in a society in which traditional sources of allegiance and security have become unglued religion provides an alternative source of individual and collective identity whose very in which traditional all and have religious es alternative of individual and idetity whose potential to influence society has increased, because religious sentiments are the result of personal conviction rather than social conformity The future Predicting the future of the role of religion in formations is not an easy task. This chapter has that, while surveys suggest that religious belief and practice are declining in Western nations, there are also signs of its resurgence. In many ways has become more relevant both as a source of moral guidance and as a resource for individual and collective identity. The assumption that the rational foundations of modernity exclude religion has come unstuck in an era in which religion continues to be a mobilising social force. The paradox of late modernity is that as the conditions that led to the departure of established religioo in the West continue to unfold so they are leading to a demand for its return. The moral gulf and uncertainty of contemporary life have led a number of sociologists to call for a return of religious because of religion's ability to provide social cohesion in a world which is increasingly relativised, uncertain and ever-changing. Even an avowed rationalist such as Gellner calls for the creation of a "constitutional religion He argues that neither fundamentalism nor the romantic relativism of postmodernism can sustain us in the future He suggests the creation of a socially contained