If, on the one hand, interest in the great historical religions continues to decline, since the seventies has been observed, on the other, a proliferation of new religious movements of the most diverse nature. The alleged loss of religion propagated by the theories of secularization in contrast to this new phenomenon of spreading religion. Sociology has been faced with a dilemma. Either religion is defined in terms of the content that has traditionally been characterized as the belief in a supernatural force, and are ignored manifestations of a sort of modern religion-such as sporting events or mass applies to all phenomena that address the question of ultimate meaning and significance of world in which we live, what religion is treated as nebulous category of "system of meaning".
Danièle Hervieu-Léger proposes to undertake a new analysis of the religious and redefine it. His sagacious study brings to light a feature of the religion: the belief that the characteristic is closely linked to a "memory allowed", ie a tradition. Religion can be understood as a "memory wire" that binds every individual in the community of believers with his predecessors, his contemporaries and successors, creating a collective memory of the past which draws the community to address the present and the future. According to the author, modern secular societies are no more rational and less spiritual, but have not been able to maintain the thread of memory that unites with his religious past. It has created a vacuum that only religion can fill.