PUBLIC LIFE:

e.g.,
Economy
Political system (state)

"PRIVATE" LIFE

e.g.,
Identity
Family
Consumption
Meaning
Faith?

Modernity means institutional separation of public and private life and institutional differentiation of public life, e.g., the different parts of governmental administration get more specialized; there is more complexity and a higher division of labor in the the economy

Is the "private domain" getting more critically reflective ("rationalized" -- Habermas), or is it just getting more atomized and fragmented?

This question can be illustrated with regards to religion:-

1.  Has religion evolved to an understanding that there is ONE religious truth, that each religion is an instantiation of that truth; that we can critically understand these perspectival differences; that all religion is a communicative media developed by humans, (a reconciliation of religion's objective and subjective structure) OR

2.  Is it "different strokes for different folks"; whatever Church feels right to you is the right Church; the needs of the subject are paramount; religion becomes another product for the consumer (Bauman) (think of Lakewood Church in Houston). Rather than the individual developing a "higher" critical understand he/she is overwhelmed, disoriented, confused, constantly shifting in allegiance and interest?

#1 Expresses the hope for modernity (Ch. 5)

#2 Expresses "postmodernity"

Secularization, e.g.,

-- decline in religious authority
-- rise in authority of science
-- religion becomes less of a publicly important event
-- public institutions that are secular are differentiated away from religious institutions (think   of education)
-- de-sacralization
---utilitarianism, instrumentalism
(p. 83) are all probably inevitable because of modernization.

Options #1 and #2 represent different responses to this "inevitable."