Land of milk and silicon

For much of the past century, the dominant theory of modernization held that as societies grew wealthier, they would inevitably become less religious. Industrialization would weaken traditional authority, urbanization would dissolve inherited social structures, and scientific progress would push faith steadily toward the margins of public life.

For a time, the theory appeared to be true. Across Western Europe, as incomes rose, church attendance collapsed. In Britain, the share of the population attending weekly religious services fell from around 50% in the early 20th century to single digits today. In France and the Netherlands, organized religion receded dramatically from public life. Politics increasingly revolved around technocratic governance rather than shared cultural or religious identity.

Among intellectuals and civic leaders, the assumption hardened into orthodoxy: religion belonged to the past, secularization to the future. Those who questioned this view were often dismissed as nostalgic defenders of a fading world. As the anthropologist Anthony Wallace once predicted with remarkable confidence, “the evolutionary future of religion is extinction.”

But history has produced a striking counterexample. Israel does not simply diverge from this trajectory — it inverts it.

Israel is one of the most technologically advanced economies on earth, producing an extraordinary concentration of startups, scientific breakthroughs, and military innovations. Israeli firms have played major roles in fields ranging from cybersecurity and artificial intelligence to medical technology and water management. Yet Israel is also a deeply traditional society, with a large — and growing — religious population.

Far from being a weakness, this tendency increasingly looks like a strength. Israel and much of the developed world are moving in opposite directions — the one toward social fragmentation and economic stagnation, the other toward greater social vitality and economic dynamism. The problems that plague advanced societies, such as demographic decline, weakening civic participation, and erosion of shared meaning, aren’t prevalent in Israel, and the country is showing remarkable resilience. What if Israel is not the exception to the rule, but evidence that the rules are wrong?

While modernization theory emerged from Western Europe’s particular historical experience in the 19th and 20th centuries, a similar pattern occurred elsewhere. East Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, and China industrialized rapidly while becoming increasingly urban and secular. Latin America’s most successful states — places such as Chile and Uruguay — also became its least religious. Even many states that only achieved middle-income status, such as Tunisia and Argentina, showed sharp declines in religious belief.

By the early 21st century, the modernization thesis had become almost axiomatic. Economic development, it was assumed, would inevitably coincide with declining religious authority, increasing individualism, and secularization of society — all of which were considered desirable.

Yet Israel’s modernization has not weakened its people’s religiosity. If anything, the opposite is true. As the country has become one of the most successful high-tech economies in the world, the proportion of Israelis identifying as religious or traditional has steadily increased.

The growth of religious influence is not confined to the margins of society. In fact, it is increasingly central to Israel’s political, cultural, and institutional life. Religious Zionists — once a relatively small minority — now occupy key positions in the military, government, and civil service, combining strong ideological commitment with high levels of education and professional integration. Traditional Sephardi and Mizrahi communities, historically underrepresented in the country’s elite, have become a major cultural and political force, shaping everything from electoral coalitions to popular culture. Meanwhile, the Haredi population, though more socially insular, is expanding rapidly and exerting growing influence through both demographic weight and political organization. Together, these groups are not only increasing in number; they’re reshaping the broader national culture — extending the reach of tradition into public life in ways rarely seen in other developed societies.

Even among those who consider themselves secular, religious traditions remain deeply embedded in everyday life. Surveys by the Israeli scholars Shmuel Rosner and Camil Fuchs show that while only about 30% of Jewish Israelis describe themselves as religious, nearly two-thirds light Shabbat candles and more than 80% gather regularly as a family for the meal on Friday evening. Ninety-six percent participate in some form of Passover Seder. These patterns suggest that even where formal belief declines, shared practices continue to transmit identity across generations.

“Israel’s modernization has…