THE GLOBALIZATION OF RELIGION

• Religion


  A set of beliefs and practices that define the relations between human beings and the sacred or divinity
• Religiosity


  A passionate inquiry about the meaning of life, it is the openness we find in us that directs us to the depth-dimension of life
• Religious Act


  An act whereby a man reflects on the transcendental core of his being
• Primitive Religion Conceptions

  • Animism
  • Spiritism
  • Totemism
  • Mana
• Animism


  Presupposing a kinship between himself and his world. Animists regarded the life or soul as confined to the object which it animated whether a free, a human body or a river
• Spiritism


  In dreams, marvelous events and beings would appear. It was quite natural for men to infer that their souls were not "bound" to their bodies, as animist held. but were "free" and separable
• Totemism


  The "totem", an animal or plant of some kind, was supposed to connected in some mysterious ways with the life and well-being of the tribe
• Mana


  The name for the power of force by virtue of which peculiar effects are exerted. The peculiar magical property of a stone, or the peculiar force that makes a hero heroic
• Beliefs in Gods

  • Polytheism
  • Pantheism
  • Monotheism
• Polytheism


  A belief in many gods. Polytheistic cultures believed in sacrifices to appease their gods
• Pantheism


  A belief that all is god wherein the universe itself was divine
• Monotheism


  A belief in one god
• Major World Religions

  • Hinduism
  • Christianity
  • Buddhism
  • Islam
  • Taoism
• Hinduism


  Central to the faith is a belief in reincarnation. Aim: To become one with ultimate reality, the eternal, universal spirit where there are no distinctions. Transmigration of Souls: Transformation of human consciousness into divine consciousness cannot be achieved during a single life-span. Karma and Mukti: Karma means that one's thoughts, words, and deeds determine one's future existence. Mukti is liberation from this cycle
• Christianity


  The belief in Jesus as the Son of God and a savior of humanity. There is only one God who watches over people. His son Jesus died to save humanity from sin, and his resurrection made an afterlife possible for others. The message of Christ is now entrusted to the Pope and bishops, the legitimate successors of Peter and the apostles
• Buddhism


  It is a "way of life" or a "spiritual tradition". Focuses on achieving enlightenment, a state of inner peace and wisdom. Followers aim to experience nirvana. Buddhists embrace karma (the law of cause and effect) and reincarnation (the continuous cycle of rebirth)
• Islam


  Submission to the will of God. Women are bidden to "lower their gaze" and "not display their beauty" except to their husbands, fathers, and close male relatives. A father has the right to give a virgin daughter in marriage. Muslim men may marry Christian or Jewish women, but Muslim women may not marry non-Muslim men. Polygamy is legal, allowing a man to marry up to four women if he can afford it. Divorce by the husband's repudiation is a privilege granted in the Quran. A woman's right to divorce is highly restricted, but modern marriage contracts may include stipulations that obligate the husband to grant a divorce if certain conditions are met
• Taoism


  Tao or Dao means "the way," which is the reality beyond human perception. Emphasizes living in harmony with the world. The Tao is a "power" that envelops, surrounds, and flows through all things, living and non-living. It creates balance in the universe and embodies the harmony of opposites
• The social-scientific study of religion is a field that has played a critically important role in shaping the contemporary scholarly understanding of globalization
• Major scholarly associations such as the American Academy of Religion (AAR). the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR), and the Association for Sociology of Religion (ASR), have maintained their institutional autonomy
• For most of the twentieth century, the research agenda of the social sciences has been dominated by the debate over secularization
• Western Europe, once regarded the paradigmatic case of secularization, is viewed as an exception from global patterns, whereas the United States, once regarded as an exceptional case, is viewed as more typical of global patterns of religiosity than previously thought
• Secularization is understood as a shift in the overall frameworks of human condition. It makes it possible for people to have a choice between belief and non- belief in a manner hitherto unknown
• The major cleavage that shapes the problematic of the relationship between religion and globalization is not only between a dominant north and a subordinate south. Of equal importance is the major cleavage between the "West" and the "East" or the "Rest"
• Western social theory has been based on the themes of modernity and secularity, and thus it has ignored even non-Western branches of Christianity, such as Eastern Orthodox (and Oriental) Christianity
• The emergence of world religions in large part corresponds to an extension of commercial linkages and networks over the Euro-Asian landmass and is related to the political-military projects of several empires
• Even Western modernity is not necessarily uniform: in fact, within Europe different historical trajectories exist. suggesting a multitude of distinct historical trajectories
• Transnational studies emerged gradually since the 1990s in connection to the study of post-World War II. New immigrants or transmigrants who moved from Third World and developing countries into developed First Word nations
• New immigrants no longer assimilated into the cultures of the hast countries but rather openly maintained complex links to the homelands, thereby constructing, reproducing and preserving their transnational fies
• Concomitant with the movements of peoples, the migration of faiths across the globe has been a major feature of the world throughout the twentieth century
• One of these features is the "deterritorialization" of religion, that is, the appearance and, in some instances, the effiorescence of religious traditions in places where these previously nad been largely unknown or were at least in a minority position
• Transnational religion emerged through the post-World War II spread of several religions
• Transnational religion comes as two quite distinct blends of religious universalism and local particularism
• Religious transnationalism is often depicted as a religion "going global"
• In cases in which immigrants share the same vernacular or are members of a church with a centralized administration (such as the Catholic Church), the propensity for such a pattern inevitably increases
• Migrants participate in religious multi-ethnic networks that connect them to their co-religionists locally and globally. Their main allegiance is not to their original homeland but to their global religious community
• In some instances, transnational communities are constructed and religious hierarchies perform dual religious and secular functions that ensure the group's survival
• Diasporas might adopt cultural habits derived from the host country. A prominent example is the "Protestantization" of various faiths among groups living mostly in Europe or the United States
• Fundamentalist or more precisely revivalist movements attempt to construct "pure religion"
• Transnational transcendence


  Means for identities and boundaries to transcend beyond local or national affiliations