Around the world — from the southern United States to the Middle East — religion is on the rise. It is growing in countries with a wide variety of religious traditions and levels of economic development, suggesting that neither poverty nor social exclusion is solely responsible. The religious resurgence is not simply defined by the growth of fundamentalism — rigid adherence to a particular set of rituals and doctrines — but is occurring through a variety of renewed rituals and practices, both public and private.
