The concept of religious pluralism in the theories of religion of Peter L. Berger and Rodney Stark

Religious pluralism is defined by social scientists as a situation in which different ethnic and religious groups live together and compete each other. The first examples of religious pluralism that we have seen in traditional societies, not only developed but also deepened in the process of modernization and has been on the agenda of the all communities by globalization. Thus it has become one of the most fundamental subject in religious debates in contemporary societies. Peter Berger regards pluralism as the most important sociological process that threats the plausibility of religion in modern societies. He establishes a direct connection between pluralism and secularization. He suggests that secularization eliminates the monopolistic position of the religion traditions, so it causes a pluralistic structure. The resulting pluralistic structure in turn reproduces secularization in a dialectical process. Because collapsing of the sacred canopy of the society by pluralism, we can no longer mention a worldview that encompasses the whole of society. People are required to make a choice between different views of the world. Therefore relativity is inevitable. The market situation in which religions and worldviews compete each other, discredite and relativize each other and causes widespread suspicion and the loss of plausibility in both individual and community level. Stark, challenging to this common traditional understanding, claims that pluralism causes the high levels of religious involvement. To him pluralism leads to emerge the more willing, the vibrant and influential religious institutions rather than erode the religious plausibility. Achieving high religious participation in a society requires the presence of more than one effective and vigorous religious institutions and their competition, namely the religious pluralism. If the state intervene the market by favoring a particular religious group, religious pluralism is limited and participation levels will be lower. The development of pluralistic and competitive markets in the historical period was not ended up religious decline, in contrast it led to an increase in piety. In this study, religious pluralism which is seen a basic reality of modern societies is analyzed and discussed from a sociological perspective by focusing on two opposing points of views. Keywords: Modern Society, Religious Pluralism, Religious Market, Religious Economy, Rational Choice Theory.