Transformation of health/illness in the context of secularization and religion

From past to present, both the definitions of illness and health and how they are understood at the social and individual level have changed. Differences in the association of illness and health with the supernatural have occurred in the modern and late modern periods compared to the classical period. The focus of this research is to determine the transformation of illness and health in the context of secularization. For this purpose, the sub-problems of the research were analyzed from the perspective of sociology of religion to understand what people believe and why they believe it, with the categories of gender, education level, age groups, giving place to sacred practices in life, having a chronic illness, and having a relative with a chronic illness.In this study, which was planned according to the quantitative method paradigm, "haphazard" from non-probability sampling methods was used. Adana province was accepted as the population. A survey was applied to 500 people covering all of the central districts of Adana province. Afterwards, 447 surveys were found to be valid. In this study, it was determined that the population sample to which the questionnaire was applied contains the reflections of classical, modern and late modern illness and health mentalities that can be generalized to Adana province. It was understood that practices based on folk beliefs were replaced by praying directly to a supreme being. Although it is thought that there are shareholders to its authority, it is observed that modern medicine maintains its central position in terms of getting rid of diseases and achieving health. In addition, whether or not the individual includes a sacred practice in his/her life, it can be understood from the analysis that he/she exhibits a pragmatic approach, which can be expressed as trust in the supernatural, towards religiously referenced practices such as cupping and similar practices or alternative medicine practices. As an example of popular religiosity, it is understood that there is no demand for the practice of visitation, at least at the discourse level, in order to maintain a healthy life. Keywords: Health, disease, supernatural, medicine, alternative medicine, secularization, desecularization, mindset