Believing in the 21st Century

Against all expectations, the twentieth century did not see the end of religions in the western world. The human impulse to transcendence exists side by side with the predominant secular discourse in European societies and it still needs to be channelled. Traditional religions are losing their hegemonic role but, at the same time, beliefs and syncretic forms, products of a more globalised society, are now appearing and responding to the needs of today’s prevailing individualism. In this lecture, José Casanova will discuss what appears to be the innate human need to believe.