Book review: God is Back

Secularists like to think that religion will die out eventually, said Edward Norman in the Literary Review. But in this "scrupulously researched and vigorously written" book, John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge (respectively the editor and US bureau chief of the Economist) argue that "the very things which were supposed to destroy religion – democracy and markets, technology and reason – are combining to make it stronger". America has created a free market for worship, and its "pastorpreneurs" have built mega-churches that are expanding their "client base" globally, much like conventional businesses.

God is Back successfully debunks the myth that religion is dying, said John Gray in the New Statesman. Polls show that 70 per cent of Americans are certain of God’s existence; in parts of the world that are rapidly modernising, such as China and Brazil, "secular belief systems are in decline and the old faiths are being reborn"; post-Christian Europe is the exception.

But the book goes too far in claiming that American-style religion is spreading everywhere. The increasing popularity of militant Islam and Hindu nationalism, for instance, can hardly be put down to US business models (though the authors produce some interesting examples of American influence, such as the case of Indonesia’s Abdullah GymnastiarReli, known as "the Britney Spears of Islam", who preaches in a chatty style with wireless mikes and casual dress).

The main problem with this book, said Dominic Lawson in the Sunday Times, is that the authors see everything in terms of business, and make no attempt to delve into the intensely personal experience of religion. They "have achieved something I would have thought almost impossible: they have written a boring book about religion".

God is Back, by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge (Allen Lane, £25) The Week Bookshop £22.50 (incl. p&p)

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