Why Is There No Religion in the Former GDR?: Supply, Demand, and the Causes of Secularization.

The sociology of religion is engrossed in an active debate concerning the causes of secularization. The "old paradigm" in religious theory holds that religiosity decreases because the demand for religion vanishes under the effects of modernization. The "new paradigm" maintains that the demand for religion is constant and that declines in religiosity can only be explained through changes in the supply of religious goods. But the case of eastern Germany presents problems for both sides of this "secularization debate". First, eastern Germany is one of the most secularized regions in the world but by no measure the most modernized. Second, new religious freedoms occurring since the fall of the Berlin Wall have done nothing to increase religiosity; in fact, religiosity continues to decline even though new religious choices are available. This paper provides a theoretical basis to explain this seemingly inexplicable case by identifying the historical circumstances under which religious demand dissipates. In sum, we provide a definition for the ambiguous concept of religious demand and present a historical analysis of religious change in eastern Germany to reveal how supply-side factors explain the emergence of this exceptionally secularized society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]