Religion and spirituality are central to the lives of women and men across the world yet mainstream development policy and practice rarely take account of this fact. This collection of articles explores the complex links between social and economic development and religious and spiritual belief and assesses the cost to development of ignoring these links. Writers of many faiths, and those with none, explore the scope for promoting women's rights and needs offered by religious belief and practice and analyse feminist responses to fundamentalist regimes which use religious doctrine to justify women's oppression.