Georges Corme is a philosopher, economist, and the author of many wonderful books on the history of Western Europe and the Middle East. In this book, he analyzes the rise of religious sentiment in the last decades of the 20th century and at the beginning of the present century. It is they who are becoming today the dominant factor in world politics, one of the key issues in building a modern society and - most importantly - the most pressing existing (along with environmental problems) problems of humanity as a whole and of each country, each society individually. Islamic terrorism, problems of social and cultural integration, religious intolerance and, finally, wars based on religious contradictions - all this is the reality of today; and only by trying to see and understand the complex fabric of interrelations - philosophical, historical, political - can we hope to get out of the impasse into which modern civilization has reached. After all, religion today is not only a banner of struggle, not only a moral guideline - but also a means actively used in the interests of various groups, an instrument of pressure, a tool for achieving goals that are sometimes too far from religion.