CONTEMPORARY RELIGION

• How religious practices are being affected by the changes brought about by globalization, particularly through the realm of information technology
• Religion and our religiosity in the midst of pandemic
• The tension between global forces and traditional religious beliefs and practices and how it contributes to new forms of religiosity, or its disappearance altogether
• This lesson will tackle the following:
• Religion


  Implies that the word describes a group of people or an institution that is bound together by a common view on what is good or sacred
• Religio


  Respect for the "sacred"
• Religare


  To bind in the sense of an obligation
• World's Five (5) Major Religions

  • Christianity - 2.4b (31.1%)
  • Islam - 1.9b (24.9%)
  • Hinduism - 1.2b (15.2%)
  • Buddhism - 500m (6.6%)
  • Folk Religions - 400m (5.6%)
• The influence of religion is so vast that it can be observable from our personal lives to our social ones, from the way we act to how social movements occur, from individual choices to global events
• 4 events where globalization caused the most changes in religion that we could see nowadays

  • Religious Nationalism
  • Turning of Religion into Public life
  • Proliferation of Religious Fundamentalism and Extremism
  • Increase of Individual Religiosity
• Religious Nationalism


  After World War II, nationalism was very much related to religious affiliation, hence to a specific set of beliefs
• Turning of Religion into Public Life

  Religious values extended out beyond the performance and observance of religious sacraments into the domain of public affairs
• Proliferation of Religious Fundamentalism and Extremism

  Leaders of such groups legitimize the conflicts they create and battles they fight using religious texts, much to the loss of innocent life and disruption of peace in many parts of the world
• Increase of Individual Religiosity


  The confidence on one's own belief and relationship with a supreme being is a better alternative to the rigid dogmas that their religious affiliation observes and calls for
• The information age in globalization has penetrated religions in an accelerated rate, which has various impacts in the methods that religions use to spread their own respective teachings
• Because religion is a very important facet of our lives, many will find ways, through globalization, to continue its practice even in the midst of a pandemic where gatherings are discouraged
• Even though nationalism also tied to religious beliefs as was stated above, there is an increasing tendency for religious beliefs to be spread outside of traditional or national boundaries
• Due to the digitalization of information and globalization, it is now very easy to study religious text or related information, and be conscious of religious conflict around the world
• Inevitability to know other religions through globalization, leads to the appreciation of other forms of religion, but at the same time may cause one to question his/her religious convictions
• It may also lead to confusion, since a person may be exposed to differing and contradicting beliefs, values and worldviews
• This may ultimately lead a person to conclude that religious affiliation, as the human inventions that they are, are less important than one's relationship with a supreme being
• Religious fundamentalism and extremism


  Can be seen as a reaction to the threats to religion brought about by the modernizing forces of globalization
• The exposure to religious conflict and strife around the globe may also lead to the same conclusion, although a more negative one
• Religion is one of the last vestiges of traditional life
• The contrasting elements of the old and new make religion the most affected by globalization among the different social institutions
• Globalization's impact on society is very significant, specially on religion
• Globalization increased rate of exchange of ideas through information technology which continually creates changes in many forms of religion
• Results into some people holding on to religion or not believing in religion altogether