Following Auguste Comte, many sociologists believed in the theory of secularization. They argued that industrialization and the dominance of instrumental reason would inevitably lead to the waning of religion. If religion survived, they thought, it would do so only as a source of personal meaning, no longer as a force in history.

Yet in recent decades we have observed the return of religion to the public sphere. This is true, first of all, in non-western countries where people find in their own religious tradition the source of self-respect, the power to resist the invasion of western values, and the creativity to react in an imaginative way to the challenge of science and technology. While these religious revivals are sometimes associated with intolerance and fanaticism, it would be a great mistake to interpret all of these revivals as expressions of fundamentalism.

The return of religion to the public sphere can also be observed in western societies, on the Right (e.g., the Christian Coalition in the U.S.A.) as well as on the Left (e.g., Liberation Theology in Latin America and South Africa). It is possible to argue the thesis that present in world religions today is a conflict between two distinct movements, one insisting on identity and difference and hence building walls of separation, and the other reaching out for ecumenical co-operation in joint efforts promoting justice and peace. In Canada this conflict is alive and well in churches and synagogues.

While there is a return of religion to the public sphere, I do not see any evidence for a general religious revival. Many people brought up in a secular culture are seeking inner resources and spiritual meaning in a variety of religious groupings, some of which demand great conformity while others are rather free-wheeling. Yet these people constitute a small minority. In Canada and in the U.S.A., religion exercises an important role among immigrants who have come from Africa and Asia: Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other Asian religions are thriving among them. There is also evidence that conservative evangelical churches and pentecostal congregations are experiencing considerable growth, while the traditional churches are losing members. One cannot interpret the cultural life of Canada and the U.S.A. without paying attention to the religious factor, even if a good number of political scientists still hold, consciously or unconsciously, the theory of secularization and hence pay next to no attention to the presence of religion. But to speak of a general religious revival would be, in my opinion, a great exaggeration of existing trends. As far as I can see, self-promotion and consumerism, the values of neo-liberalism, reign supreme in the hearts of the great majority.

Yet who knows what the future has in store for us! The ongoing globalization of the free market economy and its consequences (privatization, deregulation, de-industrialization, massive, chronic unemployment, the collapse of the welfare state, the subservience of governments to corporate power, etc.) are creating a deeply fragmented society with an ever increasing sector of "the excluded", i.e., the unemployed, the precariously and the part-time employed, the working poor, and the unemployable. Among "the excluded", the percentage of women, youth, and people of colour is very high. No-one knows at this time how society will cope with such a large sector of people excluded from wealth and power. Some social scientists argue that liberal capitalism can survive only in a police state. What will be the role of public religion in a fragmented society? Following my previous analysis, I argue that public religion will be deeply divided between sectors with sympathy for the corporate world and sectors in solidarity with the poor, supporting their effort to create self-help groups and community economic development-and pronouncing divine judgement on the criminally unjust distribution of wealth.

Gregory Baum is a professor in the Faculty of Religious Studies at McGill University. We reviewed his most recent book, Karl Polanyi on Ethics & Economics (McGill-Queen's), last October.