If religion (as Marx said) is the opiate of the people, then that means that, like Coca-Cola, it can be packaged and marketed to targeted audiences, doesn’t it?
John Gray, in a review of a new book (God is Back by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge), contemplates the intersections of religion with the modern:
Religion has become a competitive business, they point out, with faith entrepreneurs actively creating and serving their customer base. They describe a Hindu temple in Bangalore that “uses every modern method to entice and service believers”, including “a website that is as user-friendly as that of any American mega-church”.
Gray offers the book a mixed review, but his conflicted meditations over its content makes for a generally interesting essay on where religion seems to be heading as we move more deeply into the 21st century.
It’s not good news for secularists.
You can read Gray’s review here.
If you don’t have a National Health Care System ,that’s already a big scoring point in favour of believing in God…
Yes, make people insecure and you’ve already got a selling point for religion.
—Santi