so far, this book has explained that the authority of established religion has been weakening among the publics of postindustrial societies (and especially among the more secure strata of these societies). The concluding section of the book shifts its focus from explaining secularization to examining the influence of religion on important social and political phenomena. What are the consequences of secularization? In particular, to what extent has this process eroded the social values, moral beliefs, and ethical teachings of the church; diminished the role of churches, faith-based organizations, and social capital in civic society; weakened the traditional base of electoral support for religious parties; and diluted the symbolic meaning of religious identities in situations of deep-seated ethnic conflict? If the process of secularization has occurred along the lines that we suggest, then we expect that religiosity will continue to exert a strong imprint on society and politics in developing nations, but that its power will have faded in many industrial and postindustrial societies.

Sociologists, political scientists, and economists have long sought to understand how given belief systems produce enduring cross-national differences in cultural values. In we demonstrated how religion helps shape attitudes toward gender roles, and attitudes toward abortion, divorce, and homosexuality. This chapter examines the impact of religion on orientations toward work and broader economic attitudes, starting with a seminal theory in the sociology of religion: Max Weber's claim that the Protestant ethic generated the spirit of capitalism. We also analyze how religion shapes moral values, including ethical standards such as honesty and bribery, as well as beliefs about issues of life and death, including euthanasia, suicide, and abortion. The conclusion considers the implications of our findings and how they contribute toward understanding processes of value change.