Is Religion Coming Back?

How a Strange Collision of Internet Memes, Unconscious Drives, and Historical Happenstance Is Shaping A New World

This is Rebel Wisdom’s Fourth Newsletter, largely written by Ed Prideaux. We release one every two weeks — to get it sent directly to you, click on our website and add your email address: www.rebelwisdom.co.uk

We’re often told that ‘religion is in decline.’ Belief is plummeting and the pews are emptying. In fact, Between 1999 and 2020 — almost every country across Eurasia and the Americas showed stark declines in religious belief. But that isn’t the full story, and many believe religion is as much a force as it ever was. It’s just changed shape.

In the fourth edition of the Rebel Wisdom Newsletter, we’ll consider the strange religious revival happening right under our noses. How, despite the damage dealt by the New Atheists, a number of non-believers have opened their eyes to the profound importance of Christianity in the way we think and live. And in the wild west of internet culture, how the religious impulse — a core part of our humanity that bucks any trend — is being channeled in dark and chaotic directions, with ‘simulated religions’ of wellness, fringe sex, QAnon and political tribalism taking hold of the narrative landscape.