Papna, Marjorie M.

Su, Yuhe

The Globalization of Religion

1. What is religion? How is it different from globalism?

Ans. Religion is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power,

especially a personal God or gods. The other meaning is it’s a personal set or

institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices. The service

and worship of God or the supernatural. Also, the commitment or devotion to

religious faith or observance. Religions that were previously isolated from one

another can now have regular and unavoidable contact as a result of

globalization. Where they separate religion from the world. But we are just living

in one world where different religion exist. Religion is what we lived for and we

are living in the same world. Since globalization is interconnected and a wide

topic so is religion. Globalization highlights the fact that, because religions have

similar values, thus cannot be changed.

2. How does globalization affect religious practices and beliefs?

Ans. The fundamental tenets of globalization are opposed to religious

parochialism. By reducing cultural barriers, globalization traps religion in a

quagmire of conflicts that reinforce social identities as some refuse to accept

new realities and turn to religion to rediscover their own identity.

3. What does secularization mean? Does this make countries less religious? Justify
 your answer.

Ans. Secularization is the process by which sectors of society and culture are

liberated from the dominance of religious institutions and symbols. This process

occurs on three levels: 1) social structural, where religious institutions lose

functions that are now performed by secular agencies; 2) cultural structural,

where religious institutions lose functions that are now performed by secular

agencies; and 3) political structural, where religious institutions lose functions.

It does not make the countries less religious, being religious is how you live or

practice your religion, despite of your surrounding, the belief you are practicing

must not depend of what the world you are living in. Your belief and practices

might get affected of the development of the countries you might in, but the

belief you had must be practiced accordingly.

4. Identify the various religious responses to globalization.

Ans. According to good faith media, Christians response to globalization is

globalization offers incredible opportunities. The ease of communication, transport

and travel can be used to do much good in empowering the poor and disadvantaged.

As Christians, we are called to integral discipleship, involving responsible and

sustainable use of the resources of God’s creation. We are called to transform the

moral, intellectual, economic, cultural and political dimensions of our lives. Volf

examines the resources of each tradition for the promotion of political pluralism,

focusing primarily on Christianity and Islam. He contends that belief in a single God

who commands love of one's neighbor—a belief shared by both Christianity and
 Islam—is a sufficient foundation for three principles that underpin a political

pluralism project: separation of identity between religious community and state,

openness to religious reason and persuasion in the public sphere, and impartiality

of the state toward all religions.

5. Discuss the future of religion in a globalized world. As Christians, how can we deal

with the influences of globalization.

The contributors to this issue demonstrate that faith traditions can motivate and

mobilize careful reflection, peacemaking, and a politics of hope and love even in

times of revolution, terrorism, war, and fear. That is indeed good news for our

globalizing world.

As Christians, we all face different challenges, whether we live in cities or in the

countryside, in developed or developing countries, and our faith must not be

dependent on how developed the world is. It is difficult to resist temptation because

it is all around us, but God knows our past and even more so our future. There are

numerous issues concerning the church and how we deal with world issues, but we

have a master whom we serve.