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The Globalization of Religion
The Globalization of Religion
GLOBALIZATION
OF RELIGION
Learning Objectives :
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
RELIGION GLOBALISM
concerned with the places value on material
sacred wealth
follows divine Abides by human-made
commandments laws
Assumes that there is Yardstick is how much of
“the possibility of humans action can lead to
communication between the highest material
humans and the satisfaction
transcendent”
RELIGION AND GLOBALISM
PETER BERGER
Argues that far from being secularized the
contemporary world is furiously religious.
There are veritable explosions of
religious fervor, occurring in one form of
another in all the major religious
traditions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam,
Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism).
NAHDLATUL ULAMA
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
“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
“historicallyreligion has always been at the very center
of all great political conflicts and movements of social
reform… but also on both sides of the political
barricades.
It remains the case until today with the power of the Christian
Right has on the Republic Party.
RELIGION FOR AND AGAINTS
GLOBALIZATION
CHRISTIANITY and ISLAM or the so-called “old world
religions” 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 ties to
either help communities cope with their new situation or
organize them to oppose this major transformation of
their lives.
RELIGION FOR AND AGAINTS
GLOBALIZATION
Religion is not the “regressive force” that steps or slows
down globalization; it is a “pro-active force” that gives
communities a new and powerful basis of identity.
Religion is an instrument with which religious people can
put their mark in the reshaping of this globalizing
world.
Religious fundamentalism may dislike globalizations
materialism, but it continues to use “the full range of
modern means of communication and organization” that
is associated with economic transformation.
RELIGION FOR AND AGAINTS
GLOBALIZATION
Religious fundamentalism has tapped “fast long-
distance transport and communication, 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.”
These fundamentalist organization are the result of the
spread of globalization and both find ways to benefit
or take advantage of each other.
RELIGION FOR AND AGAINTS
GLOBALIZATION
While religions may benefit from the process of
globalization, this does not mean that its tension
with globalist ideology will subside.