Breaking down the question
The question invites comment — a reasoned, evaluative response — on the resurgence of religion in contemporary public life. "Religious revivalism" refers to the renewed vitality and assertiveness of religion, often against the expectations of the secularisation thesis. Your answer should describe the phenomenon, explain its causes and offer a critical assessment of its consequences.
How to approach it
Define religious revivalism and distinguish it from fundamentalism and communalism. Explain its growth as a paradoxical feature of modernity by engaging the secularisation debate, drawing on Peter Berger's notion of desecularisation and Giddens on identity. Comment critically on its implications for pluralism, democracy and social cohesion, using Indian and global illustrations without lapsing into polemic.
Model answer
Religious revivalism refers to the renewed public assertion, vitality and politicisation of religion in the contemporary world, challenging the classical expectation that modernisation would inevitably erode religious belief. It manifests in the growth of fundamentalist movements, faith-based identity politics, revivalist mass gatherings and the increasing visibility of religion in the public sphere.
Its growth can be explained by several processes. First, it is a reaction to modernity — the dislocation, uncertainty and moral anomie of rapid social change drive people towards the security of religious tradition. Second, it responds to a crisis of identity in a globalising world, where religion becomes a resource for asserting community and belonging; Anthony Giddens links such fundamentalism to the anxieties of late modernity. Third, revivalism is often politicised, as movements and parties mobilise religious sentiment for electoral and nationalist ends, blurring into communalism. Fourth, modern media and globalisation have amplified religious messages and connected diaspora communities across borders.
Peter Berger, once a leading theorist of secularisation, later spoke of the desecularisation of the world, conceding that the modern world remains as furiously religious as ever. Revivalism thus reveals that secularisation is neither uniform nor irreversible.
Critically, revivalism has ambivalent consequences. It can provide meaning, solidarity and welfare, but its politicised forms may fuel intolerance, majoritarianism and communal conflict, threatening the pluralism and secular fabric of democratic societies such as India. A sociological comment must therefore acknowledge both the human needs it answers and the dangers it poses.
For related material, see religion in modern society.
Examiner's perspective
A strong answer treats revivalism as a paradox of modernity rather than a mere return of the past, engaging directly with the secularisation debate and Berger's desecularisation thesis. Balancing the constructive and divisive dimensions, and grounding the comment in the Indian context, demonstrates the analytical maturity examiners reward in a ten-mark response.