Religion returns – but who needs it?
Around 70% of people across the world identify themselves with a religion, despite the spread of the ideas of the European Enlightenment during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and secular political systems like Communism having ruled large swathes of the globe during the 20th century. Capitalism, a product of scientific and technological development and based on materialism and competition, also seems, in many ways, directly opposed to the ethical message of most religions.
Priests return
St Basil's Cathedral, Moscow
When the Soviet system in Russia and the surrounding countries collapsed, religious institutions started to move back into the vacuum. The Russian Orthodox Church, so closely associated with the feudal Czarist regime that was overthrown in the revolution of 1917, has returned with renewed strength. The Catholic Church has sprung back to life in Poland.
Jews who lived secular lives in the former Soviet bloc are now being recruited by orthodox Hasidic groups. In Central Asia, Islam is gaining a new significance. Has the 'opium of the masses' returned to keep the poor and oppressed content with their lot, accepting once more of 'the rich man in his castle and the poor man at his gate'? Or are the masses emerging from a stifling dictatorship and asserting their rights to believe whatever they like, and not be told how to think?
