The following is an excerpt from the chapter:

The fact is that Religion has been hijacked by the state for its own purposes. The league table of Major Faiths is more indicative of how successful countries have been in expanding their empires through trade and war than how popular are their indigenous Religions. Once its purpose has been served the state has little or no use for doctrines that stand in the way of personal ambition and commercial growth. That members of democratic societies place more emphasis on the rewards of this life than the next is a measure of the comfort and protection afforded them by their circumstances. The prospect of an eternity in hell for perpetrators of crimes is replaced by a temporary loss of freedom and possessions. Victims demand financial compensation over justice. Lawyers replace priests.

This picture might appear solely indicative of industrialized nations in the 20th century, but it is not. Laodicea, the land to which Jesus intended his message, consisted of several cities that had prospered under a Roman administration. Its citizens are described as being “neither hot nor cold” and so obsessed with riches that they pay only lip service to the word of God. By contrast John, the author to whom the revelation had been given, had been exiled to a prison on the Island of Patmos for preaching God’s word.