estates preferred to directly negotiate with the occupants, this time the Swedes. John Frederick wanted to secularise the monasteries in favour of his budget, but the opposing Estates prevented that. After John Frederick's death in 1634 the Bremian Chapter and Estates regarded Frederick's (later Danish Crown Prince) dismissal as coadjutor by Ferdinand II by virtue of

17856-559: The reverted fief of Saxe-Lauenburg . By a redeployment of Hanoverian territories in 1731, Bremen-Verden was conveyed the administration of the neighboured Land of Hadeln at the Northern tip of Bremen-Verden, since 1180 an exclave, first of the younger Duchy of Saxony and from 1296 on of the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg. It took George II until 1733 to get the emperor to also enfeoff him with the Duchies of Bremen and Verden. At both feoffments George II of Great Britain swore that he would respect

18000-423: The rules and conventions of society, sexual revolution , women's liberation , radical theology, and radical politics. A new study found evidence that a rise in secularization generally has preceded economic growth over the past century. The multilevel, time-lagged regressions also indicate that tolerance for individual rights predicted 20th century economic growth even better than secularization. Secularization

18144-657: The same year. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland first ignored Brandenburg-Prussia 's hostility, but when Brandenburg-Prussia joined the pro-French coalition of armed 'neutral' powers such as Denmark-Norway and the Russian Empire , Britain started to capture Brandenburg-Prussian sea vessels. After the Battle of Copenhagen in April 1801 , the coalition fell apart and Brandenburg-Prussia withdrew its troops. After Britain — without any ally — had declared war on France on 18 May 1803, French troops invaded

18288-564: The secularization of modern civilization partly results from our inability to adapt the broad ethical and spiritual needs of people to the increasingly fast advance of the physical sciences. In contrast to the "modernization" thesis, Christian Smith and others argue that intellectual and cultural élites promote secularization to enhance their own status and influence. Smith believes that intellectuals have an inherent tendency to be hostile to their native cultures, causing them to embrace secularism. According to Jack David Eller, secularization

18432-414: The sixth is more of a 'clarification of use': Abdel Wahab Elmessiri (2002) outlined two meanings of the term secularization: As studied by sociologists, one of the major themes of secularization is that of "differentiation"—i.e., the tendency for areas of life to become more distinct and specialized as a society becomes modernized. European sociology, influenced by anthropology , was interested in

18576-566: The strengthening of these religions in their respective societies. However, there are also factors that lead to a diminishing importance of religion. This is the main trend in Western Europe. [1] Some scholars point to the permanent interplay between secularization and (re)sacralization in Western societies. For example, after the first democratic revolutions in the 18th and 19th centuries, religious traditions quickly regained strength. [2] It has also been denied that secularization ever took place in

18720-476: The summer of 1757, the French invaders defeated Prince William, Duke of Cumberland , son of George II and leading the Anglo-Hanoverian army. The French troops drove him and his army into remote Bremen-Verden, where in the former convent of Zeven he had to capitulate on 18 September with the Convention of Klosterzeven . But King George II denied his recognition of the convention. In the following year,

18864-664: The territories in the Lower Saxon Circle . After 1613 King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway , being in personal union Duke of Holstein within the Holy Roman Empire , turned his attention to gain grounds by acquiring the prince-bishoprics of Bremen , Verden , Minden and Halberstadt . He skillfully took advantage of the alarm of the German Protestants after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, to stipulate with Bremen's Chapter and John Frederick , his cousin of second degree, to grant coadjutorship of

19008-527: The traditional sociological theory of secularization, however, David Martin argues that the concept of social differentiation has been its "most useful element". At present, secularization as understood in the West is being debated in the sociology of religion . In his works Legitimacy of the Modern Age (1966) and The Genesis of the Copernican World (1975), Hans Blumenberg has rejected

19152-556: The transformation of religion as a result of its recharacterization (e.g. as a private concern, or as a non-political matter or issue). Secularism's origins can be traced to the Bible itself and fleshed out throughout Christian history into the modern era. " Secular " is a part of the Christian church's history, which even has secular clergy since the medieval period. Furthermore, secular and religious entities were not separated in

19296-421: The two fiefs were ruled in personal union by Sweden. Emperor Ferdinand III at first enfeoffed the Queen regnant Christina of Sweden and her legal heirs with the duchies, as Sweden's reward from its participation in the Thirty Years' War . Bremen-Verden provided Sweden a strategic advantage, because it would participate with them in recruiting and financing armies in two imperial circles already covering all of

19440-494: The unaffiliated do still hold some religious and spiritual beliefs. For example, 72% of American unaffiliated or "Nones" believe in God or a Higher Power. The "None" response is more of an indicator for lacking affiliation than an active measure for irreligiosity, and a majority of the "Nones" can either be conventionally religious or "spiritual". In Britain, secularization came much later than in most of Western Europe. It began in

19584-511: The war, debasements and dearness, had already caused an inflation also in the region. The population suffered from billeting and alimenting Baden-Durlachian , Danish, Halberstadtian , Leaguist , and Palatine troops, whose marching through the John Frederick had to tolerate in order to prevent entering into armed conflict. In 1623 the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , diplomatically supported by James I, King of England ,

19728-445: The whole of ecclesiastical Bremen was in his hands. Now Tilly turned to the city of Bremen , which paid him a ransom of 10,000 rixdollars in order to save itself from a siege. The city remained unoccupied. The populations in both prince-bishoprics were subjected to measures of "re-Catholicisation" within the scope the Counter-Reformation , with Lutheran services suppressed and Lutheran pastors expelled. In July 1630, Tilly and most of

19872-400: The world may be in decline as a percentage of the world population due to irreligious countries having subreplacement fertility rates and religious countries having higher birth rates in general. Christian sociologist Peter L. Berger coined the term desecularization to describe this phenomenon. In addition, secularization rates are stalling or reversing in some countries/regions such as

20016-578: The younger generation (age 18–24) that fraction was only 70% in 2011. By contrast, in 2016 these numbers had fallen to <80% (55+) and <40% (18–24). The other age groups were in between these values. In Lebanon and Morocco , the number of people listening to daily recitals of the Quran fell by half from 2011 to 2016. Some of these developments seem to be driven by need, e.g. by stagnating incomes which force women to contribute to household income and therefore to work. High living costs delay marriage and, as

20160-477: Was also Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck , fled to Lübeck and left the Prince-Archbishopric to be ruled by the Chapter and the Estates . In 1626, Tilly and his Catholic League troops occupied Verden, causing the Lutheran clergy to flee. He demanded that the Chapter of Bremen allow him to enter the Prince-Archbishopric and while the Chapter declared its loyalty to the Emperor, it delayed an answer to

20304-483: Was not part of Bremen-Verden until 1731. Stade was the capital. Bremen-Verden's coat of arms combined the arms of the Prince-Bishopric of Verden , a black cross on white ground, with those of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen , two keys crossed Bremen-Verden's seal ), the symbol of Simon Petrus , the patron saint of Bremen. At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War the predominantly Lutheran Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen maintained neutrality, as did most of

20448-568: Was represented in the Diet ( German : Reichstag ) of the Holy Roman Empire . The formerly Free Imperial City of Verden upon Aller was mediatised by the Peace of Westphalia and incorporated into the Duchy of Verden. The two neighbouring territories could not unite in a real union without finding support by the emperor and a majority among the imperial estates, which never happened. They were parts of two different imperial circles . From 1500 on

20592-510: Was restituted to Catholic rite and manned with foreign monks, if the Chapter would also agree. Again passing the buck on to the Chapter. The Leaguist takeover enabled Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor , to implement the Edict of Restitution , decreed March 6, 1629, within the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen . The Bremian monasteries still maintaining Roman Catholic rite – Altkloster , Harsefeld Archabbey  [ de ] , Neukloster , and Zeven Nunnery  [ de ] – became

20736-566: Was subjected to a consistory , the new leading body after there was no Prince-Archbishop or Prince-Bishop anymore. As to pastoring the tiny Catholic diaspora in Bremen-Verden the Holy See established apostolic vicariates ( Vicariate of Nordic Missions , competent for Verden and Bremen since 1669 and 1670, respectively, until 1721, and again between 1780 and 1824, Vicariate of Upper and Lower Saxony , in charge between 1721 and 1780). Bremen-Verden's Swedish government tried to militarily defeat

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