Religious privilege exists when religious beliefs and interests are treated as more important than secular ones. Discussion of religion often rests on the presumption that it is inherently special. Paul Seabright’s new book, The Divine Economy: How religions compete for wealth, power and people, offers a different approach to religion by viewing it through an economic lens. The central thesis of The Divine Economy is that religious organisations are businesses. Specifically, they are platforms which give members access to the benefits that come with being part of a religious community, often including a wide range of services and social opportunities. Seabright also applies this economic perspective to religious violence, saying that conflict is motivated primarily by competition for resources, with their most valuable resource being worshippers. The Divine Economy mostly sidesteps theological questions but argues that theological beliefs that outsiders (and many insiders) find difficult to accept are a feature, not a bug, of religions, as they create an in-group of believers and an out-group of non-believers. He argues that converts to a religion do …