Globalization Of Religion

INTRODUCTION

What impact has globalization had on the role of religion in society? This question can be
viewed through two lenses: one in highly industrialized and Western societies, where religious
affiliation and engagement are declining, and another in non-Western societies, where religions guide
politics and all other aspects of life, including extreme cases in which groups would incite violence in
the name of religious beliefs. It is simple to draw conclusions from this dichotomy, but it is also a huge
mistake to ignore the underlying complexity and ideological biases of such reduction. The purpose of
this chapter is to revisit theoretical analyses provided by classical and contemporary scholars in order
to investigate the complicated relationship between religion and globalization.

Haynes (2006) defined religion in the context of international relations into two distinct but
related meanings. In its spiritual sense, he refers to religion in three ways: 1) it involves the concept of
transcendence, referring to supernatural realities; 2) it relates to sacredness or holiness and a system
of practice and language that is organized and defined as such; and 3) it concerns ultimacy, on how "it
relates people to the ultimate conditions of existence." In the material sense of defining religion, he
claims that religious beliefs can motivate individuals and groups to mobilize collectively to achieve
political goals and, as a result, suppress mass actions as a tool of repression.

With this understanding of the two aspects of how religion is defined in mind, we move on to
the two main and broad arguments about the state of religion in the context of globalization. The first
is the secularization paradigm, which holds that religion has lost some of its influence as a result of
modernization, and the religious resurgence thesis, which holds that modernization has caused a
backlash and urged society to seek refuge in religion as a result of the imposition of liberal and
Western values that are incompatible with people's culture, beliefs, and identity.

Definitions and Meanings of Religion

 Religions have been defined in a variety of ways, both academically by social science theorists
and subjectively by those who practice them. These definitions are worth revisiting before proceeding
with our discussion of religion in the modern world.

Karen Field (1995) iterated Emilé Durkheim's (1912) definition of religion in her new
translation of Les Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse: Le système totémique en Australie
(commonly referred to as Formes): "a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things-
that is to say, things set apart and forbidden; beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral
community called a Church all those who adhere to them."

Field went on to explain the three key components of this definition. First, religion is defined
as a "observable phenomenon" (p. xxxiv) that can be objectively studied. Second, it is interpreted as a
well-organized and well-ordered system. Third, religious entities' sacredness is collectively constructed
in a social process toward a united "moral community" (p. xxxiv). Field explained that Formes was
founded on this definition.

Kenneth Pargament, a psychologist who studies religion and psychological well-being, defined
religion as a process, a search for significance in ways related to the sacred (Pargament, 1997, p. 32,
cited by Xu, 2016), distinguishing it from spirituality, which is a search for the sacred (Pargament, 1997,
p. 32, cited by Xu, 2016). Spirituality is the most important function of religion, according to
Pargament (Pargament, 1997, p. 31).

Regardless of these scholarly definitions of religion, people have their own private and
personal views of what religion is—much more like a subjective meaning they associate with religion.
Some people join a religion for the sake of affiliation (to have positive social interaction with people;
Van Capellen et al., 2017). Religion serves as a social proximity indicator and thus provides a platform
for social connection. Others join a religion to cope with stressful situations, which Pargament (1997)
refers to as religious coping. Religion, in this case, acts as a psychological shield, allowing people to
combat the negative outcomes of their life's challenges. There are also those who regard religion as a
spiritual experience—an outcome of their encounters with the mystical and divine, as well as a
celebration of their spirituality (Rankin, 2009). Again, some see it as a mechanism that promotes self-
control and moral behavior (Association of Psychological Sciences, 2011).

Religion in the Globalization Era

After articulating the meanings that people associate with religion and religious experience,
we must now ask: Where does religion fit into the larger picture in an era of rapid and widespread
globalization of economic, political, and cultural information and processes?

Secularization

In his essay Religion and Globalization, Victor Roudometof (2014) addressed this question. He
began by emphasizing the divide between religion and the social sciences. He also emphasized how,
over the last century, the focus of social sciences has been secularization—the hypothesized demise of
religion and its value in societies, manifested, for example, in the separation of church and state.
Secularization can be defined as the enforcement of secularism—a philosophical viewpoint oriented
toward the need for a secular life beyond one's religious life.

Stark (1999) has discussed in detail why the secularization hypothesis—suggesting that the
demise of religion will occur alongside the rise of modernization—does not hold up as a sound
sociological hypothesis, citing evidence that there has not been a significant change in people's
religious beliefs and commitments over centuries.

According to Roudometof (2014), there are two distinct perspectives on secularization in

modern times: (1) the concept of post-secularity (Habermas, 2008; Habermas & Ratzinger, 2006), or
the return of religious consciousness in the public sphere; and (2) religious modernity, where
secularization is an active process emerging from social action.

Tolerance and Religious Pluralism

Cultural diversity is one of the consequences and promoters of globalization. As people allow
ideas to flow in and out of geographical spaces, we bring our beliefs, values, and traditions with us.
We learned about the Jewish experience of exile or diaspora from ancient religions, when they were
exiled from the Land of Israel and dispersed throughout the world. People are still making the same
journey today. The modern age of diaspora occurs for a variety of reasons. And as people move in and
out of territories, they bring their religious affiliation, as well as the philosophies and practices that go
with it.

In a globalized world, it is therefore common to have smaller groups of people within

communities whose cultures are very different from the rest. Consider a Chinatown in a busy
European country or a Filipino community in the Middle East. Cultural pluralism refers to the
phenomenon in which a small group of people with a common identity maintain their cultural
practices as long as they conform to the norms of the larger society. Cultural pluralism in the context
of religion necessitates a certain level of religious tolerance—allowing others to follow their own
religious practices and beliefs, such as agreeing to the establishment of places of worship. Religious
tolerance is essential for fostering community peace (Firdaus, 2018). A study of university students
discovered that adolescents are more tolerant when they understand how religious tolerance is a part
of their religious beliefs and when they are allowed to appreciate the entire spectrum of their religious
tradition rather than "being religious exclusively with a legal-style ideology" (Firdaus, 2018, p. 1).

The Baha'i Faith—a small religion with approximately 7 million followers worldwide—is an
intriguing case in understanding the concept of religious pluralism in the age of globalization (Grim,
2012, in Fozdar, 2015). Among other things, Baha'i adheres to the principles of equality and social
justice, peace and unity, global citizenship, and cultural pluralism (Fozdar, 2015). However, in the age
of globalization, what is intriguing is that Baha'i appears to have evolved into a religion that is taking
the homogenization route—that is, using Ruhi books as a central source of doctrine—to systematically
and efficiently pass on its belief systems in a global community (Fozdar, 2015). The Baha'i case then
prompts us to consider: where does globalization truly take us? Will it allow for diversity or will it
force homogeneity?

Fundamentalism in Religion

The debate over religious fundamentalism is a critical religious issue that has emerged in the
modern world. Religious fundamentalism is defined by Altemeyer and Hunsberger (1992) as "the
belief that there is one set of religious teachings that clearly contains the fundamental, basic, intrinsic,
essential, inerrant truth about humanity and deity; that this essential truth is fundamentally opposed
by forces of evil that must be vigorously fought; that this truth must be followed today according to
the fundamental, unchangeable practices of the past; and that those who believe and practice this
truth must be punished." (p. 118)

Religious fundamentalism is viewed differently by different people. According to some studies,

it is related to cognitive and affective processes that influence behavior (Kossowska et al., 2018). Other
research, on the other hand, has linked it to some form of conflict and hostility toward people of
different belief systems (Koopmans, 2014). Religious fundamentalism, according to Ylmaz (2006),
manifests itself in two ways: nonviolent intolerance ("extreme identification with a particular
religion," p. 3) and violent intolerance ("direct use of physical violence in pursuing subjectively-defined
religious missions", p. 4). This proposition implies that not all forms of religious fundamentalism cause
physical harm, but that both forms involve "exaggerated in-group centrality and discrimination of out-
groups" (p.3), both of which are manifestations of intolerance.
 Samuel Huntington (1993, 1996) hypothesized in his Foreign Affairs article The Clash of
Civilizations?, which culminated in a book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order,
that in the post-Cold War world, the next "fundamental source of conflict" is cultural, rather than
economic, and from diverse civilizations, each with its own worldviews and value systems. He's a
politician. He suggested that the divide in humanity is primarily cultural, as seen further suggests that
these cultural affiliations will cause discord, leading some to believe it is potentially true, while others
believe it is clearly a result of inter-civilizational conflicts. There are various points of view on this
hypothesis, fundamental attribution error (Brooks, 2011).

Glocalization of Religions

Another factor to consider when analyzing religion trends in the age of globalization is
glocalization of religion, which means that "universal religion is thematized alongside local
particularity" (Beyer, 2007, cited by Roudometof, 2013, p. 229). This is related to deterritorialization,
which is the movement of religious traditions into areas where they are unfamiliar or unpopular,
paving the way for the emergence of transnational religions, i.e., "religion "going global"
(Roudometof, 2015). We can deduce from history that major religions in the world originated in
specific geographical areas and have territorial attachments. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and
Judaism, for example, can be traced back to the Middle East, while Buddhism and Taoism can be
traced back to oriental Asia. These religions spread throughout the world as a result of cultural
exchanges between the East and the West during the age of expeditions and colonialism. Today,
arguably, the same trends can be seen, only faster. Religious territorial attachments have become less
and less profound as they have found a home in multiple locations around the world. Roudometof
(2013, 2014) proposed four types of glocalization in the age of globalization: (1) vernacularization, (2)
indigenization, (3) nationalization, and (4) transnationalization. Each form is defined as follows:

Form Description (Roudometof, 2013.p229-231

Vernacularization • Linking "religious universalism with

vernacular language"
• sacred practices remain to be tied to particular sacred language

• e.g., Arabic to Islam

Indigenization • Linking "religious universalism with local particularism"

• religious practices are blended with indigenous practices

• e.g., African traditional forms meet Christianity

Nationalization • Linking “universal religion and local, national particularism”

• Emergence of local religions tied with universal religions

• E.g. Church of England

Transnationalization • Absorption of a universal religion into one’s own culture,

naturalization of religion

• Allegiance to global religious community

• E.g. White Anglo-Saxon Protestant among Americans