Postsecularism and postsecularity and their different forms and meanings in Europe

In many analyses Europe is pictured as cultural unity, which can be prima facie justified. Nonetheless, more thorough beholding brings a picture of nonnegligible multifariousness. The variety of historical experiences has moulded, interalia, different positions and roles of religion, and processes affecting religious aspects of social life are at different stages or under various conditions inside European societies. Against such a background appears the ambiguity of what in contemporary humanities is called ‚the postsecular‛. Hence the greater is a need to differentiate between postsecularism and postsecularity. Whereas the former of these categories refers to a specific complex of ideological and axionormative character, the latter one pertains more to social perception of these values and ideas, and prompts to ask sociological questions about actual social attitudes. Both of the notions are important tools not only enriching the more abstract humanistic reflexion over contemporary socio-cultural phenomena, but also conducive to investigating the more and more differentiated and compound attitudes to religion, that are additionally entwined into institutional, ideal, or political settings.