THE GLOBALIZATION OF RELIGION

Religion is a “system of beliefs and practices.” More

specifically, the word comes from the Latin “religare, " meaning “to
bind together again that which was once bound but has since been
torn apart or broken.” Indeed, with
the globalization of economics and politics, individuals feel insecure
“as the life they once led is being contested and changed at the
same time.” Hence, “for a person to maintain a sense of
psychological well-being and avoid existential anxiety,’’ individuals
turn to scripture stories and teachings that provide a vision about
how they can be bound to a “meaningful world,” a world that is
quickly changing day-by-day.

Nonetheless, the relationship between globalization and

religion is one with new possibilities and further challenges. On the
one hand, while religion takes advantage of communication and
transportation technology, it is at the same time the source of
globalization’s greatest resistance by acting as a haven for those
standing in opposition to its power. On the other hand, because
globalization allows for daily contact, religion enters a circle of
conflict in which religions become “more self-conscious of
themselves as being world religions.”

Globalization has brought the utmost change to everyone’s

life; it does not only divert the economic system but also religions.
Its liquid movements through social media, and other forms of mass
media dominantly change the perspectives and beliefs of the
people. In fact, there are lots of people around the globe unite in
one common religion. Others are being influenced by other religions
through globalization. Indeed, globalizations plays a vital role in the
spread of religions globally. As Scholte (2005) made clear:
“Accelerated globalization of recent times has enabled co-
religionists across the planet to have greater direct contact with one
another. Global communications, global organizations, global
finance, and the like have allowed ideas of the Muslims and the
universal Christian church to be given concrete shape as never
before.

This lesson acquaints students with knowledge on how

globalization plays its vital role in religion through the use of media.
Students will also appreciate how globalization revived and
scattered ideas about religions in the
world. This lesson will also open the students' minds towards the
value of their respective religions amidst globalization.

Globalization has played a tremendous role in providing a

context for the current revival and resurgence of religion. Today,
most religions are not relegated to the countries where they began.
Religions have, in fact, spread and scattered on a global scale.
Globalization provided religions a fertile milieu to spread and thrive.

Information technologies, transportation means, and the

media are deemed important means on which religionists rely for
the dissemination of their religious ideas. Furthermore, the media
also plays 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 to advocate religion.
Modern transportation has also contributed considerably to the
emergence, revivalism, and fortification of religion. 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’’.

Conflicts among the World Religion

Globalization has also allowed religion or faith to gain

considerable significance and importance as a non-territorial of
identity. Being a source of identity and pride, religion has always
been promoted by its practitioners so that it could reach the level of
globality and be embraced by as many people as possible. By
paving the way for religions to come in contact with each other and
providing a context for their flourishing and thriving, globalization
has brought such religions to a circle of competition and conflicts.

Such conflicts among the world religions exhibit a solid proof

confirming the erosion and the failure of hybridization. Globalization
makes religions more conscious of themselves as being “world
religions” reinforcing their respective specific identities. These
identities are strengthened by globalization and cannot, in any way,
intermingle or hybridize. Since religions have distinct internal
structures, their connections to different cultures and their rituals
and beliefs contradict.

Though religion is strengthened and fortified by globalization,

it represents a challenge to globalization’s hybridizing effects.
Religion seeks to assert its identity in the light of globalization. As a
result, different religious identities come to the fore and assert
themselves. Such assertions of religious identities constitute a
defensive reaction to globalization. It has been difficult for religion
to cope with values that accompany globalization like liberalism,
consumerism, and nationalism. Such phenomena advocate
scientism and secularism.
 On the other hand, it can be said that the anti-rationalist
qualities ascribed to religion can be the characteristics of
fundamentalist and extremist forms of religion. We cannot consider
religion as purely anti-rationalist since many religious people
reconcile reason and faith and make moderate trends within their
religions. Nevertheless, globalization’s strict rationalism manifested
in such phenomena as liberalism and secularism can be
incompatible with the norms and values of certain religions.

Westernization and Americanization

Globalization is also associated with Westernization and

Americanization. The dominance exerted by these two processes,
particularly on the less developed countries, makes religion-related
cultures and identities take defensive measures to protect
themselves. Sometimes, extreme forms of resisting other cultural
influence are being done, such as that of the Islamic State of Iraq
and Syria (ISIS).

Challenges of Globalization to Religion

The challenges of globalization to religion link automatically to

the challenges of religion to globalization. In other words, while
religion takes caution against the norms and the values related to
globalization, it challenges the latter since religion does not approve
its hybridizing effects. The idea of de- hybridizing effects of religion
is approved also by Samuel Huntington’s clash of civilizations, which
maintains that such dehybridizing upshots spring also from religion
partitioning and clashes.
The Religions With the Most Followers
Below are the seven most popular religions, based on Britannica’s analysis and estimates:

Rank Religion Estimated number of followers

1 Christianity 2,200,000,000
2 Islam 1,800,000,000
3 Hinduism 1,100,000,000
4 Buddhism 500,000,000
5 Shinto 104,000,000
6 Sikhism 25,000,000
7 Judaism 14,000,000