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Examining the ways in which politics and religion have influenced each other over the last two hundred years, Burleigh reveals that throughout history the two realms have interacted in complex and sometimes lethal ways--just as they still do today. The overall effect was a widespread increase in secularism and a demystification of the power of politics. Burleigh encompasses the philosophies of the Enlightenment, as well as the pseudo-religious aspects of Marxism. While the nineteenth century saw the replacement of the confessional by the liberal state, it also saw the birth of ideological fanaticisms that would achieve enormous power in the twentieth century. laying the foundations for both the soft totalitarianism of the modern bureaucratic welfare state and the more sinister police states of Communists and National Socialists. The most violent and repressive of these systems mimicked many of the functions of religion. Although liberalism was eventually restored to the continent in 1945 and 1989, many of the themes that Burleigh highlights here, notably the need for civic religions, have assumed a terrible relevance as Europe reacts to the threat of Al Qaeda. -- From publisher description.