Chapter 9 Religion

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Chapter 9Religion

Key issues:

1.What is religion and how do sociologists study religion?2.What is the social shape of global religions?3.How is religion changing in the twenty –first century?4.What are the key contemporary debates?

1.1 IntroductionCase 1:

In 1989 Salman Rushdie published his controversial novel

TheSatanic Verses

in Britain.One character in the book, the Prophet Mahound, appears as afigure of debauchery ( wickedness, dishonesty ), four languageand obscenity.Sensing that this was a thinly disguised, blasphemous attackon Prophet Mohammad and the Islamic faith, British Muslimssoon expressed their anger and requested a publisher’sapology for misrepresenting the Islamic faith.Matters rapidly escalated :

i.

the book was ritually burned in Bolton and Bradford,ii.the media accused the Muslims of intolerance,iii.voices were raised against Rushdie in India and Pakistan,

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iv.On Valentine day in 1989, the Iranian leader AyatollahKhomeini issued his fatwa or official call for executionagainst Rushdie.v.Although initially a British affair, The Satanic Versesscandal escalated into an international one- symbolizingbattles between religious institutions and secular cultures,vi.A resurgence of anti-Islamic feeling in the West.vii.Fearing for his life, Rushdie went into hiding were hestayed for over 10 years,

Case 2:

In March 195, a small group of terrorist released a poisonousgas in Tokyo’s underground system, killing 12 but blindingmany more and causing complete pandemonium ( chaos ).But this was no ordinary act of terrorism:i.It was conducted by Aum Shinriyko, a religious sect thatclaimed 10,0000 Japanese members and 20,000 in Russia.ii.Its leader has actually created a stockpile of weapons tokill around 10 million people.

Case 3:

In March 1997, Marshall Applewhite led 39 of his followers tocommit suicide as part of the cult Heaven’s Gate. Their dead bodies laid out neatly in bunk beds were found inRancho Santa Fe, California.

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The cult was a distinctly modern group- they wore sneakersand were obsessive computer users. Yet they looked for signs of religious meaning on theircomputers. They attached enormous significance to the Hale-Bopp cometas a sign that their time to go to heaven had arrived.And when the comet arrived, they were all led by cult leader todrink a curios mix of vodka and barbiturates so that their‘earthly vessels’ could rise to the Heavens.Case 4:On September 11, 2001, in by far the most devastatingterrorist action up to date, four civil airliners were hijacked bysuicide bombers and target at major US building. Two demolished the twin towers of the World Trade Center inNew York. The third airliner destroyed part of the Pentagon in Washington. The fourth crashed in Pennsylvania. These were rapidly identified with terrorist attacks, andespecially with Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaida internationalterrorist network.Bin Laden in on record as saying he is conducting a religious areligious war – an Islamic jihad – against America.It is often argued that religion is in decline in the modern world-in the face of rising rationality and science.

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