MODULE

A World of Ideas
9 Globalization of Religion

Lesson Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Revisit concept of religion;
2. Explain how globalization affects religious practices and beliefs;
3. Analyze the relationship between religion and global conflict and, conversely global peace.

Definition of Terms

 Religion - a unified system of beliefs and practice related to faith, the sacred, higher moral values
 Secularization - diminishing role of religion in the society
 Glocalization of religion - intermingling of universal and local religious beliefs

INTRODUCTION
No doubt, when all we do is consider the formulas literally, these religious beliefs and practices appear
disconcerting, and our inclination might be to write them off to some sort of inborn aberration. But we
must know how to reach beneath the symbol to grasp the reality it represents and that gives the symbol
its true meaning. The most bizarre or barbarous rites and the strangest myths translate some human
need and some aspect of life, whether social or individual.
-Emilé Durkheim, "The Elementary Form of Religious Life"

There are more than 7 billion people in the world today, and almost 84 percent of these people
(approximately 5.8 billion) identify themselves as part of a religious group, reveals a 2010 study by Pew
Research Center (2012). The same study revealed that majority of these people is Christians, Muslims, or
Hindus, respectively. A huge minority expressed that they are unaffiliated, a little more than 16 percent.

CONTEMPLATE AND CREATE.

Using Pew Research Center's (2012) classification of religions based on the self-identification of their research
respondents; conduct a mini-study to understand the essential facts about each religious affiliation. Explore as
well if there exists a church or congregation of the aforementioned religions in your immediate community.

Are they present in the

Religious Affiliation Important Facts Statistical Data
Country
Christians

Muslims

Hindus
Buddhists

Folk Religionist

Unaffiliated

What are your conclusions and realizations from the data you have gathered?
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Definitions and Meanings of Religion
Religions have been diversely defined, both academically, by theorists in the field of social sciences, and
subjectively by people who engage in it. These definitions are worth reviewing before we commence into further
discussion about religion in the contemporary world.

CREATE AND COMMUNICATE.

What for you is religion? Walk around your school. Look for symbols or texts that would capture your definition.
Take a photo of the image. Print and mount it in the space provided. Otherwise, illustrate what you see.

Explain what you think religion means. Share why you think most people value religion and why others seem to
not.
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

In the new translation of Emile Durkheim's (1912) Les Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse: Le
système totémique en Australie (commonly referred to as Formes), Karen Field (1995) iterated the sociologist's
definition of religion:
"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" (p. xxxiv).

Field continued explaining the three essential elements of this definition. First, religion is defined as an
"observable phenomena" (p. xxxiv), which can be studied objectively. Second, it is construed as an organized
and ordered system. Third, the sacredness of religious entities is collectively constructed in a social process
toward a united "moral community" (p. xxxiv). Formes, Field imparted, was founded upon this definition.

On the other hand, Kenneth Pargament, a psychologist specializing in the study of 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). For Pargament, spirituality is religion's "most critical function"
(Pargament, 1997, p. 31).

Notwithstanding these scholarly constructions of what religion is, people tend to have their own private and
personal views of what is religion--much more like a subjective meaning they associate with religion. Some
affiliate with a religion because of affiliation motivation (to have positive social interaction with people; Van
Capeilen et al., 2017). Religion serves as an indicator of social proximity and, thus, provides a platform for
social connection. Others affiliate with a religion as a form of coping with stressful situations-what Pargament
(1997) would refer to as religious coping. Religion, here, provides some form of psychological shield that
enables people to battle against the undesirable outcomes of their life's challenges. There are also those who
relate with religion as a spiritual experience-an outcome of the experience of the mystical and the divine and a
celebration of their spirituality (Rankin, 2009). And, yet again, some look at it as a mechanism promoting self-
control and moral behaviors (Association of Psychological Sciences, 2011).
 CONTEMPLATE AND COMMUNICATE.
What is your religious affiliation? How do you end up being affiliated in the particular religion you have? What
are the things you desire about your religious affiliation? Basing from the earlier discussion in this lesson so far,
what are your personal reasons for having such an affiliation?
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

Religion in the Age of Globalization

Having articulated the meanings that people attach to religion and religious experience, the question we
ask now is this: In the time when rapid and widespread globalization of economic, political, and cultural
information and process, where does religion lie in the greater scheme of things?

Secularization
Victor Roudometof (2014) addressed this question in his essay, Religion ond Globalization. He started by
pointing out the rift between the study of religion and the social sciences. He further underscored how the focus
of social sciences in the past century was secularization-the hypothesized demise of religion and its value in
societies, manifested, for instance, in the separation of the church and state. It can be said that secularization is
the enforcement of secularism-a philosophical view oriented toward the need for a secular life beyond one's
religious life.
In an earlier work, Stark (1999) has discussed so comprehensively why the secularization hypothesis-
suggesting that the demise of religion will happen alongside the rise of modernization--does not hold fast as a
sound sociological hypothesis, citing evidence that across centuries there have not been a stark change in
people's religious beliefs and commitments. According to Roudometof (2014), there have been two distinct
perspective related to secularization in the modern times: (1) the notion 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.

CONTEMPLATE.
Approach your teachers from different disciplines--social sciences, natural sciences, mathematics, physical
sciences, etc. Ask them how compatible or incompatible is religion with their field of expertise. Encourage them
to explain in detail why they think so.
Note: Remember to seek for informed consent from your interviewees. If you are affiliated to a religion, there
might be some principles which your interviewer will share that are not aligned with yours. Keep an open mind
and heart as you conduct the interview, and maintain mutual respect at all times. Write your interview notes in
the space provided.
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

Religious Pluralism and Tolerance

One of the consequences and promoters of globalization is cultural diversity. As people let ideas flow in
and out of geographical spaces, we bring in and out, as well, our beliefs, values, and traditions. We heard from
old religions the Jewish's experience of exile or diaspora--when they were sent out from the Land of Israel, and
scattered toward different parts of the world. Today, the same journey is taken by people. The age of diaspora
in the contemporary times happen for various reasons. And as people move in and out of territories, they also
carry with them their religious affiliation and its correspondent philosophies and practices.
It is therefore common, in a globalized world, to have smaller groups of people within communities, whose
culture are quite different from the rest. Imagine for instance, a China town in a bustling European country or a
Filipino community in the Middle East. This phenomenon when a small group of shared identity maintains their
cultural practices as long as it aligns with the larger society's norms is referred to as cultural pluralism. In the
context of religion, cultural pluralism requires a certain form of religious tolerance-allowing others to abide by
their own religious practices and beliefs, such as consenting the establishment of places of worships. Religious
tolerance is quintessential in fostering peace in the community (Firdaus, 2018). In a study among university
students, it was found that adolescents tend to be more tolerant when they realize how religious tolerance is
part of their religious beliefs and when they are allowed to appreciate the entire spectrum of their religious
tradition than "be religious exclusively with a legal style ideology" (Firdaus, 2018, p. 1).

COLLABORATE AND COMMUNICATE.

Form a group. Interview selected religious and spiritual leaders in your community (a priest, a pastor, an imam,
or a spiritual leader of an indigenous group). Ask them to briefly explain the foundations of their religion.
Further, inquire what they think is the role that religion plays in modern society. Note: Member to seek for
consent from your interviewees. If you are affiliated to a religion, there might be some principles which your
interviewer will share that are not aligned with yours. Keep an open mind and heart as you conduct the
interview, and maintain mutual respect at all times.
Write your interview notes in the space provided.
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

An interesting case in understanding the concept of religious pluralism in the age of globalization is that of
the Baha'i Faith a small religion with approximately 7 million followers around the globe (Grim, 2012, in Fodder,
2015). Banal upholds principles of equality and social justice, peace and unity, world citizenship, and cultural
pluralism, among others (Fodder, 2015). In the age of globalization, however, what is interesting is that Baha'i
apparently evolved into a religion which is taking the route of homogenization-.e., using Rumi books as a central
source of doctrine-to systematically and efficiently pass on its belief systems in a global community (Fodder,
2015). The Baha'i case then engages us to reflect: where does globalization really bring us? Will it sustain
diversity or will it necessitate homogeneity?

CONTEMPLATE.
Listen to BBC World Service's Heart and Soul podcast, "Baha'i-The World's Faith." You can access the file
through this URL: https://www.bbc.co.uk/ programmers/pO4nghco. As you listen, write down interesting facts
you learn from the podcast in the space provided.
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

Religious Fundamentalism
A critical issue on religion, which emerges in the contemporary world, is the debate on religious
fundamentalism Altimeter and Hansberger (1992) defined religious fundamentalism 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 the forces of evil which must be
vigorously fought that this truth must be followed today according to the fundamental, unchangeable practices
of the past: and that those
There are varying opinions as to religious fundamentalism. Some studies have established that it relates to
cognitive and affective processes that Influence behavior (Kossowska et al., 2018). Other studies, on the other
hand, have shown that it is linked to some form of conflict and hostility toward people of different belief systems
(Koopmans, 2014). Ylmaz (2006) opined that religious fundamentalism manifests 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 suggests that not
all forms of religious fundamentalism causes some form of physical harm, but either forms imply some sort of
"exaggerated in-group centrality and discrimination of out-groups" (p.3), which are manifestations of intolerance.
In his Foreign Affairs article The Clash of Civilizations?, which culminated into a book The Clash of
Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel Huntington (1993, 1996), hypothesized that in the post-
Cold War world, the next "fundamental source of conflict" is cultural, instead of economic and political. He
suggested that the divide in humanity is mainly cultural as seen from diverse civilizations, each with own
worldviews and value systems. He further suggests that these cultural affiliations will trigger discord and thus
lead to inter-civilizational conflicts. There are diverse views about this hypothesis, some adhering to it as
potentially true, others suggesting that it is plainly a fundamental attribution error (Brooks, 2011).

CONTEMPLATE AND COMMUNICATE.

Watch the film "The Rise of ISIS" released on October 28, 2014 by PBS Frontline. You can access the film
through this URL: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/ frontline/film/rise-of-isis/. There is also an available transcript on
this link: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/rise-of-isis/transcript/. Based on the film, can you see any link
between the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and religious fundamentalism?
Note: This is an analytic exercise. Various scholars have various opinions on the matter, and some Muslim
scholars articulate that ISIS does not truly uphold the true essence of Islam. What this activity aims to do is to
engage you in to reflection about what you think about the matter. Write your notes in the space provided.
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

After reflecting, engage your classmates into a conversation about your Insights. If you have questions,
approach your teacher The global issue on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in recent years have fueled
the debate on religious fundamentalism. There are thinkers which believe that the rise of ISIS cannot be
explained fully without viewing it from the lens of religious ideology, there are others who believe that ISIS does
not truly represent the Islamic traditions (see Cottee, 2016 and Hamid, 2015 for a discussion on the different
views on this issue). If at all there is an insight we can derive from this debate, it is how Religion matters in
social and political life" (Cottee, 2016, citing Hamid, 2015).

Glocalization of Religions
Another phenomenon that matters in analyzing religion trends in the age of globalization is referred to as
glocalization of religion-"universal religion is thematized alongside local particularity" (Beyer, 2007, cited by
Roudometof, 2013, p. 229). This is linked with deterritorialization---the flow of religious traditions in areas where
these traditions are unfamiliar or unpopular, paving way for the emergence of transnational religions--1e.,
"religion 'going global (Roudometof, 2015). Historically, we can glean that major religions in the world originate
from particular geographical spaces and has territorial attachments. For instance, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism,
and Judaism can be traced back to the Middle East, while Buddhism and Taoism from oriental Asia. These
religions have proliferated around the world as cultural exchanges between the East and the West took place
during the age of expeditions and colonialism. Nowadays. arguably, nearly the same trends can be observed,
only faster, Territorial attachments of religions become less and less profound as they found place in multiple
spaces around the globe.
In the age of globalization, Roudometof (2013, 2014) suggested four forms of glocalization: (1)
vernacularization, (2) indigenization, (3) nationalization, and (4) transnationalization. Each form can be
described as follows:

Form Description
Linking "religious universalism with vernacular language
Vernacularization sacred practices remain to be tied to particular sacred language
e.g. Arabic to Islam
 Linking "religious universalism with local particularism
Indigenization religious practices are blended with indigenous practices
e.g African traditional forms meet Christianity
Linking universal religion and local, national particularism
Nationalization emergence of local religions tied with universal religions
eg. Church of England
absorption of a universal religion into ones one's own culture naturalization of
religion
Transnationalization
allegiance to global religious community
eg. White Anglo-Saxon Protestant among Americans

CONTEMPLATE AND COMMUNICATE.

Reflect upon your own experience of religion and/or your observations about a particular religion present in your
society. Using Roudometof's classification, identify practices that are manifestations of each of the forms.
Explain your examples. Use the table below to write your answers.
Form Examples Explanation

Vernacularization

Indigenization

Nationalization
Transnationalization

What insights did you gain from this exercise?

________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

SUMMARY
Religion as a subject of social inquiry is an interesting, colorful, and complex feat altogether. Scholarly
views on the meaning of religion paired with people's subjective interpretation of their religious experience and
commitments are worthy foci of discussions. In the modern times, when culture interpenetrates with other
cultures as facilitated by fast-paced and wider access to channels of information and communication, religious
traditions and beliefs are among these entities which permeate the world as it is carried through various scape.
Because religious ideas, values, symbols and rites relate to the deep issues of existence, it should
not be surprising when religion enters the picture in times of crisis. The era of globalization is
certainly one of those moments of social crisis, although in this case one experienced on a global
scale. This is why the response has been virtually global as well.
- Mark Juergensmeyer, "Religion in Global Conflict"

ASSESSMENT
1. Using mixed media (music, visual arts, and movements); produce a collage of artwork summarizing what you
learned from this lesson.
2. Write an essay: In the age of globalization, does religion matter, and how?