Globalisation and its Impacts: Religious Resurgence
Contents
- Introduction
- Secularisation of Religion
- Religious Resurgence
- Indicators of Religious Resurgence
- Conclusion
Introduction
In the present, there is religious terrorism, love jihad, religious conversions and re-conversions (ghar wapsi), fundamentalist agendas, etc. are the trendy terms. It's interesting that this is taking place in the middle of what is considered to be the most developed period in human history, when people are familiar with the best scientific advancements and information technology and the entire world has become what McLuhan refers to as a "global village.". When the globalization process picked up steam in the 20th century, affecting nearly every aspect of human life, including the economy, politics, intellect, and culture, transcending all boundaries of time and space, it also had a significant impact on religion. The majority of social theorists held the view that religion is becoming less important as the world moves toward modernity and globalization, and a small number also believed that eventually religion will completely vanish and be replaced by the virtues of modernity (the process is known as secularization). However, events like 9/11 and evidence of the growth of various religious organizations around the world revealed a different reality than what secularization proponents had predicted. Religious resurgence is the term used to describe this phenomenon of religion's return. Against this backdrop, the current module tries to explain how religion initially seemed to be losing its significance or importance and then began to gain it back. Therefore, this module is split into two sections: the first section provides an overview of the secularization of religion, and the second section discusses religious resurgence with a focus on its indicators.
Secularisation of Religion
Religion has offered a belief system that connects all existence with some divine supreme powers and seeks to establish the relationship between the divinity and living things since the beginning of time. Religion played a very important role in pre-industrial society by controlling all human affairs and establishing what was considered the "righteous" way to live. It possessed sway over social, political, and academic institutions. Aspects of reasoning, rationality, and critical thinking, etc., began to emerge in the eighteenth century with the three advents of the Enlightenment movement, the French revolution, and the industrial revolution. Starting with the division of Church and State, religion started to lose its influence. Furthermore, over time, different institutions of society gradually came to stand apart from one another and became less constrained by the framework of religious presumptions that had previously guided their actions. This process is known as secularization. Durkheim, one of the classical thinkers, saw secularization in a positive light, considering the replacement of religious beliefs with science as a part of social change; Weber described this phenomenon as disenchantment and rationalisation, implying that there is an increase in zweck (means-end) rationality based on scientific principles in modern times. Later theorists such as Berger (1967), in his well-known book "The Sacred Canopy," emphasized the decline of religion on both a macro and micro level, contending that modernization in the West has led to greater individualism and an increase in the number of people who make their decisions independently of religion.
He challenged his own beliefs and emphasized the return of religion in his later works, "Desecularization of the World" and "Secularization Falsified.". Similar points were made by Dobbelaere (1981), who claimed that secularization occurred on both the societal (macro) and personal (micro) levels.
The economy, politics, and family are just a few of the functional subsystems that make up society. They create their own norms and values, rejecting those set forth by religion, and are driven by money, power, and love. In the modern and globalized era, these institutions run independently.
Secularization is evident on a personal level as a result of increased individualization. On the basis of reasoned decision-making, people exercise their freedom of choice every day. Odea (1969) defined secularization as the "desacralization" of one's attitude toward people and things; this involves the withdrawal of the emotional involvement that was previously found in the religious response, in viewing the sacred. Second, he claimed that as the world became more globalized, logic began to take precedence over emotion in thought. He also emphasized how the process of secularization was aided by aspects of globalization such as the development of western technology, the expansion of markets, trade, and capitalism. Additionally, building on the ideas already mentioned, Lorne (2006) contends that secularization also amounts to the privatization of religious practices and beliefs.
Therefore, the secularization thesis, which emerged concurrently with globalization and modernization, focused on the idea that religion has lost its primacy over other institutions and that individual orientation and responses to their everyday life affairs have shifted from the domain of religious frame of reference to logic and rational thinking.
Religious Resurgence
To the surprise of many social theorists, religion has recently made a "comeback" in society, and it has done so with such a vengeance that scholars who had previously predicted that it would gradually disappear in modernity have had to rewrite their theories under the labels of descularization or religious resurgence (coming back). As a result, a secularization anti-thesis was developed. Some academics perceived it as a religious renaissance, while others explained that secularization had been interpreted incorrectly. They contend that religion has never declined but has instead evolved into many different forms as a result of the effects of globalization. For instance, Hadden (1995) points out that secularization proponents have erroneously conflated religious plurality with secularity. According to him, global cultural exchange has increased plurality in terms of the number of different religious affiliations and beliefs, not a decline in religious traditions. Furthermore, according to Stark (1999), religious participation has increased in modernity and is now higher than it was in the Middle Ages. This claim is made in his essay "Requiescat in pace (Rest in Peace) Secularization.". He shows that Christendom and Christian-dominated societies have not experienced a decline. In non-Christian Asian societies, even the so-called "folk religions" have not diminished in the current globalization and modernization era. Even in Europe, there is a significant religious population, and many scientists report practicing their religion. He provides statistics in his book Secularization RdotI. P, of religious organizations that have rapidly increased their numbers. Thus, in response to previous secularization processes, religion reasserts its societal influence through religious values, institutions, sectors of society, and symbols (Marsh, 2011).
Indicators of Religious Resurgence
As previously mentioned, religion made a comeback in various parts of the world in the final decades of the 20th century. The following indicators can be used to quantify this revival:
- 1. Fall of Atheism: There has been a sharp decrease in the population of Atheists in the latter decades of the twentieth century. According to a study conducted by the Centre for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, the number of atheists is decreasing globally. From 4 percent of the world's population in 1970 to 2 percent in 2010, it is expected to decrease even more (1 point 8 percent) by 2020 (cf. Report published on July 24, 2013 by CNS. Additionally, according to Kauffmann (2010), "the rate of secularization has flattened to zero in most of the Protestant Europe and France" (cf. Desecularization (http://conservapedia.com/). According to Beckford (2012), the interest in the subjects of atheism and evolution has decreased among English-speaking nations since 2004, whereas interest in God has increased, according to Google trend data as of August 2013. Furthermore, countries like China and Russia have seen a decline in the number of atheists, while on the other hand, there has been an increase in the number of people who practice religious faiths. According to Moghadam's 2003 article, "A Global Resurgence of Religion," the nonreligious/atheist population in Russia has been steadily declining since 1970, falling from 52 percent in 1970 to 33 percent in 2000. The percentage of this population is also anticipated to drop even more, possibly to 20% in 2025 (ref). As a result, a rise in religion is indicated by the decline in atheists across the globe.
- 2. Rise in Religious Adherence: In various parts of the world, more people are becoming affiliated with religious beliefs and values, and there are more religious organizations as a result. According to Moghadam (2003), between 1990 and 1997, the percentage of Russians who believed in God increased from 35% to 60%. There was also an increase in the percentage of Russians who raised their children religiously. The number of people attending church regularly has increased. According to reports, Evangelicalism, a Christian sect, is the religion in France that is growing the fastest, refuting earlier theories that Europe was becoming more secular (see. Christianity 6 Monitor, July 2012). A survey on religious belief was conducted among the three Eastern European nations, and the results showed that the vast majority of respondents indicated their belief in God. Even before the fall of the former Soviet Union, from 1981 to 1990, the proportion of believers in God increased in Hungary from 44% to 58%. In the 1990s, the percentage of Belarusians who said they believed in God increased from 36 to 68 percent, while the percentage of Latvians who said the same increased from 18 to 67 percent (Moghadam, 2003). According to Melton (2009), who wrote about American religions in the Encyclopedia of American Religions, church membership has grown much more quickly than the country's population. A statement made on the Baylor University website reads: "Recent coverage of American religious life, by focusing on the decline of some of the larger denominations and the new organized life of non-theistic communities, have missed the larger story that since World War II, religion in the United States has grown spectacularly and ahead of the population curve. With church attendance at an all-time high and relatively new worshiping communities representing the diversity of the world's religions now dispersed throughout the urban landscape, America is more religious than it has ever been.
- 3. Growth in Religious Fundamentalism and Conservatism: Conservatism refers to a very rigid adherence to traditional and conventional beliefs and practices. Fundamentalism is described as "a discernible pattern of religious militancy by which self-styled 'true believers' attempt to arrest the erosion of religious identity, fortify the borders of the religious community, and create viable alternatives to secular institutions and behaviors" (Almond, 2003, p. 17). Religious conservatism and fundamentalism have significantly increased as a result of modernization and globalization. According to Kaufmann (2010), religious conservatism is on the rise and will have a significant impact on the world. According to his book, "Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?," committed religious populations are growing in the west and will stop the spread of secularism before 2050 as a result of immigration and higher birth rates among religious people. Fundamentalist movements are also expanding across the globe, particularly in regions like Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, North America, countries in the Middle East (like Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Turkey), and Asia, which includes India. Such movements are common in a number of religions, including Christianity, neo-Confucianism, Islam, Hinduism, and others.
- 4. The emergence of religious terrorism: Religious terrorism is the term used to describe terrorist acts committed in the name of a particular religion. Religious terrorism is more prevalent today than nationalism- or anti-colonialism-based violence. Terrorism committed in the name of a religion has existed in the past, but in the latter half of the 20th century, a number of organizations—such as Al Qaeda, Lashkar Jihad, the Islamic State, and others—that claimed to represent true believers began to emerge and engage in terrorist activities around the globe. The attacks on the World Trade Center (9/11), the Mumbai bomb blasts (August 2003), the Mumbai 26/11, the Wisconsin Sikh Temple Massacre (August 2012), the Paris attacks (November 2015), the attack on the Pathankot Airbase (December 2015), the attacks on Peshawar's schools and then the university in January 2016, etc. constitute examples of religious terrorism. The intensity and frequency of these activities around the world are evidence that religion is experiencing a resurgence—and that too vigorously.
- 5. New Age Religious Movements: The emergence of novel religious movements is another aspect of the religious resurgence. These are the ethical and spiritual communities that are comparatively modern in origin; they may resemble or differ somewhat from the mainstream religious movements, but it is thought that they are less authoritarian and less rigid in their beliefs and practices. According to Wilson (Wilson, 1982), traditional religion was man's response to the social conditions that prevailed in earlier times, just as the new religious movements are (or were) the response of the contemporary man to the current social conditions. Religious movements of the new age are more focused on spiritual issues. Krishna Consciousness, Art of Living Foundation, Isha Foundation, Osho Foundation, Babism, Baha'i Faith, Brahmakumaris, Crossroad movements, Dalit Buddhist movements, etc. are the well-liked new age religious movements. All of these recent movements point to a religious revival with various facets. There have been several of these movements in the United States as well, including the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, Third Great Awakening, and Fourth Great Awakening. These are commonly referred to as Pentecostal or Jesus Movements. Since 1960, new denominations have emerged as a result of these movements.
- 6. Reflections of Religious Ideology in the Media: The media also reflects the prominence of religion in modernity and the age of globalization. Horoscope and forecast columns are published regularly in print media and are incredibly well-liked by the audience. numerous T. V. The portrayal of religiously prescribed customs is common in shows, particularly daily soaps that are popular with the middle class. These programs broadcast rituals associated with birth, death, and marriage that are prescribed by various religions in a very elaborate manner.
Conclusion
Therefore, globalization had an impact on religion in addition to other areas of human life like the economy, polity, and culture. The role of religion in human affairs appeared to be waning in the early modern era, when globalization caused the world to contract and erased all barriers of time and space. Social theorists developed the concept of secularization in response to the momentum of globalization and its correlates, such as economic expansion, technological advancement, rationalization, privatization, consumerism, and materialism. According to their argument, all social institutions in modern society are free from the influence of religion, and unlike in earlier eras, people today deal with their day-to-day affairs according to reason and logic rather than following religious rules. They also believed that eventually, religion would be eliminated. However, this ongoing phenomenon of globalization also resulted in the breakdown of religiously motivated cohesion and the collective value system, leaving a void in the traditional support networks that people could rely on in times of crisis and anarchy, even though it brought about development and enormous economic gains. As a result, rather than dying out in the latter half of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, religion came back. This movement is referred to as a religious revival. It can be seen in the rise in religious adherence, the decline in atheism, the rise in religious fundamentalism, the severity of religious terrorism, etc. The theorists of secularization were so unprepared for this "comeback" of religion that, after seeing it in practice, they themselves rejected their theory, labeling it a myth and an utopian idea.
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