The Globalization of Religion

Prepared by:
Ms. Catherine R. Atienza
Lecturer I, CABEIHM
Batangas State University Main I
Learning Objectives:

• To explain how globalization affects religious practices

and beliefs
• To identify the various religious responses to
globalization
• To discuss the future of religion in a globalized world
Difference of Religion and Globalism

RELIGION GLOBALISM
Concerned with the sacred Places value on material
wealth
Follows divine Abides by human-made
commandments laws
Spreading holy ideas Spreading goods and
globally services

These philosophical differences explain why certain groups

“flee” their communities and create impenetrable
sanctuaries where they can practice their religions without
the meddling and control of state authorities.
Globalization of Religion
Religions are the foundations of modern
republics.
Examples:
1. Malaysian government places religion at the center
of the political system.
• Its constitution explicitly states that “Islam is the
religion of the Federation”.
2. Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini led the Iranian
revolution that turned the country into a theocracy.
• He believed that Islamic rule was the superior form
of government because it was spiritual.
• Yet, Iran calls itself a republic, a term that is
associated with the secular.
Globalization of Religion
Moral arguments of religious people
were used to their political involvement.
Examples:
1. When the Spaniards occupied lands in the
Americas and the Philippines, it was done in the
name of the Spanish King and of God.
2. Over 300 years later, American President William
McKinley claimed that after a night of prayer and
soul-searching, he had concluded that it was the
duty of the United States to educate the Filipinos
by God’s grace.
Globalization of Religion
Religious movements do not hesitate to
appropriate secular themes and
practices.
Example:
• In the United States, religion and law were fused
together to help build this “modern secular
society”.
Globalization of Religion
Religion was the result of a shift in state
policy.
Example:
• The Church of England was shaped by the
rationality of modern democratic and bureaucratic
culture. King Henry VIII broke away from Roman
Catholicism and established his own Church to
bolster his own power.
Religion for and against
Globalization

• Two of the so-called “old world religions” —

Christianity and Islam — see globalization less as
an obstacle and more as an opportunity to expand
their reach all over the world.
• Globalization has freed communities from the
constraints of the nation-state but also threatened
to destroy cultural system that bind them together.
Religion for and against
Globalization
Religion is a proactive force in
globalization.
• It is not a “regressive force” that stops or slows
down globalization, but a “proactive force” that
gives communities a new and powerful basis of
identity.
• It provides “moral codes” that answer problems
ranging from people’s health to social conflict.
Religion for and against
Globalization

• Institutional advocates of globalization could be

responsive to the moral critiques of economic
globalization coming from the religious.

Example:
• The World Bank brought it religious leaders in its
discussions about global poverty in 2000.
Religion for and against
Globalization

• With the exception of militant Islam, religious

forces are well aware that they are in no position to
fight for a comprehensive alternative to the
globalizing status quo.

Examples:
1. What Catholics call “the preferential option for
the poor” is a powerful message of mobilization
but lacks substance when it comes to working out
a replacement system that can change the poor’s
condition in concrete ways.
2. The terrorism of ISIS in Iran is unlikely to create
a government ruled by justice and stability.
Secularization Theory
It is the thesis that modernization will
erode religious practice.
• One reason for this perspective is the association
of globalization with modernization, which is
the concept of progress that is based on science,
technology, reason, and the law.
Reference:

Claudio, L. & Abinales, P. (2018). The

Contemporary World. Quezon City:
C & E Publishing, Inc.