Religion Business – Econlib

• This book is about how the world’s religions gained such power, how they harnessed it, and how the abuse of that power can be curbed.

• —Paul Seabright God’s Economy: How Religions Compete for Wealth, Power, and Peoplepage 6

PAll Sea Bright God’s Economy He studies how religions attract followers and acquire wealth and power, concluding that it is useful to treat religion as a business and look at it from an economist’s perspective, but his approach is broader than that, drawing on sociology, political theory and evolutionary psychology.

To understand this book, we need to keep in mind two views of religion: the narrow view is how Seabright defines religion; the broader view is what he calls the “platform view.”

As a definition, Seabright uses the following:

• …Religion is a very large and diverse set of human activities that involve, directly or indirectly, contact with invisible spirits, which causally intervene in the world and can be influenced by the appeals of human subjects. p. 36

By placing “invisible spirits” at the center of his definition, Seabright includes what we typically think of as religion, but he avoids calling something a religion simply because people have a strong interest in it. You can describe someone as “worshiping the almighty dollar,” “believing in climate change,” or “woke,” but they’re not treating the dollar, or the climate, or systemic racism, as spirits to which prayers can be offered and answered.

But for some religious people, belief in invisible spirits is not important, or they don’t believe at all, and their behavior is best understood from a platform perspective.

• Religious movements are a special kind of business. platform. A platform is an organization that facilitates relationships that could not form or function effectively without the platform. p.

Seabright argues that the platform perspective helps explain how religions appeal to people, how they influence behavior, and how religions compete with each other.

Humans are a social species, and religion evolved to satisfy our need to belong.

• Religious activities have historically included everything from private prayer and meditation to collective spectacle to violent crusades and jihads. Religious activities have elicited a wide range of emotions, including awe, fear, devotion, anger, excitement, and love. Religious activities respond to the desire for ritual and transcendence, the desire for peace, the desire to strive to overcome challenges, the desire for personal selfish fulfillment, and the desire to be needed by others…

• … Religious platforms create communities that powerfully express the collective dimension of our lives. Some secular organizations, such as political parties, can do the same. But religious platforms have access to historical traditions and the stories that emerge from those traditions, which gives them a powerful advantage. p. 331

Seabright argues that religion creates special social bonds.

• They might argue that their members are more trustworthy and, on average, more valuable friends and colleagues than random members of the population. p.

He would have to acknowledge that there are secular institutions that do this to some extent: if you can say you were in the Marines or went to Yale, people with similar backgrounds are going to trust you.

Seabright provides a detailed analysis of the theme of religious competition. He writes:

• …Anything that makes it easier for people to clearly compare the merits of belonging to different movements will intensify interreligious conflict. p. 333

He offers many insights into the way religions evolve under competitive pressure: Religions face challenges here very similar to those faced by businesses.

Seabright believes the internet will spur further evolution: He thinks the Catholic Church is likely to experience another schism similar to the one that occurred after the invention of the printing press — hopefully, of course, it won’t be as violent.

Seabright also believes there will be tensions regarding the relationship between religion and politics.

• Everything we have seen in this book about the platform model of religious movements suggests that religions cannot gain legitimacy among a large proportion of the population if religious leaders use their legitimacy to support political leaders, whether authoritarian or not. p. 339

For me, this goes back to the tension between a narrow definition of religion and Seabright’s broader platform view. If religion were simply belief in certain animal spirits, then, at least in the United States, we would be happy to fall back on the First Amendment and a tolerant attitude of “sure, do as you like.” But religion as a platform influences economics, politics, and social relations in general. Friction seems inevitable, and it becomes unclear how best to apply the First Amendment.

Seabright argues that religion is not going away. He concludes:

• …Religious movements have long been looked upon with a strange mixture of respect by some and contempt by others. These personal reactions are no way to think of religion in public life. Religious movements enjoy privileges and should acknowledge their obligations. The time has come to treat religious movements more realistically, more rigorously, with respect rather than deference. p. 341