Abstract
Introduction and Objectives: Assuming the effect of religious decline on family decline, this paper attempts to examine the contrary hypothesis: that family decline influences the decline of religion. The purpose of the article is to emphasize the need to pay more attention to the family institution in the analysis of secularization, as theorists of secularization have often neglected it. The research method is a mixed approach: a secondary analysis of empirical and historical data on the impact of family status on secularization, a content analysis of relevant statements in Islamic texts, and a comparative assessment of these results with Mary Eberstadt’s theory. The study concludes that the hypothesis of family decline influencing secularization in contemporary societies is defensible based on both empirical evidence and intra-religious evidence. Thus, the consolidation of the family institution can be considered the most important, or at least one of the most important, obstacles against the trend of secularization.
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