Explaining a Religious Anomaly: A Historical Analysis of Secularization in Eastern Germany

Abstract

The sociology of religion is engrossed in a debate concerning the process of secularization. Some theories of secularization hold that religiosity decreases under the effects of modernization. In opposition, supply-side models of religious change maintain that declines in religiosity can be explained only through changes in the supply of religious goods. To further examine mechanisms of secularization, this article investigates the emergence of the most secularized society in the world today-eastern Germany. The extremely high percent of atheists in contemporary eastern Germany suggests that the public demand for religion has diminished. But the process of modernization did not bring about this change; instead, current drops in religious demand and religiosity in eastern Germany are the result of dramatic interventions in the supply of religious goods over the past two centuries. We trace the historical conditions that have created the most atheistic society ever.

Atheists, agnostics, and apostates.

“…Specifically, Germany-East appears to be the most secular region of the world with only 14.5% permanent believers in God and 65.3% who say that they don't believe in God and never had (cf. also Froese & Pfaff, 2005;Schmidt & Wohlrab-Sahr, 2003;Zuckerman, 2007).…”

Economics of Religion and its Relevance for Economists in Central Europe

“…Komunistický pokus o násilnou sekularizaci zanechal v těchto zemích své následky. Samotný proces sekularizace v komunistických zemích je předmětem zkoumání (Froese, 2008;Froese a Pfaff, 2005). Ještě větší pozornost je pak věnována porevolučnímu období a náboženskému oživení v postkomunistických společnostech.…”

The low importance of marriage in eastern Germany - social norms and the role of peoples’ perceptions of the past

“…The university has around 15,000 students and is the biggest employer in the city (5,000 employees). As a result of the "forced secularization" 3 (Wohlrab-Sahr, Karstein, and SchmidtLux 2009) of the GDR regime, eastern Germany is one of the regions in the world with the highest share of people unaffiliated with any religion (Froese and Pfaff 2005;Pickel 2012). Census data from 2011 show that around 75% of the eastern German population belong to neither the Protestant nor the Catholic Church (other religions are negligible; see Statistische Ämter des Bundes und der Länder 2014).…”

“…They regarded it as neither a very special moment for a couple nor as an act necessary to institutionalize the partnership. One explaining factor that respondents mentioned was the high level of non-religiosity in eastern Germany (Froese and Pfaff 2005;Pickel 2012). Most participants in our groups were not affiliated with any religion, and some participants talked about this "missing" factor.…”