LEARNING MATERIALS IN

CONTEMPORARY WORLD COMPILED BY Mr. Lemuel "Dong" N. Damole

ADOPTED BY: Prof. Cherry de Leon-Generoso

LESSON 6: The Globalization of Religion

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. Explain how globalization affects religious practices and beliefs;

2. Identify the various religious responses to globalization; and
3. Discuss the future of religion in a globalized world.

Religion, much more than culture, has the most difficult relationship with globalism
(remember the distinction between "globalization" and "globalism" in Lesson 1). First, the two
are entirely contrasting belief systems. Religion is concerned with the sacred, while globalism
places value on material wealth. Religion follows divine commandments, while globalism abides
by human-made laws. Religion assumes that there is "the possibility of communication between
humans and the transcendent."52 This link between the human and the divine confers some
social power on the latter. Furthermore, "God," "Allah," or "Yahweh" defines and judges human
action in moral terms (good vs. bad). Globalism's yardstick, however, is how much of human
action can lead to the highest material satisfaction and subsequent wisdom that this new status
produces.

Religious people are less concerned with wealth and all that comes along with it (higher
social status, a standard of living similar with that of the rest of the community, exposure to
"culture," top-of-the-line education for the children). They are ascetics precisely because they
shun anything material for complete simplicity- from their domain to the clothes they wear, to the
food they eat, and even to the manner in which they talk (lots of parables and allegories that are
supposedly the language of the divine). A religious person's main duty is to live a virtuous, sin-
less life such that when he/she dies, he/she is assured of a place in the other world (i.e.,
heaven).
On the other hand, globalists are less worried about whether they will end up in heaven or hell.
Their skills are more pedestrian as they aim to seal trade deals, raise the profits of private
enterprises, improve government revenue collections, protect the elites from being excessively
taxed by the state, and, naturally, enrich themselves. If he/she has a strong social conscience,
the globalist sees his/her work as contributing to the general progress of the community, the
nation, and the global economic system. Put another way, the religious aspires to become a
saint; the globalist trains to be a shrewd businessperson. The religious detests politics and the
quest for power for they are evidence of humanity's weakness; the globalist values them as both
means and ends to open up further the economies of the world.

Finally, religion and globalism clash over the fact that religious evangelization is in itself
a form of globalization. The globalist ideal, on the other hand, is largely focused on the realm of
markets. The religious is concerned with spreading holy ideas globally, while the globalist

1|Page
LEARNING MATERIALS IN
CONTEMPORARY WORLD COMPILED BY Mr. Lemuel "Dong" N. Damole
ADOPTED BY: Prof. Cherry de Leon-Generoso

wishes to spread goods and services.

The "missions" being sent by American Born-Again Christian churches, Sufi and Shiite
Muslim orders, as well as institutions like Buddhist monasteries and Catholic, Protestant, and
Mormon churches are efforts at "spreading the word of God" and gaining adherents abroad.
Religions regard identities associated with globalism (citizenship, language, and race) as inferior
and narrow because they are earthly categories. In contrast, membership to a religious group,
organization, or cult represents a superior affiliation that connects humans directly to the divine
and the supernatural. Being a Christian, a Muslim, or a Buddhist places one in a higher plane
than just being a Filipino, a Spanish speaker, or an Anglo-Saxon.

A Mormon missionary

These philosophical differences explain why certain groups "flee" their communities and
create impenetrable sanctuaries where they can practice their religions without the meddling
and control of state authorities. The followers of the Dalai Lama established Tibet for this
purpose, and certain Buddhist monasteries are located away from civilization so that hermits
can devote themselves to prayer and contemplation. These isolationist justifications are also
used by the Rizalistas of Mount Banahaw, the Essenes during Roman-controlled Judea (now
Israel), and for a certain period, the Mormons of Utah. These groups believe that living among
"non- believers" will distract them from their mission or tempt them to abandon their faith and
become sinners like everyone else.

Communities justify their opposition to government authority on religious grounds.

2|Page
LEARNING MATERIALS IN
CONTEMPORARY WORLD COMPILED BY Mr. Lemuel "Dong" N. Damole
ADOPTED BY: Prof. Cherry de Leon-Generoso

Priestesses and monks led the first revolts against colonialism in Asia and Africa, warning that
these outsiders were out to destroy their people's gods and ways of life. Similar arguments are
being invoked by contemporary versions of these millenarian movements that wish to break
away from the hold of the state or vow to overthrow the latter in the name of God. To their
"prophets," the state seeks to either destroy their people's sacred beliefs or distort religion to
serve non-religious goals.

Realities

In actuality, the relationship between religion and globalism is much more complicated.
Peter Berger argues that far from being secularized, the "contemporary world is...furiously
religious. In most of the world, there are veritable explosions of religious fervor, occurring in one
form of another in all the major religious traditions-- Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism,
Buddhism, and even Confucianism (if one wants to call it a religion)-and in many places in
imaginative syntheses of one or more world religions with indigenous faiths.

Religions are the foundations of modern republics. The Malaysian government places
religion at the center of the political system. Its constitution explicitly states that "Islam is the
religion of the Federation," and the rulers of each state was also the "Head of the religion of
Islam." The late Iranian religious leader, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, bragged about the
superiority of Islamic rule over its secular counterparts and pointed out that "there is no
fundamental distinction among constitutional, despotic, dictatorial, democratic, and communistic
regimes." To Khomeini, all secular ideologies were the same-they were flawed-and Islamic rule
was the superior form of government because it was spiritual. Yet, Iran calls itself a republic, a
term that is associated with the secular.

Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini led the

Iranian revolution that turned the
country into a theocracy

Moreover, religious movements do not hesitate to appropriate secular themes and

practices. The moderate Muslim association Nahdlatul Ulama in Indonesia has Islamic schools
(pesantren) where students are taught not only about Islam but also about modern science, the
social sciences, modern banking, civic education, rights of women, pluralism, and democracy. In
other cases, religion was the result of a shift in state policy. The Church of England, for
example, was "shaped by the rationality of modern democratic (and bureaucratic) culture.”58
King Henry VIII broke away from Roman Catholicism and established his own Church to bolster
his own power. In the United States, religion and law were fused together to help build this
"modern secular society." It was observed in the early 1800s by French historian and diplomat

3|Page
LEARNING MATERIALS IN
CONTEMPORARY WORLD COMPILED BY Mr. Lemuel "Dong" N. Damole
ADOPTED BY: Prof. Cherry de Leon-Generoso

Alexis de Tocqueville who wrote, "not only do the Americans practice their religion out of self-
interest but they often even place in this world the interest which they have in practicing it. Jose
Casanova confirms this statement by noting that "historically, religion has always been at the
very center of all great political conflicts and movements of social reform. From independence to
abolition, from nativism to women's suffrage, from prohibition to the civil rights movement,
religion had always been at the center of these conflicts, but also on both sides of the political
barricades. It remains the case until today with the power the Christian Right has on the
Republican Party.

Religion for and against Globalization

There is hardly a religious movement today that does not use religion to oppose
"profane" globalization. Yet, two of the so-called "old world religions"- Christianity and Islam-see
globalization less as an obstacle and more as an opportunity to expand their reach all over the
world. Globalization has "freed" communities from the "constraints of the nation-state," but in the
process, also threatened to destroy the cultural system that bind them together. Religion seeks
to take the place of these broken "traditional ties" to either help communities cope with their new
situation or organize them to oppose this major transformation of their lives. It can provide the
groups "moral codes" that answer problems ranging from people's health to social conflict to
even "personal happiness." Religion is thus not the "regressive force" that stops or slows down
globalization; it is a "pro-active force" that gives communities a new and powerful basis of
identity. It is an instrument with which religious people can put their mark in the reshaping of this
globalizing world, although in its own terms.

Religious fundamentalism may dislike globalization's materialism, but it continues to use

"the full range of modern means of communication and organization" that is associated with this
economic transformation. It has tapped "fast long- distance transport and communications, the
availability of English as a global vernacular of unparalleled power, the know-how of modern
management and marketing" which enabled the spread of "almost promiscuous propagation of
religious forms across the globe in all sorts of directions." It is, therefore, not entirely correct to
assume that the proliferation of "Born-Again" groups, or in the case of Islam, the rise or
movements like Daesh (more popularly known as ISIS, or Islamic State in Iraq and Syria)
signals religion's defense against the materialism of globalization. It is, in fact, the opposite.
These fundamentalist organizations are the result of the spread of globalization and both find
ways to benefit or take advantage of each other.

While religions may benefit from the processes of globalization, this does not mean that
its tensions with globalist ideology will subside. Some Muslims view "globalization" as a Trojan
horse hiding supporters of Western values like secularism, liberalism, or even communism
ready to spread these ideas in their areas to eventually displace Islam. The World Council of
Churches--an association of different Protestant congregations- has criticized economic
globalization's negative effects. It vowed that "we as churches make ourselves accountable to

4|Page
LEARNING MATERIALS IN
CONTEMPORARY WORLD COMPILED BY Mr. Lemuel "Dong" N. Damole
ADOPTED BY: Prof. Cherry de Leon-Generoso

the victims of the project of economic globalization," by becoming the latter's advocates inside
and outside "the centers of power."

The Catholic Church and its dynamic leader, Pope Francis, likewise condemned
globalization's "throw-away culture’’ that is "fatally destined to suffocate hope and increase risks
and threats."The Lutheran World Federation 10sh Assembly's 292-page declaration message
included economic and feminist critiques of globalization, sharing the voices of members of the
Church who were affected by globalization, and contemplations on the different "pastoral and
ethical reflections" that members could use to guide their opposition. It warns that as a result of
globalization: "Our world is split asunder by forces we often do not understand, but that result in
stark contrasts between those who benefit and those who are harmed, especially under forces
of globalization. Today, there is also a desperate need for healing from 'terrorism.' its causes,
and fearful reactions to it. Relationships in this world continue to be ruptured due to greed,
Injustices, and various forms of violence.”

These advocacies to reverse or mitigate economic globalization eventually gained the

attention of globalist institutions. In 1998, the World Bank brought in religious leader. in its
discussions about global poverty, leading eventually to a "cautious, muted, and qualified"
collaboration in 2000. Although it only yielded insignificant results (the World Bank agreed to
support some faith-based anti-poverty projects in Kenya and Ethiopia), it was evident enough
that institutional advocates of globalization could be responsive to the "liberationist, moral
critiques of economic globalization" (including many writings on "social justice") coming from the
religious.

With the exception of militant Islam, religious forces are well aware that they are in no
position to fight for a comprehensive alternative to the globalizing status quo. What Catholics
call "the preferential option for the poor" is a powerful message of mobilization but lacks
substance when it comes to working out a replacement system that can change the poor's
condition in concrete ways.75 And, of course, the traditionalism of fundamentalist political Islam
is no alternative either. The terrorism of ISIS is unlikely to create a "Caliphate" governed by
justice and stability. In Iran, the unchallenged superiority of a religious autocracy has stifled all
freedom of expressions, distorted democratic rituals like elections, and tainted the opposition.
Conclusion

For a phenomenon that "is about everything." it is odd that globalization is seen to have
very little to do with religion. As Peter Bayer and Lori Beaman observed, "Religion, it seems, is
somehow 'outside' looking at globalization as problem or potential.One reason for this
perspective is the association of globalization with modernization, which is a concept of
progress that is based on science, technology, reason, and the law. With reason, one will have
"to look elsewhere than to moral discourse for fruitful thinking about economic globalization and
religion." Religion, being a belief system that cannot be empirically proven is, therefore,
anathema to modernization.The thesis that modernization will erode religious practice is often

5|Page
LEARNING MATERIALS IN
CONTEMPORARY WORLD COMPILED BY Mr. Lemuel "Dong" N. Damole
ADOPTED BY: Prof. Cherry de Leon-Generoso

called secularization theory.

Historians, political scientists, and philosophers have now debunked much of

secularization theory. Samuel Huntington, one of the strongest defenders of globalization,
admits in his book, The Clash of Civilizations, that civilizations can be held together by religious
worldviews. This belief is hardly new. As far back as the 15th century, Jesuits and Dominicans
used religion as an "ideological armature" to legitimize the Spanish empire.81 Finally, one of the
greatest sociologists of all time, Max Weber, also observed the correlation between religion and
capitalism as an economic system. Calvinism, a branch of Protestantism, believed that God had
already decided who would and would not be saved. Calvinists, therefore, made it their mission
to search for clues as to their fate, and in their pursuit, they redefined the meaning of profit and
its acquisition. This "inner-worldly asceticism"-as Weber referred to this Protestant ethic-
contributed to the rise of modern capitalism.82

It was because of "moral" arguments that religious people were able to justify their
political involvement. When the 3paniards occupied lands in the Americas and the Philippines, it
was done in the name of the Spanish King and of God, "for empire comes from God alone."83
Then over 300 years later, American President William McKinley claimed "that after a night of
prayer and soul-searching, he had concluded that it was the duty of the United States 'to
educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God's grace do the
very best we could by them."84 Finally, as explained earlier, religious leaders have used religion
to wield influence in the political arena, either as outsiders criticizing the pitfalls of pro-
globalization regimes, or as integral members of coalitions who play key roles in policy decision-
makings and the implementation of government projects.

In short, despite their inflexible features-the warnings of perdition ("Hell is a real place
prepared by Allah for those who do not believe in Him, rebel against His laws, and reject His
messengers"), the promises of salvation ("But our citizenship is in Heaven"), and their obligatory
pilgrimages (the visits to Bethlehem or Mecca)- religions are actually quite malleable. Their
resilience has been extraordinary that they have outlasted secular ideologies (e.g.,
communism). Globalists, therefore, have no choice but to accept this reality that religion is here
to stay.

Guide Questions:

1. What are the conflicting ideas between religious thought and the ideology of globalism
discussed in Lesson 1?
2. Why is secularization theory outdated?
3. How do you describe the reactions of some religious movements to globalization? How
do others facilitate globalization?

Learning Activity: What Religion are You in?

6|Page
LEARNING MATERIALS IN
CONTEMPORARY WORLD COMPILED BY Mr. Lemuel "Dong" N. Damole
ADOPTED BY: Prof. Cherry de Leon-Generoso

Divide yourselves into groups. Each group must be assigned one religion (Buddhism,
Christianity-Catholicism, Christianity- Protestantism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, etc.). Surf the
web and research the history of the assigned religion. Then describe the following:
a. The religion's concept of good
b. The religion's concept of evil
c. The steps needed by a person to become good and prevent himself/herself from becoming
evil

Afterwards, conduct a research on your assigned religion's relationship with politics, if any. In
what ways is it engaged in politics? Why did its leaders decide to be involved in politics?
Discuss the result of your research with the other groups to determine the similarities and
differences between these religions. Finally, compare the religions' relationship with politics.

7|Page