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How the Global Revival of Faith Is Changing the World
Penguin Press
April 2009
On Sale: April 2, 2009
416 pages ISBN: 1594202133 EAN: 9781594202131 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Religion
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 civil wars 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.
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