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GCS Part 3_Infras:GCS Part 3_Infras 4/9/06 14:42 Page 144 CHAPTER 6 THE CHURCH, THE MOSQUE, AND GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY following has a transnational character, the leaders can have a broad and potentially global impact (see Mark Juergensmeyer Berger 1999; Beyer 1994; 2006; Rudolph and Piscatori 1997; Thomas 2005). In this chapter I want to examine this multi-levelled significance of places of worship in global civil society by focusing on two very specific sites in two quite Introduction transnational sacred centres it attracts devotees not different parts of the world. I might have chosen Religion has always been global. Its ideas and only because of the historical significance of the site Mecca and the Vatican, but it seemed to me that it adherents have never been easily contained within the but also because of its mystery and the sheer force of would be more useful to focus on two somewhat less boundaries of polities, whether they were kingdoms, the multitudes. famous sites, and to find sacred locations that carry empires, or nation-states. The old cartographic ploy It would be easy to dismiss the political and social political and social significance both locally and in © of colouring a map with blue for this religion and implications of these transnational religious centres their transnational connections. Caroline Penn Iman Ali Mosque green for that one has never really worked. There have and assert that, like rock concerts, they give the One of the two examples that I have chosen is the always been dense centres of religious communities illusion of transnational community without the Imam Ali Mosque associated with Grand Ayatollah the reputation of local religious centres and the in a few particular places, and a wondrous mixing of substance of it. To some extent this is true, in that Sayyid Ali Husaini Sistani in Najaf, Iraq. The other is charisma of some Muslim leaders put them in hues almost everywhere else. Yet, as Map 6.1 worshippers come and go with the reward of personal the Windsor Village United Methodist Church, a positions of influence and authority not unlike those of indicates, many of the sacred centres of the world’s spiritual transformation, but without necessarily mega-church led by the Reverend Kirbyjon Caldwell in their powerful Christian counterparts. And like them, religious traditions have been significant global undergoing any changes that would affect the socio- Houston, Texas, in the United States. Despite the they play an expanding role in the public life of the markers for members of their faiths and have served political sphere. Moreover, the appeal of some of the many differences between the two religious centres societies of which they are a part, and in the as transnational loci, places of interactive encounter most potent new religious movements is precisely and their leadership, both are influenced by the winds globalisation of the religious culture of their on both social and symbolic levels. because they do not have traditional religious centres. of global cultural change, and both contribute to the traditions. One should not presume, however, that these global As Box 6.1 indicates, many new religious movements growing transnational character of their respective centres are the ‘headquarters’ of the religious are seen almost like rogue states, potentially religious traditions. The mosque traditions with which they are associated. Only the dangerous in part because they are so hard to pin One can find parallels to the Imam Ali Mosque in The Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf is one of the most Vatican really performs that function, and even in the down geographically. Najaf and the Houston mega-church in virtually every remarkable sites in Shi’a Islam. Though only a small case of the papacy its administrative control is more Even those religious traditions that have a global society – including leading Hindu temples of Banares percentage of the world’s Muslims are Shi’a – the rest symbolic than real. Within a mile of the Vatican centre are not necessarily agents of the status quo. and Vrindavan and their attendant Brahmin leaders; are almost all associated with the dominant Sunni quarters in modern Rome many members of the Many rebel against the forces of modernity and the Dalada Maligawa Temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka, with version of Islam – they constitute the majority in Roman Catholic faith cheerfully ignore the church’s secular globalisation, and have more of a its adjacent coterie of influential Theravada Buddhist southern Iraq. Shi’ites are also found in southern edicts regarding birth control, abortion, transforming social effect than might initially meet monks; and the Golden Temple of Sikhism at Lebanon, Pakistan, and especially in Iran, where 90 homosexuality and the like. Yet most would affirm the the eye (see Berger and Huntington 2003; Beyer 1994; Amritsar, Punjab, with its powerful panchayat of per cent of the population is Shi’a of a particular form. significance of the papal see as their religious 2006; Hopkins 2001; Juergensmeyer 2004; 2005; religious leadership installed in the Akal Takht located Like the Shi’a in Iraq they are followers of the Ithna community’s transnational home. 2006). For one thing, the appearance of a global in the temple’s precincts. As Map 6.1 shows, every Ashari (Twelver) brand of Shi’ism, which is based on In other cases it is not so much the comfort of home community can lead to a sense of transnational religious tradition has significant religious sites with the belief that there will be 12 great leaders, or that attracts as the awesome force of spiritual power. identity. When Malcolm X, the American political attendant communities and leadership roles, though imams, in world history. Shrines like those at Lourdes or Najaf may become activist, came to Mecca on pilgrimage in 1964 he was the way that religious organisations function within What makes the Najaf mosque significant is that it S S places of pilgrimage because of their mystical or deeply affected by the fact that his fellow Muslims their traditions can be quite different. is not only a place of worship but also a location for E E R R historical significance. In other cases, such as the came in every shade of skin colour, from the whitest The roles of mosque and church, for example, are pilgrimage, since it serves as the tomb of the founder T T N N E E mega-churches of modern evangelical white to the deepest black. He abandoned some of the not equivalent. There are no priests or pastors in the of the Shi’a line of leadership. It holds the mortal C C S S Protestantism, it is the excitement of the crowds and more racist teachings of his Black Muslim faith soon Islamic tradition. Rituals do not mediate in one’s remains of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, son-in-law of the prophet U U O O I I the charisma of the preachers that attract. The after. salvation in the Islamic tradition in the way they do in Mohammed, who is regarded by Shi’ites as the first G G I I L L largest religious gathering on the planet is the Kumbh Moreover, these transnational centres of religion Roman Catholic Christianity, nor does the mosque imam and the first caliph in Islamic history. For this E E R R Mela at the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna can become bases of social and political power that constitute local communities of faith in the same way reason it is one of the most important sites in the L L A A rivers in India, where every 12 years tens of millions of can enhance the importance of the clergy and leaders that churches function in Protestant Christianity. Shi’a tradition. N N O O I I devotees converge. At the most recent event in 2003 it associated with them. In the current political climate, Muslim clergy lead worship, and they adjudicate the Shi’a clerics that are associated with the Imam Ali T T A A N N is said that numbers approached 70 million. Annually where cultural affiliations can purchase political laws and norms of the tradition, but they do not play Mosque understandably are accorded a great deal of S S N N over 2 million come to Mecca on the Haj, the influence, religious leaders with significant followings the same role in a follower’s path to salvation that a reverence in Shi’a society. At present the Mosque’s A A R R T T pilgrimage required of all faithful Muslims. Like other can make striking claims on public life. When their Christian priest or pastor does. Yet, as we shall see, most visible clerical celebrity is the Grand Ayatollah 144 145 GCS Part 3_Infras:GCS Part 3_Infras 4/9/06 14:42 Page 146 Map 6.1: World religions, religious centres and religious freedom, 2005 Religious centres Buddhism Chinese religion Christianity Hinduism Islam Jainism Judaism Korean religion Other Shintoism Sikhism Religious freedom India and Sri Lanka State policy toward religion Israel and Palestinian Authority Major interference Minor interference Neutral Top 10 Religious Groups Minor support Christians Major suport Muslims Hindus Predominant religion Non-religious (no data) Chinese universist Buddhist Buddhists S S E E Chinese universist R R Ethno-religionists T T N N Christian E E C C Atheists S S Enthno-religionist U U O O Neo-religionists I I G G Hindu I I L L E E Sikhs R R Jew L L A A 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 N N Muslim O O I I adherents, globally (millions) T T A A Non-religious N N S S N N A A R R T T 146 147 GCS Part 3_Infras:GCS Part 3_Infras 4/9/06 14:42 Page 148 Box 6.1 Transnational religious movements fiction writer, based on his practice of dianetics, which is a kind of alternative self-help therapy.

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