Editor-in-Chief of The Economist Publishes 18-Page Global Special Report on Religion

John Micklethwait tackles the conflict between religion and public life in the November 3rd issue

NEW YORK, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, not usually a reliable authority on current affairs, got it right in an open letter to George Bush: "Whether we like it or not," he wrote, "the world is gravitating towards faith in the Almighty." Whether this prospect is frightening or inspiring is the subject of a special report in this week's issue of The Economist, on newsstands from November 2nd.


(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071102/NYF024 )


The report, written by The Economist's Editor-in-Chief, John Micklethwait, considers the factors driving the return of religion and attempts to understand the tensions between religions and the clash between secular authority and religious allegiance. The report explains that the idea that religion has re-emerged in public life is to some extent an illusion. It never really went away, certainly not to the extent that French politicians and American college professors imagined. Its new power is mostly the consequence of two changes. The first is the failure of secular creeds: religion's political comeback started during the 1970s, when faith in government everywhere was crumbling. Second, although some theocracies survive in the Islamic world, religion has returned to the stage as a much more democratic, individualistic affair: a bottom-up marketing success, surprisingly in tune with globalization. Secularism was not as modern as many intellectuals imagined, but pluralism is. Free up religion and ardent believers and ardent atheists both do well.


For this special report, Micklethwait spent a month traveling the globe, from Nigeria to Egypt, India to Israel, Korea to Turkey, and Europe to the US, interviewing experts and seeing the effects of religion in public life first hand. The result is a provocative 18-page assessment of the rising role religion plays in public life.


Topics include:

-- The increasing variety of and competition between religious beliefs
-- The potential resurgence of religion in Europe
-- The conflict over the Holy Land
-- Religion and public life in India
-- Why Turkey matters so much to Islam
-- The love-hate relationship between religion and modernity
-- The relationship between religion and politics in America


Ultimately, Micklethwait argues that America holds the key to this debate- the superpower may have mastered the politics of religion at home, but not abroad.


The report is on newsstands from November 2nd, and is at www.economist.com.


EDITORS ADVISORY:

About John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief, The Economist

John Micklethwait is Editor-in-Chief of The Economist. Before that he
edited the US section of the newspaper and ran the New York
Bureau for two years, having edited the Business Section of the newspaper for
the previous four years. His other roles have included setting up The
Economist's office in Los Angeles, where he worked from 1990 - 1993 and being
Media Correspondent. He has covered business and politics from the United
States, Latin America, Continental Europe, Southern Africa and most of Asia.
He is a frequent broadcaster and has appeared on CNN, ABC News, BBC, Start the
Week and NPR. He is the co-author of "The Witch Doctors", "A Future Perfect:
the Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalisation" and "The Company: A Short
History of a Revolutionary Idea" and "The Right Nation", a study of
conservatism in America, with Adrian Wooldridge, also an Economist journalist.

About The Economist (www.economist.com)

The Economist is a weekly magazine offering timely reporting, concise
commentary and comprehensive analysis of global news. With objective
authority, clarity and wit, The Economist presents the world's political,
business, scientific, technological and cultural affairs and the connections
between them. Because of its global editorial perspective, it is read by more
of the world's political and business leaders than any other magazine. Edited
in London since 1843, The Economist has a worldwide print circulation in
excess of 1.3 million.
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