The Contemporary World

Chapter 8

The Globalization of Religion

Chapter 8
The Globalization of Religion

Introduction

Religion and globalization persistently engage in a flexible relationship in which the former relies
on the latter in order to thrive and flourish while at the same time challenging its hybridizing
effects.

Globalization due to the advent of communication and transportation technology and the roles
played by the media – has contributed to the reterritorialization and the blurring of geographical
spaces and boundaries. This has resulted apparently in making the world a small village where
people, cultures, and identities come in a daily face-to-face contact with each other.

Undoubtedly, religion is not immune from these changes and their burgeoning effects brought
about by globalization. However, religions still have their respective homes in specific territorial
spaces when they originally appeared and where their respective shrines exist.

The inner nature of religions and the purpose to be embraced and practiced by people all over the
world prompts it to spread throughout all the world’s geographical spaces. In order to emerged and
spread, therefore, religions make good use of the technologies of globalization. Having
geographical boundaries and frontiers blurred and dissolved, religions find it easy to spread and
reach every part of the world.

Since globalization, according to many scholars, is aimed at the hybridization of the world cultures
around the pattern of the Western culture; and since it entails liberal values and norms, religion
constitutes a challenge to it. This is because Islam’s norms and values are incompatible with the
liberal values of globalization.

Globalization has played a tremendous role in providing a context for the current considerable
revival and the resurgence of religion. Today, most religions are not relegated to the few countries
where they began. Religions have, in fact, spread and scattered on a global scale. Thanks to
globalization, religions have found a fertile milieu to spread and thrive.

Specific Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
1. Explain how globalization affects religious practices and beliefs.
2. Analyze the relationship religion and global conflict and conversely, global peace.

Duration: 3 hours
Chapter 8: Religion vs Globalism
Religion for and against Globalization
Does Religion Unite or Divide?
Lesson Proper

CHAPTER 8 – THE GLOBALIZATION OF RELIGION

8.1 RELIGION VS GLOBALISM

Religion, much more than culture, has the most difficult relationship with globalism. 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. Furthermore, “God”, “Allah”, or “Yahweh” defines
and judges human actions in moral terms. 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. 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 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 collection, and naturally, enrich themselves. Put in
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; 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
wishes to spread goods and services.

8.2 RELIGION FOR AND AGAINST GLOBALIZATION

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.

While religions may benefit from the process 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 to eventually displace Islam. The
Catholic Church and its dynamic leader, Pope Francis, condemned globalization’s “throw-
away culture” that is “fatally destined to suffocate hope and increase risks and threats.” The
Lutheran World Federation 10th Assembly’s 292 pages 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.”

8.3 DOES RELIGION UNITE OR DIVIDE?

One way that the divide in religion affects us is with violence and wars. Many wars in history and
in the present have been started because of religion. In the book “Does Religion Cause Violence?”
by William T. Cavanaugh (2006), he says “Christianity, Islam, and other faiths are more inclined
toward violence than ideologies and institutions that are identified as secular.” This quote says that
violence is more likely to come from religion than from any other institution that is not religious. A
well known religious war in the past was the crusades and the inquisitions where Christians waged
war against other religions. About one to three million people were killed in the crusades and about
3000 people were killed in the inquisitions. Another example is the Palestine and Israeli conflict for
political gain over the West Bank. Religious violence and wars can bring people apart because it is
usually people from one religion fighting against another religion.

Some may argue that religion has the ability to unite people in a common belief. Religion,
and most significantly organized religion, often involve the formation of a religious
community. In the Catholic Church, this might refer to the interactions during Sunday
Masses, for Islam, the fellowship during prayers in Mosques. Regardless, these religious
customs allow the interaction of people who hold the same religious beliefs to form a united
religious community. For believers of the respective religions, these religious customs allow
for them to be united in a common denominator greater than themselves, which in this case
would be God. The shared beliefs result in individuals who are part of the community uniting
in the face of threats. For example, the Catholic Church was galvanized by the rise in pro-
choice legislation being passed around the world. Members of the Catholic community were
united by the common perceived threat against the sanctity of life and acted in consensus to
respond to it. In the United States, members of the church went in unison to pray outside
abortion clinics while others staged protests. This can also be seen in other countries such as
Ecuador, where debates on abortion bills spurred members of religious communities to
protest together. The common thread amongst the above examples is the fact that the shared
beliefs, brought about by religion, united people of different genders, backgrounds and even
countries towards a common goal. This therefore demonstrates the power of religion in
unifying people who subscribe to the same beliefs.
References

Deocampo, Felix Jr. R., Ramos, Bernardo F., and Llonora, R. L. (2019). Globalization in
Contemporary World. Plaridel, Bulacan: St. Andrew Publishing House
Lisandro E. Claudio and Patricio N. Abinales. (2018). The Contemporary World. Quezon City: C &
E Publishing, Inc.
https://ejceudaimonia.com/2020/10/28/religion-divides-more-than-it-unites-discuss/

https://medium.com/@sahilmathew1/how-religion-unites-and-divides-us4dd6259d61df