CHAPTER 6: A WORLD OF

IDEAS : CULTURES OF
GLOBALIZATION
 GROUP MEMBERS

Abejuela, Abegail Dulfo, Micaella

Brucal, Mark Fernando, Jezon

John
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Explain how Globalization affects
religious practices and beliefs
Identify the various religious responses
to globalization; and
Discuss the future of religion in a
globalized world
What are the advantages and disadvantages of having
a religion?

A World of Ideas: Cultures of Globalization

 RELIGION

Religion, much more than culture, has the most difficult

relationship with globalism. First, the two are entirely
contrasting belief system. Religion is concerned with the sacred,
while globalism value on material wealth. Religion follows
divine commandments, while globalism abides by human-made
laws. Religion assumes that there is “the possibility” of
communication between humans and the transcendent.
 Religious people are less concerned
with wealth and all that comes along with it.
They are ascetics precisely because they
shun anything material for complete
simplicity- from their domain to the clothes
they wear, to the food they eat, and even to
the manner in which they talk.
A religious person’s main duty is to live
a virtuous, sin-less life such that when
he/she dies, he/she is assured of a place in
the other world.

A World of Ideas: Cultures of Globalization

 GLOBALIST
On the other hand, globalist are less worried about whether they
will end up in heaven or hell. Their skills are more pedestrian as they
aim to seal trade deals, raise the profits of private enterprises, improve
government revenue collections, protect the elites from being
excessively taxed by the state, and, naturally, enrich themselves. If
he/she has a strong social conscience, the globalist sees his/her work
as contributing to the general progress of the community, the nation
and the global economic system.
Put another way, the religious aspires to become a saint; the
globalist trains to be a shrewd businessperson.

A World of Ideas: Cultures of Globalization

 RELIGION GLOBALISM
a. Follows divine commandments a. Abides human-made laws.
b. Concerned with sacred. b. Places value on material wealth.
c. Spreading holy ideas. c. Spreading goods and services.
d. Religious aspires to become d. Globalist train to be a shrewd
saints. businessperson.
e. “God,” “Allah,” or “Yahweh,” e. Human action can lead to the
defines and judges human action highest material satisfaction.
in moral terms. f. Aims to seal trade deals, raise
f. Les concerned with wealth and profit to private enterprises,
all that comes along with it. improve government revenue
g. They are ascetics because they collections, protect the elites
shun anything material for from being excessively taxed by
complete simplicity. the state, and, naturally enrich
h. Main duty is to live virtuous, sin- themselves.
less life. g. Less worried about whether they
will end up in heaven or hell.
 Religion and globalism clash over the
fact that religious evangelization is in
itself a form of globalization. The
globalist ideal, on the other hand, is
largely focused on the realm of market.
The religious is concerned with
spreading holy ideas globally, while
the globalist wishes to spread goods
and services.

A World of Ideas: Cultures of Globalization

 Missionaries of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-
widely known as Mormon
Missionaries- are volunteer
representatives of the church who
engage variously in proselytizing,
church service, humanitarian aid, and
community service.
They teach about our Heavenly
Father’s great plan of salvation, which “THE MORMON MISSIONARIES”
allows all people the opportunity to
return to Him. “As a missionary, my
purpose is to invite others to come unto
Christ.”

A World of Ideas: Cultures of Globalization

 Because of some philosophical differences
certain groups flee their communities and create
impenetrable sanctuaries where they can practice
their religions without the meddling and control of
state authorities. The followers of Dalai Lama
established Tibet for this purpose, and certain
Buddhist monasteries are located away from
civilizations so that the hermits can devote
themselves to prayer and contemplation.

A World of Ideas: Cultures of Globalization

 REALITIES

The relationship between religion and globalism is much more

complicated. Peter Berger argues that far from being secularized, the
“contemporary world is… furiously religious.”
Religions are the foundations of modern republics. The Malaysian
government places religion at the center of the political system. Its
constitution explicitly states that “Islam is the religion of the Federation,”
and the rulers of each state was also the “Head of the Religion of the Islam.”

A World of Ideas: Cultures of Globalization

 The late Iranian religious leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, bragged about the superiority of Islamic rule over
its secular counterparts and pointed out that “there is no
fundamental distinction among constitutional, despotic,
dictatorial, democratic, and communistic regimes.”

DID YOU KNOW?

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led an Islamic Revolution
in Iran, took the country away from the political leader
called the Shah (is a royal title that was historically used by
the leading figures of Iranian monarchies), and ran Iran as
theocracy from 1979 until his death in 1989.
Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini

A World of Ideas: Cultures of Globalization

 RELIGION FOR AND AGAINST GLOBALIZATION
There is a hardly religious movement today that does not use religion to oppose
“profane” globalization. Yet, to of the so called “old-world religions” (Christianity and
Islam) see the 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.
Religions seek to take the place of these broken “traditional ties” to either help
communities cope with their new situation or organize them to oppose these major
transformation of their lives. Religion is thus not the “regressive force” that stops or
slows down globalization; it is a “pro-active force” that gives communities a new and
powerful basis of identity.
 Religious fundamentalism may dislike globalization 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 transportation 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.”
While religions may benefit from the processes of globalization, this does not
mean that its tension 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.

A World of Ideas: Cultures of Globalization

 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 292-page declaration
message included economic and feminist
critiques of globalization, sharing the voices of “Our world is split asunder by forces
members of the Church who were affected by we often do not understand, but that
the globalization, and contemplation on the result in stark contrasts between those
different “pastoral and ethical reflections” that who benefit and those who are
members could use to guide their oppositions. harmed, especially under forces of
globalization.
 These advocacies to reverse or mitigate economic globalization
eventually gained the attention of globalist institutions. In 1998, the
World Bank brought in religious leaders in its discussions about global
poverty, leading eventually to a “cautious, muted and qualified”
collaboration in 2000.

With the exception of militant to Islam, religious forces are well aware
that they re in no position to fight for a comprehensive alternative to the
globalizing status quo. What Catholics call “the preferential option for the
poor” is a powerful message of mobilization but lacks substance when it
comes to working out a replacement system that ca change the poor’s
condition in concrete ways.

A World of Ideas: Cultures of Globalization

 CONCLUSION:
For a phenomenon that “is about everything,” it is odd that globalization
is seen to have very little to do with religion. As Peter Bayer and Lori
Beaman observed, “Religion, it seems, is somehow outside looking at
globalization as problem or potential. One reason for this perspective is the
association of globalization with modernization, which is a concept of
progress that is based on science, technology, reason, and the law.
Historians, political scientist, and philosophers have now debunked
much of secularization theory. Samuel Huntington, one of the strongest
defenders of globalization, admits in his book, The Clash of Civilization,
that civilization can be held together by religious worldviews. This belief is
hardly new. As far back as the 15th century, Jesuits and Dominicans used
religions.
A World of Ideas: Cultures of Globalization
THANK YOU!!