THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

GLOBALIZATION
AND RELIGION
Prepared by:
DIWATA V. DONATO
THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD – GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION

RELIGION
• Secularization - a decline in the power of religion

Relationship between religion and globalization:

• the significance of religious ties for new
transnational immigrants and
• the renewed interest in the relationship between
culture and religion
THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD – GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION

GLOBAL CONFLICT
• 1990s constituted a decade of social dissent linked
with religious traditions
• America was regarded as the fount of secularism and
hence often the target
• United States’ economic interests in the oil reserves of
the Middle East led many Muslims to see America as
a global bully
• 9/11 terrorist attacks
• the goal of bin Laden and Al-Qaeda was not just to get
American influence out of Saudi Arabia but out of the
whole Muslim world
THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD – GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION

GLOBAL CONFLICT
• US Global War on Terror
• The war was also characterized as the ‘struggle against
radical Islam’.
• Many of the Muslim activists in Europe were inflamed
not only about European countries’ support for the US-
led military coalition in Iraq but also about European
attitudes toward the Muslim immigrant community.
• The jihadi image of warfare provided the moral
justification for terrorist attacks by linking real acts of
violence in the world with the divine struggle between
the forces of good and evil.
THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD – GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION

GLOBAL PEACE
• Egypt and Tunisia - massive nonviolent movements
of largely middle class and relatively young
professionals who organized their protests through
Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of electronic
social networking
• Philippines - the world witnessed a dramatic
demonstration of the power of nonviolent resistance
from the peaceful overthrow of the Marcos regime
THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD – GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION

GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION

Globalization brought three problems:
• Identity - how societies could maintain a sense of
homogeneity when ethnic, cultural, and linguistic
communities were spread across borders
• Accountability - how the new transnational economic,
ideological, political and communication systems could
be controlled, regulated, and brought to justice
• Security - how people could feel safe in a world
increasingly without cultural borders or moral standards
THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD – GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION

RELIGION

Religion provides answers to all three of these problems:

• Identity – religion provides a feeling of belonging
• Accountability – religion provides a certainty that there
are moral and legal standards inscribed in code
• Security – religion also offers the notion that they are
safe within the community of the faithful and uplifted by
the hands of God
THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD – GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION

REFERENCES

Roudometof, V. (2014). Religion and Globalization. In M. B. Steger, P. Battersby, & J.

M. Siracusa, The SAGE Handbook of Globalization (2014 ed., Vol. 1, pp. 151-165). SAGE
Publications Ltd.

Juergensmeyer, M. (2014). Religion in Global Conflict. In M. B. Steger, P. Battersby, &

J. M. Siracusa, The SAGE Handbook of Globalization (2014 ed., Vol. 1, pp. 759-770).
SAGE Publications Ltd.