THE

G L O B A L I Z AT I O N
OF RELIGION

GROUP 4
 At the end of this lesson, you
should be able to:

Explain how globalization

affects religious practices
Identify the various religious
responses to globalization;
and

LEARNING Discuss the future of religion

in a globalized world
OBJECTIVES :
RELIGION AND GLOBALISM

• RELIGION GLOBALISM
• concerned with the sacred places value on material wealth
• follows divine commandments Abides by human-made laws
• Assumes that there is “the possibility of Yardstick is how much of
humansaction can lead to the highest communication
Between humans
And the transcendent material satisfaction
 Trains to be a shrewd business
person.

Values politics and the quest for

power as both means and ends to
open up further the economies of the
world.

Focused on the realm of market.

GLOBALIST Wishes to spread goods and services.

 Aspire to become a saint.

Detest politics and the quest for

power for they are evidence of
humanity’s weakness.

Evangelization is in itself a form

of globalization.

RELIGIOUS PEOPLE Concerned with spreading holy

ideas globally.
 The followers of the Dalai Lama established
Tibet to create impenetrable sanctuaries where
they can practice their religion without the
meddling and control of the state authorities.
Buddhist monasteries located away for
civilization so that hermits can devote
themselves to prayer and contemplation.
I S O L AT I O N
J U S T I F I C AT I O N Rizalistas of Mount Banahaw and the Mormons
of Utah.

These groups believe that livig among “non-

believers” will distract them from their mission
or tempt them to abandon their faith and
become sinners like everyone else
RELATIONSHIP BETWE EN
RELIGION AND
GLO BAL IZATION IS MUCH
M O R E C O M P L I C AT E D

• 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).

• Religions is the foundation 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 religion
of Islam”
 Late Iranian religious leader

A YA T O L L A H “there is no fundamental distinction

RUHOLLA among constitutional despotic,
KHOMEINI dictatorial, democratic and
communistic regime”

All secular ideologies were the same

—they were flawed—and Islamic
rule was the superior form of
government because it was spiritual.
 a traditionalist Sunni(largest denomination)
Islam movement in Indonesia.
Has Islamic school(pesantren) where
students are taught not only about Islam but
also about modern science, social science,
modern banking, civic education, rights of
women, pluralism, and democracy.
N A H D L AT U L
ULAMA

• Religion was the result of a shift in state

policy
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
• “historically religion 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.
 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
RELIGION FOR from the constraints of the nation-state
AND AGAINTS but in the process also threatened to
G L O B A L I Z AT I O N 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 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 FOR Religion is an instrument with which

AND AGAINTS religious people can put their mark in the
reshaping of this globalizing world.
G L O B A L I Z AT I O N
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.
 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
RELIGION FOR across the globe in all sorts of directions.”
AND AGAINTS These fundamentalist organization are the
G L O B A L I Z AT I O N result of the spread of globalization and both
find ways to benefit or take advantage of each
other.
• While religions may benefit from the process of
globalization, this does not mean that its tension with
globalist ideology will subside.

Some Muslims views “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 effect.
we as churches make ourselves accountable to the victims
of the project of economic globalization”, by becoming the
latter’s advocates inside and outside “the centers of
powers.”

The Catholic Church and its dynamic leader, Pope Francis,

likewise condemned globalization’s “throw-away culture”
that is fatally destined to suffocate hope and increased risk
and threats.”
What Catholics call “preferential option for the
poor” is a powerful message of mobilization but
looks substance when it comes to working out a
replacement system that can change the poor
condition in concrete ways.

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.
GROUP 4

• @Marealle Joy Garcia

• @Cristine C. Mamaradlo

• @Ryza Agpoon Nacar

• @Camille Grace Layno Tapiador

• @Mark Wendel Salvador