The Business of Religion – Econlib

• This book explains how the world’s religions acquired such power, what they do with it, and how abuses of this power can be limited.

• —Paul Seabright, The Divine Economy: How Religions Compete for Wealth, Power, and Peoplep. 6

PSeabright Village The divine economy He studies how religions gain followers and acquire wealth and power. He finds that it can be useful to treat a religion like a business and view it through the eyes of an economist. But his approach is broader than that, incorporating sociology, political theory and evolutionary psychology.

To understand the book, one must try to keep in mind two perspectives on religion. The narrow view is how Seabright defines religion. The broader view is what he calls the “platform perspective.”

As a definition, Seabright uses:

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

By placing “invisible spirits” at the center of the definition, Seabright includes what we typically think of as religions. But he rules out describing something as a religion simply because people care deeply about it. You can describe someone as “worshipping the almighty dollar,” “believing in climate change,” or “woke,” but he doesn’t treat the dollar, the climate, or systemic racism as spirits to whom prayers can be addressed and answered.

But there are people who adhere to a religion for whom belief in invisible spirits may be unimportant or even non-existent. Their behavior is best understood from the platform’s perspective.

• Religious movements are a special type of activity: they are platforms. Platforms are organizations that facilitate relationships that could not form or function effectively in their absence. p. 15

Seabright says the platform perspective helps explain how religions attract humans, how they influence behavior, and how religions compete with each other.

Humans are a social species and religions evolved to meet our need to belong.

• Religious activities have always involved private prayer and meditation, collective spectacle, violent crusades and jihad. They have channeled emotions as diverse as awe, fear, devotion, anger, excitement and love. They respond to the needs for ritual and transcendence, the needs for peace and the struggle to overcome a challenge, the needs for personal and selfish fulfillment and the need to be useful to others…

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

Seabright argues that religions create special social bonds.

• They can credibly claim that their members are more trustworthy and are, on average, more helpful friends and colleagues than randomly selected members of the population. p. 332

He should 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 likely to trust you.

Seabright offers an in-depth analysis of the theme of religious competition. He writes:

• …anything that makes it easier for people to make clear-eyed comparisons between the advantages of belonging to different movements can only intensify religious rivalry. p. 333

He gives us many thoughts on how religions are evolving under the pressure of competition. They face challenges very similar to those faced by businesses.

Seabright believes that the Internet will force a new evolution. He thinks that the Catholic Church risks experiencing a new schism, comparable to the one that followed the invention of the printing press. Of course, one can hope that it will not be accompanied by as much violence.

Seabright also believes that tensions will arise regarding the relationship between religion and politics.

• Everything we have seen in this book about the platform model of religious movements suggests that religion cannot gain legitimacy from the majority of the population if its leaders use that legitimacy to support political leaders, whether they are authoritarian or not. p. 339

To me, this speaks to the tension between Seabright’s narrow definition of religion and his broader perspective. If religion were simply a belief in certain animal spirits, then at least in the United States we would be happy to rely on the First Amendment and a tolerant “sure, whatever you like” attitude. But as platforms, religions impact economics, politics, and social relations in general. Friction seems inevitable, and it becomes difficult to know how best to apply the First Amendment.

Seabright is convinced that religion is not going to disappear. He concludes:

• …religious movements…have been regarded for too long with a strange mixture of respect by some and contempt by others. Such private reactions are no way to think about religion in public life. Religious movements enjoy privileges and should recognize their obligations. It is time to treat them more pragmatically, more demandingly, not with respect but with reverence. p. 341