God Is Back: How the Global Rise of Faith Will Change the World by John Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldridge

From the Publisher

Two Economist writers show how and why religion is booming around the world and reveal its vast effects on the global economy, politics, and more

On the street and in the corridors of power, religion is surging worldwide. From Russia to Turkey to India, nations that swore off faith in the last century—or even tried to stamp it out—are now run by avowedly religious leaders. Formerly secular conflicts like the one in Palestine have taken on an overtly religious cast. God Is Back shines a bright light on this hidden world of faith, from exorcisms in São Paulo to religious skirmishing in Nigeria, to televangelism in California and house churches in China.

Since the Enlightenment, intellectuals have assumed that modernization would kill religion—and that religious America is an oddity. As God Is Back argues, religion and modernity can thrive together, and America is becoming the norm. Many things helped spark the global revival of religion, including the failure of communism and the rise of globalism. But, above all, twenty-first century religion is being fueled by a very American emphasis on competition and a customer- driven approach to salvation. These qualities have characterized this country's faith ever since the Founders separated church and state, creating a religious free market defined by entrepreneurship, choice, and personal revelation. As market forces reshape the world, the tools and ideals of American evangelism are now spreading everywhere.

The global rise of faith will have a dramatic and far- reaching impact on our century. Indeed, its destabilizing effects can already be seen far from Iraq or the World Trade Center. Religion plays a role in civilwars from Sri Lanka to Sudan. Along the tenth parallel, from West Africa to the Philippines, religious fervor and political unrest are reinforcing each other. God Is Back concludes by showing how the same American ideas that created our unique religious style can be applied around the globe to channel the rising tide of faith away from volatility and violence.

The New York Times - Hanna Rosin

…the book's strength is in dissecting exactly how God managed to morph and evolve and become indispensable to the world at a time when he should have faded away. Micklethwait and Wooldridge do not display the usual horror at overt religiosity that we heard in abundance from British and other European writers during the Bush years. Starting with the cheerful ad-speak of the title, they are instead astute social observers in the Tocquevillean mode, reporting from a distance in a tone just short of admiring. When it comes to American religion, they marvel mostly at its astounding success at replicating itself all over the world.

The Washington Post - Diana Butler Bass

…ta cool-headed book, more analytical than partisan, marked by crisp prose and well-formed insights into politics and policy…God is Back is an intelligent account of contemporary religion and the role it might play in making the modern world more open, tolerant and peaceful.

John Jaeger - Library Journal

It is interesting that in our time of technological and scientific sophistication, religion is thriving globally. Many Enlightenment figures, and others after them, predicted that religion would become irrelevant and fade away as societies advanced. Micklethwait and Wooldridge, editor in chief and Washington bureau chief, respectively, of the Economist, see in this reality, particularly as experienced in America, hope for the world. They argue that in America the trend toward modernization has always been accompanied by the significance of religion. This is largely owing to how successfully American churches have employed entrepreneurial techniques and creative outreach. The authors believe that some of the very elements that have been successful in America could be utilized in other parts of the world to promote religion and discourage violence. This is a well-researched and well-written book, raising fresh and interesting ideas. It should be noted, however, that the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey Report, which indicates that religion is in decline in America, paints a different picture than these authors do.

Kirkus Reviews

Contrasting the European model of religion (in continual decline) with the American (in continual surge), the authors find that the U.S. model is winning worldwide. Economist editors Micklethwait and Wooldridge (The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America, 2004, etc.) put forth a global argument, but also make clear their thesis that faith must be seen within these two competing spheres, as the European and American models have been imposing themselves upon the rest of the world for decades, if not centuries. The European model-of forced or state-sponsored religion overcome through secularization and, at times, revolution-was predominant until the 1970s. In that era, however, a tipping point was reached that favored the American model of free choice in religion, followed by a flourishing of faith. Christianity in Asia, Africa and South America especially evidences this change, as does Islam in places like Dubai where it "sits quite comfortably with modernity," as the authors put it. "But in its Arab heartland," they continue, "it plainly does not . . . it remains the world religion that has found pluralism the hardest to cope with." Using such terms as "soulcraft," "pastorpreneurial" and "hot religion," Micklethwait and Wooldridge explore how global religious leaders of all stripes are using the free market of ideas and faiths to win converts and build communities. They contend that, despite ongoing religious violence, in comparison to the past wars of faith in Europe, most religious conflicts today are limited and localized. Naysayers could argue about the exclusion of particular groups or regions, but the authors have been as comprehensive as possible without turning the book intoan unworkably long tome. Their readable text is enlivened by an Economist-style sense of humor. A meaningful contribution to the ongoing conversation about the place of faith in modern life.

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