This Norwegian scholar has here argued vigorously for a view of all religions as entities in a market economy, with various products to sell, customers to lure and governments to lobby for favours. The result is an iconoclastic, scholarly, detailed and wide-ranging treatise that apparently rebuts the arguments of other academics who have objected to this viewpoint. I was not familiar with most of the writing in this field, and found his take on religions as commodities competing in a market economy convincing, perhaps because of my ignorance of the counterarguments.
The writing is humourless, arid, and poorly organized but the scope of the author’s knowledge is encyclopedic, with examples ranging from the split of Buddhism from Hinduism to the competition between evangelical South Korean megachurches and Buddhist leaders. The most effective and appropriate roles of politics in regulating the market for religion is extensively discussed. The discussion of religious terrorism in economic terms is insightful- he suggests that we should be buying the fanatics off, rather than shooting or jailing them!
The analogy of the Catholic Church to a franchise business selling salvation and decreased time in purgatory is very apt. The invention of purgatory in the 12th century itself was a brilliant innovation that facilitated modern capitalism by allowing moneylenders to ply their trade at the cost of buying indulgences, as a business expense. Salvation became monetized. In another sphere, one of the ‘products’ sold in Buddhism is the promise of reincarnation as a higher form of life.
The niche markets in religion include those that cater to disadvantaged and sometimes persecuted sectors of society, such as those that have sprung up to serve the LGBT communities. Brekke identifies women as one such niche and suggests that there may be a big market for a new religion in which God is a woman. He documents the mimicry of religions by atheist and humanist organizations that compete in the market for rites, including confirmations, weddings and funerals. Should atheism and secular humanism be considered as religions?
Chapter 14 on reification discusses the inherent fuzziness of the boundaries of what should be considered a religion at all and what national governments should allow to be considered a religion with the monetary benefits, rights, respect and societal recognition religions frequently enjoy. I think this should have been Chapter 1. And my favourite church, the Church Of The Flying Spaghetti Monster, recognized as a legitimate religion in New Zealand, but not in the United States, is never mentioned.
This book would make a great text for university courses in comparative religion, but is heavy going for the average Western reader like me.
The Passionate Reader 