The Secularisation Puzzle

This is a puzzle, like those in which you used to find pictures of animals cunningly hidden in the foliage. This time you are looking for evidence of the cultural process which historians call 'secularisation'. The following hints may be enough.

There was a time in England's history when literally everything was connected to religion. Religion was broader than Christianity. It was too broad even to be a noun. Religion was more like an adverb: one did things religiously. One did everything religiously, or piously, with due regard for the unseen forces that could help you or could trip you up.

Religion in those days was not something to think about so much as a way of thinking. It was not just connected to culture; the culture was the religion, in that it gave men and women access to supernatural help. 'Secularisation' changed all that. Secularisation was the process of separating every aspect of life and thought from religion, leaving a much more spiritualised and intellectualised faith behind.

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