Sacred Causes

From one of the leading historians of our time comes a brilliant and incisive work of history that examines the politics of religion and the reli-gion of politics, from the catastrophe of the First World War to the modern-day War on Terror.

Beginning with the chaotic post-World War I landscape, in which religious belief was one way of reordering a world knocked off its axis, Sacred Causes is a penetrating critique of how religion has often been camouflaged by politics. Covering a vast canvas, Michael Burleigh examines the many secular religions the twentieth century produced, analyzing how successive totalitarian leaders coveted and mimicked the hierarchy, rites and ritual of the churches in the desire to return to the day when ruler and deity were one.

All the many bloody regimes and movements of the century are here, from Stalin's Soviet Union, Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy and Franco's Spain through to the modern scourge of terrorism. With style and sophistication, Burleigh shows how the churches, in their various guises, have been swayed by—and have contributed to—conflicting secular currents. Sacred Causes brilliantly exposes the way in which fears of socialist movements tempered the churches' response to the threat of totalitarian regimes, tracing religious beliefs and institutions from a time when the church, disenchanted with both democracy and fascism, began to search for political alternatives.

Eloquently and persuasively combining an authoritative survey of history with a timely reminder of the dangers of radical secularism, Burleigh asks why no one foresaw the religious implications of massive Third World immigration, and he deftly investigates what are now driving calls for a civic religion to counter the terrorist threats that have so shocked the West.