GE 3 Module 6- The Globalization of Religion

The Contemporary World

Romeylene L.Rabino
Lecturer Page 1
GE 3 Module 6- The Globalization of Religion
The Contemporary World

LESSON I: GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION

As all major religions of the world derive from the same root source, it is importance to
realize the significance of mutual respect that has been advocated in all religions. Furthermore,

Introduction

with globalization of free flow of information via high technology and the movement of peoples
cross borders can only positively help religious tolerance to increase. By the use of new
technologies the religionists disseminate their religious ideas. In which through internet people
can contact each other worldwide and therefore hold forums and debates that can allow
religious ideas to spread. Furthermore, media also play an important role in the dissemination of
religious ideas. In this respect, a lot of television channels, radio stations, and print media are
founded solely for advocating religions. Modern transportation has also contributed considerably
to the emergence, revivalism, and fortification of religion. In this respect, Turner (2007) cited the
case of Islamic revivalism in Asia which “is related to the improvement in transportation that has
allowed many Muslims to travel to Mecca, and return with reformist ideas”. Modern technology
therefore, has helped religions of different forms, such as fundamentalist, orthodox, or
modernist to cross geographical boundaries and be present everywhere. This religious unity is
mentioned in all religious doctrines but unfortunately, the events of history up until the present
day has unfolded with the emphasis on differences than that of similarities. But if we are to
revert to that which has been stated in all the following Holy verses, perhaps we can shift from
religious harmony as a conception and materialize it into a reality.

OBJECTIVES:
At the endisofan
Religion- organized
the collection
lesson, the of beliefs,
student will be ablecultural
to: systems, and world views that relate
humanity to an order of existence.
1. Reflect how globalization affects religious beliefs and practices.
2. Explain how globalization works in religion.
Many3.religions
Analyzemaythe have organized
globalization behaviors, clergy, a definition of what constitutes adherence
of religion.
or membership, holy places, and scriptures.
The practice of a religion may also include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration of a
deity, gods or goddesses, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trance, initiations, funerary services,
matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service or other aspects of
human culture.

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GE 3 Module 6- The Globalization of Religion
The Contemporary World

The Holy Quran states: ‘O Mankind, we have created you male and female, and have made
you races and tribes, that you may know each other’ (Al Quran 49:13).

In Judaism, it is states: “Seek peace and pursue it…. Seek it where you are and pursue it in
other places as well.” (Psalm 34: 15)

In the Old Testament, it states: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt.
5:44) “May God…grant you to be of the same mind with one another” (Romans 15: 5-6)

In Hinduism, Swami Vivekananda states: “Help and not fight, assimilation and not
destruction, harmony and peace and not dissension are the substance of my faith”.

Major Religions of the World

The world's faithful account for 83% of the global population; the great majority of these
fall under twelve classical religions—
Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhis
m, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism. These twelve religions are the most prominent spiritual
traditions that still exist. There are many smaller or less well-known religions. However, due to
how much (or how little) different religions are represented in different communities, the
layperson might not know much about the beliefs and traditions held by religious
people worldwide.

Judaism
Judaism is a strictly monotheistic religion practiced by the Jewish people, an ethnic and
religious nation descended from the historic peoples of Israel and Judah. Judaism as it would be
recognized today originated in the Middle East in at least the 500s BCE, although certain
religious traditions or beliefs can be traced back much further. Its adherents have long faced
persecution from dominant religious groups around them. The Roman Empire destroyed the
Second Temple, the center of Judaism, and the nation was scattered. Through to the modern
day, Jews have been the victims of intense violence and discrimination. All the same, Judaism
has persisted and remains one of the most visible and widely practiced religions in the world.

Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered around the personage of Jesus of
Nazareth, or Jesus Christ. Christianity arose in the 30s–50s CE as a religious offshoot of
Judaism based on the teachings of Jesus, who was himself Jewish. Early Christianity rejected
many of the social, cultural, and religious institutions of Judaism and pursued radically different
strains of spiritual thought. Within a century a recognizable Church was founded. The texts of
the faith and its most important creeds were codified in the 300s CE. Despite persecution,
Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire and all of its inheritors, and in the
time since the different Christian denominations have collectively become the largest faith in the
world by a wide margin.

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GE 3 Module 6- The Globalization of Religion
The Contemporary World

Islam
Islam is a strictly monotheistic faith founded by the prophet Muhammad in the year 607
in present-day Saudi Arabia. His teachings, collected in the Quran, claim common descent with
many Jewish and Christian beliefs. Muhammad preached his faith in the city of Mecca despite
opposition from local polytheists, and quickly built a religious community of early Muslims. The
community was forced to relocate to Medina in 622, after which the group codified and began
their expansion across the Arabian peninsula. Nearly all of Arabia converted to Islam by 632,
the year of Muhammad's death, and in the years since it has grown to become the world's
second largest religion, mostly concentrated in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Baha'i
Baha'i is the youngest major world religion, founded in 1863 by the prophet Bahá'u'lláh.
Baha'i grew out of the earlier religion of Babism, whose founder the Bab presaged the coming of
another great prophet like the coming of Muhammad. Baha'i originated in Iran, although its
current center is in Haifa, Israel. Baha'i is a monotheistic religion, but it teaches that religious
truth is manifested and revealed by the founders of all the major world religions, including Jesus
Christ and the Buddha. Baha'is believe that the different cultural interpretations of religion all
have the same goal, and they strive for prosperity across faiths. There are around eight million
Baha'is today, who indirectly vote for the leaders of their religion every few years.

Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is perhaps the world's oldest monotheistic religion, founded by the
Persian prophet Zoroaster. It is first recorded in the 500s BCE, but many historians believe it
was founded as early as the 900s BCE. Zoroastrianism became the dominant religion of the
vast Achaemenid Empire of Persia, and it continued to play an important part in the region until
the ascent of Islam in the 700s CE. Many credit Zoroastrianism with affecting the development
of other major religions. Zoroastrianism declined through the medieval era, and today there are
fewer than 200,000 Zoroastrians as of the last reputable survey. However, there are some
indications that many Kurds are converting to Zoroastrianism, which they see as an ancestral
religion, which may reverse the long declining population.

Shinto
Shinto is the traditional religion of Japan, which incorporates a vast array of local
beliefs and customs across the nation. These traditions were collected and described as
something like Shinto in the 800s CE, although the different beliefs predate this. Shinto is, for
the most part, not an organized religion, and is instead the foundation of many cultural practices
in Japan. Likewise, it's difficult to produce a number of people who follow Shinto; based off of
membership in Shinto organizations, only 4% of Japan follows the religion. However, up to 80%
of Japanese people (even ones who proclaim no religious belief) still keep shrines and make
Shinto prayers. The intimately cultural quality of Shinto means that it is limited almost entirely to
Japan.

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Hinduism
Hinduism is by many accounts the oldest religion in the world, due to its origins in
Vedic beliefs dating as far back as the 1500s BCE. The religion has no founder, and is a
synthesis of many different Indian religious traditions. The religion waxed and waned in
competition with Jainism and Buddhism throughout Indian history, before seeing a huge
resurgence after the medieval period. Thereafter it became the dominant religion on the Indian
subcontinent. Hinduism is one of the most geographically concentrated of the major world
religions—of the world's 1.12 billion Hindus, 1.07 billion live in India and Nepal. The sheer
number of practitioners, however, makes Hinduism the world's third largest religion.

Buddhism
Buddhism is a religious tradition founded by Gautama Buddha in the early 400s BCE,
drawing from (or opposing) many of the same Vedic traditions that inform Hinduism. Buddhists
engaged Hindus and Jains in religious dialogues for centuries, developing mutual competing
traditions and beliefs. Buddhism flourished in India, receiving support from several powerful
leaders, before declining during the medieval period. Buddhism continued to grow and develop
in East Asia, having a profound impact on the cultural landscape of the entire region. Buddhism
is today the fourth largest religion in the world, being the majority religion of many countries in
Southeast Asia, and with nearly 200 million practitioners in China..

Jainism
Jainism is an ancient religious tradition from India; per its practitioners Jainism is
eternal, or at least older than Hinduism, but many historical estimates will place it contemporary
with Buddhism as a Classical offshoot of old Vedic tradition. Like Buddhism, Jainism received
varying degrees of support or opposition from powerful sponsors, and was in constant dialogue
with India's other religious traditions. Unlike Buddhism, Jainism didn't spread far outside of its
home in India, and today the vast majority of the world's 4-5 million Jains live in India. The Jain
community enjoys a large profile, however, due to their high literacy rates and the esteem
Mohandas Gandhi professed for Jain teachings and beliefs.

Sikhism
Sikhism is a young religion founded in the early 1500s CE in Punjab (Northern India) by
the Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak was raised as a Hindu in the Muslim-ruled Mughal Empire, but he
rejected both dominant faiths and began preaching his own religion. A community formed
around him. Over the next two centuries, the Sikhs would be led by nine more gurus. The last
living guru named the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, as his successor, and there has since
been no single leader of the Sikh community. Despite being a religious minority, the Sikhs
overthrew the Mughals and founded a major empire in Northern India in the 1800s. By different
definitions Sikhism is either the fifth or eighth largest religion in the world, mostly concentrated in
their home region of Punjab.

Confucianism
Confucianism, it must be said, is not a religion in a strict sense. It is a philosophy that
draws on the folk religion of China. Confucianism as a school of thought was founded by the
Chinese philosopher Kǒng Qiū (孔丘), better known as Master Kǒng or Kǒngzǐ (孔子), during
China's Spring and Autumn period in the 500s BCE. It quickly became the preeminent of the

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"Hundred Schools of Thought" and became the foundation of the later imperial government of
China. The Chinese folk religion that Confucianism draws on is still concentrated in China, but
its teachings are widespread throughout East Asia. Note: Kǒngzǐ, or the more honorific Kǒng
Fūzǐ (孔夫子) was latinized as Confucius by Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s.

Taoism
Taoism is a philosophy and religion originating in China around the same time as
Confucianism, and was the primary rival to Confucian thought out of the Hundred Schools.
Taoism claims descent from the (perhaps mythical) figure Lǎozǐ (老子), which literally means
"Old Master." Taoism shares some common elements with Chinese folk religion, but the core
teachings differ (unlike Confucianism). Taoism has been immensely influential on Chinese and
East Asian cultures, with Taoist thought influencing everything from literature to medicine to
martial arts. Due to the syncretise interactions of Taoism with Chan Buddhism and
Confucianism, it is hard to find a hard number of Taoists, but Chinese religions collectively are
the fifth largest religion in the world.

GLOBALIZATION AND RELIGION

Globalization–due to the advent of communication and transportation technology and the

roles played by the media–has contributed to the deterritorialization and the blurring of
geographical spaces and boundaries. This has resulted apparently in making the world a small
village where people, cultures, and identities come in daily face-to-face contact with each other.

Undoubtedly, religion is not immune from these changes and their burgeoning effects
brought about by globalisation. However, religions still have their respective homes in specific
territorial spaces where they originally appeared and where their respective shrines exist.
The inner nature of religions and the purpose to be embraced and practiced by people all over
the world prompts it to spread throughout all the world’s geographical spaces. In order to
emerge and spread, therefore, religions make good use of the technologies of globalisation.
Having geographical boundaries and frontiers blurred and dissolved, religions find it easy to
spread and reach every part of the world.

Globalization has played a tremendous role in providing a context for the current
considerable revival and the resurgence of religion. Today, most religions are not relegated to
the few countries where they began. Religions have, in fact, spread and scattered on a global
scale.

Information technologies, transportation means, and the media are deemed

important means on which religionists rely in the dissemination of their religious ideas. For
instance, countless websites providing information about religions have been created. This
makes pieces of information and explanations about different religions readily at the disposal of
any person regardless of his or her geographical location. In addition, the internet allows people
to contact each other worldwide and therefore hold forums and debates that allow religious
ideas to spread.

Transportation means– as a technology of globalisation as well–have contributed

considerably to the emergence, revivalism and fortification of religion. In this respect, Turner, S.
Bryan states that the “Islamic revivalism in Asia is related to the improvement in transportation

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GE 3 Module 6- The Globalization of Religion
The Contemporary World

that has allowed many Muslims to travel to Mecca, and return with reformist ideas.”Globalisation
technologies, therefore, have helped religions of different forms i.e., fundamentalist, moderate,
etc. to cross geographical boundaries and be present everywhere.

Thanks to globalisation, religion or faith has gained considerable significance and

importance as a non-territorial touchstone of identity. Being a source of identity and pride,
religion is being always promoted by its practitioners to reach the level of globality and be
embraced by as many people as possible.

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GE 3 Module 6- The Globalization of Religion
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LESSON II: RELIGION FOR AND AGAINST GLOBALIZATION

OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson, the student will be able to:
There is hardly a religious movement today that does not use religion to oppose
1. Explain the positive and negative effects of globalization to religion.
“profane” globalization. Yet, two of the so-called “old world religions” (Christianity and Islam) see
2. Analyze the situation of religion in the globalizing world.
globalization less as an obstacle and more as an opportunity to expand their reach all over the
3. Recognize religious situations in the contemporary world.
world. Globalization has “freed” communities from the “constraints of the nation-state,” but in the
process, also threatened to destroy the cultural system that bind them together. Religion seeks
to take the place of these broken “traditional ties” to either help communities cope with their new
situation or organize them to oppose this major transformation of their lives. It can provide the
groups “moral codes” that answer problems ranging from people’s health to social conflict to
even “personal happiness.”

Religion is thus not the “regressive force” that gives communities a new and powerful
basis of identity. It is an instrument with which religious people can put their mark in the
reshaping of this globalizing world, although in its own terms. There is hardly a religious
movement today that does not use religion to oppose “profane” globalization. Yet, 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 in the process, also threatened to
destroy the cultural system that bind them together.

Religion seeks to take the place of these broken “traditional ties” to either help
communities cope with their new situation or organize them to oppose this major transformation
of their lives. It can provide the groups “moral codes” that answer problems ranging from
people’s health to social conflict to even “personal happiness.”

Religion is thus not the “regressive force” that gives communities a new and powerful
basis of identity. It is an instrument with which religious people can put their mark in the
reshaping of this globalizing world, although in its own terms.

Religious fundamentalism may dislike globalization’s materialism, but it continues to use

“the full range of modern means of communication and organization” that is associated with this
economic transformation. It has tapped “fast long-distance transport and communications, the
availability of English as a global vernacular of unparalleled power, the know-how of modern
management and marketing” which enabled the spread of “almost promiscuous propagation of
religious forms across the globe in all sorts of directions.” It is, therefore, not entirely correct to
assume that the proliferation of “Born-Again” groups, or in the case of Islam, the rise of
movements like Daesh (more popularly known as ISIS, or Islamic State in Iraq and Syria)
signals religion’s defense against the materialism of globalization. It is, in fact, the opposite.

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These fundamentalist organizations are the result of the spread of globalization and both find
ways to benefit or take advantage of each other.

While religions may benefit from the process of globalization, this does not mean that its
tensions with globalist ideology will subside. Some Muslims view ‘globalization” as a Trojan
horse hiding supporters of Western values like secularism, liberalism, or even communism
ready to spread these ideas in their areas to eventually displace Islam. The World Council of
Churches － an association of different protestant congregations － has criticized economic
globalization’s negative effects. It vowed that “we as churches make ourselves accountable to
the victims of the project of economic globalization,” by becoming the latter’s advocates inside
and outside “the centers of power.”

The Catholic Church and its dynamic leader, Pope Francis, likewise condemned
globalization’s “throw-away culture” that is “fatally destined to suffocate hope and increase risks
and threats. The Lutheran World Federation 10th Assembly’s declaration message included
economic and feminist critiques of globalization, sharing the voices of members of the Church
who were affected by globalization, and contemplations on the different “pastoral and ethical
reflections that members could use to guide their opposition. It warns that as a result of
globalization: “Our world is split asunder by forces we often do not understand, but that result in
stark contrast between those who benefit and those who are harmed, especially under forces of
globalization. Today, there is also a desperate need for healing from ‘terrorism,’ its causes, and
fearful reactions to it. Relationships in this world continue to be ruptured due to greed, injustices,
and various forms of violence.

Activity- What Religion Are You In?

Directions: Choose one religion (Buddhism, Christianity-Catholicism, Christianity-

Protestantism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, etc.). Surf the web and research the history of your
chosen religion. Then describe the following:
a. The religion’s concept of good
b. The religion’s concept of evil
c. The steps needed by a person to become good and prevent himself/herself from
becoming evil

 Do this in a short bond paper.

Evaluation

Directions: Answer the following questions. Do this in a one- half crosswise sheet of paper.
1. Define religion. (5 points)
2. How is religion connected in the process of globalization? (10 points)
3. What are the positive and negative effects of globalization in terms of religion? Give at
least five positive and five negative effects. ( 10 points)

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 GE 3 Module 6- The Globalization of Religion
The Contemporary World

References:

Reference Books:
 Aldama, Prince Kennex Reguyal (2018). The Contemporary World. Manila: Rex
Book Store Inc.
 Claudio, Lisandro E.; Abinales, Patricio N. (2018).The Contemporary World. Manila:
C&E Book Store Publishing, Inc.

Online References:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315109111_Varied_Impacts_of_Globalization_on_Reli
gion_n_a_Contemporary_Society
https://www.Ihmsaw.org>1260067215
https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/religion.html
https://www.infoplease.com/culture-entertainment/religion/major-religions-world
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2013/01/75121/religion-and-globalisation-benefits-and-
challenges/

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