This is a lecture not just by John Gray, but I was drawn to it by
the previous one in which Gray made a huge impression on me. At the London School of Economics (
LSE Public Lectures and Events)
John Micklethwait was invited to speak on the book he co-authored 'God is Back'. John Gray featured as discussant.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuwYSs7UnV9p8npg2kzoNmXYh4uOENXnl_xZ9htcuhOa2uRN_ma8vNWeo5eW08VVnjoeakq5Dg7PV3b7qQpZMpgkWpvxCLHVfxnNOsnyrc-9oH7cEldssMTalnaghtby9YPD6165y4RAG4/s320-r/LSE.GIF)
The resulting conversation was very interesting. The most important point that stuck with me is that the assumption there is ongoing secularization is false. Secularization never was much of a phenomenon outside Western Europe, but, so it seems, even there religion is marching back. Of course we hear a lot from fervent atheists, but as Gray points out: they wouldn't make so much uncompromising noise if they didn't feel they are in the defensive. My own private addition was: and the fervor also looks more like religion than anything else.
There is however something different, I noticed. The way people turn to religion is of a secular nature. That is, they turn by choice and they do not necessarily turn to the tradition they stem from. Research in the US, I am told on the podcast, shows that 44% of Americans has chosen their religion differently from their tradition. This does seem like a kind of secularization to me. In any case this podcast gave much food for thought and I highly recommend it.
More LSE Events:
John Gray's cultural pessimism,
Omniculturalism,
Controversies in the Economics of Climate Change,
Nudge: decision architecture,
The EU and the Middle East.
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