Lesson 6: The Globalization of Religion

METALANGUAGE MEANING / DEFINITION

1 Religion It is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural system and

world views that relate humanity to transcendental
existence.

2 Globalism An ideology that focus on the material world rather than

spiritual. It concerns on creating a unified material world.

3 Isolationism An act of seclusion from the world. Usually done by

monks or cults.

4 Trojan Horse Originated from the Trojan war. It was a gift given by
Greeks to conquer the city of Troy. It has hidden
agenda/people inside of it.

5 Profanity An act of irreligiousity which is connected with blasphemy

or cursing. It could also refers to bad or dirty.

6 Materialism It is a tendency to consider material possessions and

physical comfort as more important than spiritual values.

7 Islamic Schools Or commonly known as Madrasa. It is an educational

system which focuses on the teaching of Islamic faith and
the Qur’an.

8 Modern Republics Literally referred to the kind of political system now-a-

days.

9 Religious Fundamentalism It is a belief on the superiority of religious teachings and

strict division between the righteous people and
evildoers.

(C) Essential Knowledge

I. The Conflict between Religion and Globalization

Religion much more than cultures, has the most difficult relationship with globalism.
1
First, the two are entirely contrasting belief system.

1. Religion is concerned with the sacred, while globalism places value on material wealth.

2. Religion follows divine commandments while globalism abides by human-made laws.

3. Religion assumes that there is the possibility of communication between humans and
the transcendent, while globalism’s yardsticks is of how much of human actions can lead to
the highest material satisfaction and subsequent wisdom that this new status produces.

4. Religious people are less concerned with the wealth and all that comes along with
it, while globalists believed that this is a form of asceticism precisely because they
shun anything material for complete simplicity.

5. Religious person’s main duty is to live a virtuous and sinless life while globalists are less
worried whether they will end up in heaven or in hell, since they are more concerned about
the general progress of the community, the nation and the global economic system.

6. Religious detest politics and the quest for power for they are evidence of
humanity’s weakness, while the globalists values them as both means and ends to
open up further economies of the world.

7. The religious is concerned with spreading holy ideas globally, while globalists wish
to spread goods and services.

8. Religious regard identities associated with globalism such as citizenship, language and
race as inferior and narrow, membership to religious group, organization or cult represent a
superior affiliation that connects humans directly to the divine.

However, religion and globalism clash over the fact that religious evangelization is a
form of globalization. Moreover, our first impression of religion is that they could help us
find our way of life. That is actually true. However there is one disadvantage that rises above
this idea. Religion tends to divide everyone. Islam, Catholic, Born Again, etc. And by us
divided, we tend to result to war and conflict because of the different beliefs reinstated.

Furthermore, because of the philosophical differences and the threat of

modernization, some religious groups create impenetrable sanctuaries where that can
2
practice their religion without the meddling and control of authorities brought about by
globalization. Some of them are:

1. The followers of Dalai Lama established Tibet

2. Buddhist monasteries are located away from civilization so that Hermits can
devote themselves in prayer and meditation.

3. The Rizalistas isolate themselves in Mount Banahaw

4. The Essenes hid themselves in the dessert during the Roman-controlled Judea

5. The Mormons of Utah also isolate themselves in sometime

These groups believe that living among the non-believers will distract them from
their mission or tempt them to abandon their faith and become sinners like everyone else.

II. The 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) and in many places in
imaginative synthesis of one or more world with indigenous faiths.

Religions are the foundations of modern republics.

1. In Islam

The Malayan 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 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.”
3
 To Khomeini, all secular ideologies were the same, they were all flawed, and
Islamic rule was the superior form of government because it was spiritual. Yer, Iran
calls itself a republic, a term that is associated with the secular.

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.

2. In Christianity

The Church of England was shaped by the rationality of modern democratic

and bureaucratic culture. King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church and
established his own Church to bolster his own power.

In the United States, religion and law were fused to together to help build
this “modern secular society”. It was observed in the early 1800s by French historian
and diplomat 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 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.

4
III. Religion FOR and AGAINST Globalization

1. Religion is FOR Globalization

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 organized them to oppose this major transformation of their lives.

2. Religion is AGAINST Globalization

Some Muslims view globalization as Trojan Horse hiding

supporters of Western values like secularism, liberalism or even
communism ready to spread these ideas in their areas to eventually
displace them. The world council of Churches has criticized economic
globalization’s negative effect. It vowed to make themselves accountable
to the victims of the project of economic globalization by becoming its
advocates inside and outside the centers of power.