Chapter 8: Religion,

Politics, and Economic

Development
Synergies and Disconnects
by: Katherine Marshall

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A senior fellow at Georgetown

University’s Berkley Center for
Religion, Peace, and World Affairs,
leads the center’s work on religion and
global development.

She was a World Bank officer from 1971

to 2006, and she led the World Bank’s
faith and ethics initiative between
Katherine Marshall
2000 and 2006.
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List of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Encounter: Faith, Politics, and Development
a. Why Religion and Development
b. Definitions and Frames
c. Disconnects
d. Religion as Politics: Sources of Tension
3. Building Richer Understanding and Practice
4. Synergies and Paths Forward

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The political roles and impact of religious

institutions and ideas and their links to the
processes of social change and
development can raise hackles.

In 1998, James D. Wolfensohn, a president

of the World Bank, surprised his board and
managers with a new initiative: a dialogue
about development with leaders of the
world's major faith traditions. James D. Wolfensohn

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World Bank's board of directors, representing 184

countries greeted his outreach to religious leaders with a
maelstrom of doubts.

Negative reactions to engaging religion in the

development work reflected to a degree an unease about
working more closely with civil society institutions, but
they were showing strong feeling into a distinctive litany
of concerns.

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Interactions among secular and religious actors that have unfolded over
the ensuing fifteen years highlights three themes that are this chapters
central focus:

1. The unexpected uproar that greeted outreach to religious bodies

within multilateral institutions and its political constituencies
shone an illuminating light on complex and changing
contemporary relationships among secular and faith-motivated
institutions and ideas at many levels of international relations and
national politics.

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2. Mainstream academic and policy approaches to international

development as they evolved after World War II took remarkably
little account of the complex intellectual and practical engagement
of a vast body of religious actors that were active in many of the
same sectors and places, notwithstanding its pertinence for
development challenges. This major blind spot obscures important
social and political dynamics that are deeply embedded aspects of
development realities and work.

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3. Interactions and partnerships among development and faith

actors, exemplary of the complex challenges involved in bridging
disciplines and cultures, are part and parcel of the political
dynamics of social change that are the essence of development
work.

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This chapter focuses on the

transnational dimensions of
religious interactions with
development institutions and
thinking.

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An example of how religion is intertwined in the politics of

national development:

Philippines is witnessing heated debates about the proper

role of the Catholic Church in national and local politics,
notably around reproductive health.

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Political Dimensions of Religious and

Development politics take very different
forms in different parts of the world as
they play out from the very global to the
very local.

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Two major religious actors are especially visible and have a major
transnational influence

1. The Catholic Church and Catholic social teaching are an

active influence among the world’s approximately 1.2
billion Catholics;
2. Political Islam is arguably the most visible political
institution in many settings, with some 1.5 billion Muslims
worldwide involved, even as its “voice” is diffused and its
role is contested.

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Religion can be positive (major roles in

education and health) or negative
(exacerbating social tensions, thwarting
social change)

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The Encounter:
Faith,
Politics, and
Development

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Why Religion and Development?

A vast ray of religious, or faith-inspired, actors had provided

humanitarian relief after earthquakes and wars, supported

refugees and internally displaced people, cared for orphans,
dug wells, distributed seeds and fertilizers to farmers, run
schools, universities, and provided medical services.

They share much common ground in concern for human

dignity and welfare and for translating the ideals of a common
welfare and opportunities for a decent life into reality.

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James D. Wolfensohn Lord Carey of Clifton

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Wolfensohn and Carey's starting hypothesis was that

religious institutions were relevant to the question of
development both as advocates and as actors; as prime
examples, they cited the large roles that religious
institutions have played in education and health.

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Religion is far from a “mainstream” topic within

the development community. It is rare to find
explicit discussion in academic training programs,
textbooks, journals, policy papers, and
professional conferences.

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Jubilee 2000 Debt-Relief Campaign

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Definition and Frames

“Religion” comes from the Latin term meaning “to bind”. For
some “spiritual” suggests the essence of religion, while others
would suggest that it means precisely the opposite.

“Faith” can imply a notion of transcendental belief systems that

is similar to but broader than that suggested by the term
“religion”, but the term can also mean belief in something
beyond what is immediately and tangibly seen.

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Appreciating its complexity and diversity are first key to

understanding.

Terminology is fraught: Religion for some connotes the

transcendental aspects of existence and mankind’s role
therein, while for others it highlights specific institutions
and authorities.

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Five categories of Organizational groupings within

this religious world are the focus.

1. The formal structures of religion.

2. Various movements, ranging from vast to small, and from very
formal to very informal.
3. Faith-inspired organizations that work directly on development.
4. Global interreligious or ecumenical bodies like Religion for Peace
and the World Council of Churches that work for specific causes
and to mobilize common faith voices and initiatives.
5. The community and congregation level; where there are a wide
array of women’s youth, and other group.
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Disconnects

The absence of explicit recognition of the roles of religion

in international development and related academic
institutions is so marked as to demand reflection.

World Development published a special review in 1980

focused on religious: and scholars and critics, like Dennis
Goulet and others, have long pointed to the important
intersections.

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Deneulin and Rakodi (2011)

“No one observing the tensions that led to partition in South

Asia or the role of the Christian churches and missions in
Latin America, Africa, and Asia could fail to acknowledge the
political salience of religion”

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In the early post-World War II period, faced with destitute

societies, lingering conflicts, and crippled infrastructure,
humanitarian relief was the primary concern.
Rebuilding became a central focus once the immediate
demands of feeding the hungry and resettling the displaced
were underway.
As time went on, however, simply responding to crisis and raw
poverty with relief and humanitarian aid seemed more and
more inadequate and the focus shifted from reconstruction to
development.

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Pope Paul VI issued a plea in stark terms:

“Knowing, as we all do, that development means peace

these days, what man should not want to work for it every
ounce of his strength? No one, one of course. So we beseech
all of you to respond wholeheartedly to Our urgent please,
in the name of the Lord.

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Muslim organizations, including

the Islamic Development Bank
and the Organizations of the
Islamic Conference (OIC), came
increasingly to speak a similar
language of social justice and
solidarity in concern for the
poor.

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The religious tensions that became so apparent with the

Iranian Revolution of 1979, sectarian conflict across the
globe, and mounting terrorism, notably the attacks on the
United States on September 11, 2001 have forced a new
recognition and appreciation that inded religion is neither
dead not defunct but is probably in resurgence and is taking
new and complex forms.

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Religion as Politics: Sources of Tension

A primary critique of Wolfensohn’s World Bank initiative to

engage religion in development thinking and work was that
religion was intrinsically political.
Religion was and still often is perceived as a source of political
tension and conflict.
- At the extreme is fear that tensions among adherents of
different religious traditions or denominations are a principal
cause of wars and conflicts; add terrorism and volatility, both
often associated with religion.

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A common response to arguments for engagement with religious

actors is that much religious tension is politician fueled, and that
the root causes of tensions are rarely religion, per se, but rather
ethnic identities, history, or economic and social forces.

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The role of religion as a direct political actor can raise

concerns. At one extreme are the views:

1. That religious actors seek to claim or regain theocratic

power
2. Religion is essentially incompatible with democratic
values and processes.

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Often argument is advanced that religion is best removed

from active politics. Why?

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Even where the work of faith communities is directed to

providing health care and running schools, the suspicion may
arise that the underlying motive is conversion, and, in large
parts of the world, active evangelizing is seen both as
disruptive and contributing to social tensions and as
undermining cultures and national identity.

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Questions of religious freedom are inextricably linked to evangelizing aspects of

religion are present in these countries.

Sri Lanka Cambodia

Malaysia India

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Pakistan

Morocco

Guatemala

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Indeed, historical experience suggests that following disasters, the combination

of turmoil and religious groups who came to help can change the religious
landscape.
Islamist groups were among those that responded swiftly with aid
following the 2010 Pakistan floods, with significant political
repercussions.
The Christian evangelical groups that supported communities in
Central America after hurricanes.
The flow of finance from the Middle East for education and religious
buildings in Africa is seen by both national and international actors
as politically motivated in ways that color the domestic political and
social picture.
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In the primary international organizations, the

most common arguments about politics engaging
with religion come back to the idea that church
and state should be separated.

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But?

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The simplistic separation of religion from politics– of

church, mosque, and temple from the state– is
unworkable, especially in the poorest communities and in
areas where the state is weak.

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Building
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The engagement of religion with development, especially its

political dimensions, has thus evolved against the backdrop of
a prior expectation of separation in many parts of the world.

At a transitional level, significant gaps in knowledge about the

work of faith institutions in relation to development have
stymied the process.

Religious and developmental “literacy” are widely

acknowledged to be weak in many relevant institutions.

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Events that Provoked Engagement

The HIV and AIDS pandemic has opened eyes and doors on how
faith and development relate, posing ideological and pragmatic
questions about the parameters and risks of engagement.

Religion is often remarked, “part of the problem, part of the

solution."

Briefly, as awareness of the spread, nature, and socioeconomic

implications of the HIV and AIDS pandemic spread, beginning in
the mid-1980s, religious actors were among those who responded.

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But the disease confounded expectations and

understandings changed. A critical change was the
“feminization” of the pandemic, as more women than
men contracted HIV.

The mapping of transmission channels made high-risk

groups a focus of well-planned programs, and the
development of drugs that made HIV and AIDS a
manageable disease rather than a death sentence was
transformative.

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In the United States, leaders like

Pastor Rick Warren were moved
by the HIV and AIDS challenge to
press for government action and
finance and, in that effort, to
reach across religious and
political divides to form new
alliances.

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Another important example of political involvement by

religious organizations is their responses to fragile states and
to the complex issues surrounding governance, conflict, and
peacebuilding.

A central development problem today is how international

institutions can and should respond to the continuing
challenges of the world’s poorest states.

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Religious actors are often the primary if not the sole service providers in
weak state situations. Constructive partnerships have emerged in some
situations, while in others the roles of religious actors are tacitly
accepted.

Each fragile state may have distinctive sets of issues and political
institutional responses, but the very pervasive presence of religious
institutions is so obvious that the lack of systematic attention is striking.

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The fight against corruption was initially seen as taboo in many

development circles; corruption was well known, but tolerated.

However, as civil society roles have expanded, anti-corruption

efforts have expanded, anti-corruption efforts have moved
front and center in developmental debates.

The roles of religious actors vary from place to place, and

religious leaders are among the worlds’ more courageous
voices, “speaking truth to power” and demanding honest and
accountable government.

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Religious roles in conflict situations are

important also in addressing the issues
facing fragile states.

The work of a leader like Ela Bhatt, founder

of the Indian Self Employed Women’s
Association (SEWA), is similarly inspired by
a broad understanding of peace linked
integrally to justice and inspired by
Gandhian principles.
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Gender equality has emerged as a central axiom of best

practice in development work at least at the level of
principle; this focus has sharpened as research highlights
both the immense benefits of educating girls and
increasing women’s income earning potential and the
many welfare gaps between girls and boys, men and
women, in many world regions.

Gender equality is fundamental to the “rights-based

approach” that many development institutions espouse.
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Engagement with religion in the context of the United Nations

illustrates both the contestation and changes that take place over
time.
The arguments for such religious engagement include:

1. Expressed concers that the United Nations operates on

excessively secular principles and misses a solid ethical “voice”
2. A broder suggestion that religious bodies, given their size, the
trust that people have in them, and a global scope that differs
from the nation-state configuration, should be part of the
international system.

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Thus, religious issues are constantly on the political and

social agendas of U.N agencies, but the sensitivity of these
issues and the diversity of approaches to dealing with
them echo the uneasy engagement and diversity of views
across and within member states.

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-THE END-

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