The rise in worldly thinking, particularly as seen in the rise of science, technology, and rational thought, and a simultaneous decline in the influence of religion, can be described as:

Answer: Secularization.

Explanation:

Secularization is the historical process in which eligion's cultural significance declines, and society transforms from having a strong bond with religious ideas and institutions to aproach nonreligious values and secular institutions. Modernization and rationalization question religious organizations' authority in social life and the government.