Sociology 3301: Sociology of Religion

Lecture 32: Religion and Globalization II

Now that we have introduced religion and globalization, we continue with a look at population and its religious consequences, among other things.

World Population Patterns and Religious Consequences:

A further way that global trends may impact religion is through demographic changes, especially the massive human geographic mobility that has occurred since the 19th century. Changes in immigration laws back in the 1960’s enabled increased immigration to North America from non-European regions of the world. With the new immigrants came many new religious traditions, as well as NRMs.

Improved communication technologies have brought new awareness of other parts of the world while transportation improvements have allowed more people to migrate than ever before. Many countries now find significant portions of their populations comprised of immigrants, with significant numbers of expatriates, in turn, living elsewhere. The religious consequences of all of this can be examined by looking at two broad categories of phenomena: (1) glocalization; and (2) transnational religious connections.

Glocalization:

Glocalization (Robertson, 1992) means “global localization,” a term first applied to tailoring global products to local tastes. Here, however, it focuses our attention on the reality that the standardizing processes of globalization do not simply wipe out local cultures, nor do global migrants simply abandon their cultures of origin. Globalization and glocalization go hand in hand, producing both homogenization and heterogeneity. Globalization is always also glocalization, the global expressed in the local and the local as the particularization of the global.

Glocalization occurs because when religious people migrate, they bring their religions with them into a new socio-cultural setting. Guilianotti and Robertson (2007) identified four different glocalization strategies they develop relative to these new sociocultural environments: (1) relativization (seeking to preserve their prior cultural institutions, practices, and meanings, differentiating themselves from the host culture. Example: Muslim enclaves in Europe where de facto sharia law prevails); (2) accommodation (pragmatically absorbing the practices, institutions, and meanings of other societies, in order to maintain key elements of the local culture. Example: Hindus adopting the congregational organizational form in the U.S.); (3) hybridization (synthesizing local and other cultural phenomena to produce distinctive, hybrid cultural practices, institutions and meanings. Example: Haitian Catholicism, which syncretically incorporates earlier African traditions, like voodoo; and (4) transformation (coming to favor the practices, institutions, and meanings associated with other cultures, producing

1 either fresh cultural forms or even the abandonment of the local culture. Example: Chinese evangelicals in the U.S., who have shown themselves to abandon their traditional religions and embrace Protestant Christianity).

Glocalization is a multifaceted phenomenon. Indeed, it may be better to speak of glocalizations (plural) considering the above variations in the way the global becomes local. Beyond this, of course, many migrants maintain ties with their communities of origin, leading to our next issue.

Transnational Religious Connections:

Transnational religious connections involve recognition that people who migrate often maintain ties with their original home community. They communicate with, remit money, visit, and even return to retire in their home country. Some have called them “transmigrants” rather than immigrants for this reason. As well, some population movements are intentionally short term (e.g. missionaries, volunteers, tourists). As they move back and forth, several changes may occur.

Since family members may no longer be united by common nationality or territorial bond, religion may become a more important element of belonging and connectedness. Further, the religious practices, rituals, and beliefs of the home country may be influenced as people back home hear of the experiences and religious celebrations of their geographically mobile kin (e.g. Dominicans adopting some American organizational procedures and ritual practices). These result in local level globalization – expanded perspectives and practices in small Dominican villages while Dominican immigrants find something that prevents their complete assimilation into mainstream American society.

Not all transnational movements are permanent. Short term migrations can still have important religious implications. Chinese foreign workers in Israel, even knowing their visas were limited to 5 years, still often converted to evangelical Protestantism while there. This enables them to be involved in a religious tradition that they associate with modernity, progress, and status, plus a religious organization affording them opportunities to cultivate practical skills and network connections. Thus, conversion increases their cultural capital (knowledge, skills, education), symbolic capital (honor, prestige, recognition), and social capital (connections to social networks) which can be deployed to their advantage when they return to their rural, uneducated, lower class origins in China.

Missionaries continue to be a significant transnational connection in the religious field. Wuthnow and Orcutt (2008) note that in 2001 there were 42,787 U.S. missionaries working full time in other countries (up 16% on the previous decade). Some are sponsored by particular denominations (e.g. the Southern Baptists), but many are connected to local congregations as well (74% of congregations support a foreign missionary). The average U.S. parishioner, in this and other ways, has considerable exposure to transnational connections through their local congregation.

2 Even people who go abroad for short periods can find themselves affected religiously. Short term mission trips are experienced by many U.S. church members. While short (median 8 days), these may facilitate transformative religious experiences. Survey results of youth show that those who participate often increase religious involvement and solidify their religious beliefs, at least in the short term.

Then there are pilgrimages (journeys undertaken for religious purposes that culminate in a visit to a site of supernatural manifestation).These can be domestic or transnational, but most often the latter. Millions of people each year go on pilgrimages, from the Muslims going to Mecca, the Christians and Jews flocking to Israel, and the Hindus going to Kashmir. Loveland (2008), using national survey data on U.S. Catholics, found that those who had undertaken a pilgrimage were transformed by the experience, often resulting in more orthodox beliefs. They were significantly more likely than those who had not undertaken a pilgrimage to support the church hierarchy’s teachings about things like contraception and a celibate priesthood.

Religion, then, can be influenced in important ways by global trends. The emergence of global theologies and the global diffusion of modernization, the concurrent secularization of social structures and cultures, and demographic migration patterns have all affected religion. All three subsystems of religion can be affected: (1) the institutional structure and its tie to other institutions in society; (2) the sense of religious belonging as a source of personal identity; and (3) the meaning system, which tries to make sense of people’s experiences and establish norms of behavior.

The Role of Religion in International Politics:

Religion is not always just a dependent variable in globalization issues. Sometimes it is the cause of global processes. Religious groups themselves are often multinational conglomerates with international constituencies. Others may have memberships concentrated in one nation and sponsor benevolent and evangelical programs that span the globe. By reaching into new areas, they develop vested interests, sympathies, and responsibilities to adherents that may bring them into conflict with one or more governments.

Diffusion of Western Religion and Consequences in International Politics:

Religious mission programs affect both the faith community and the destination site. In some places they have contributed to economic vitality, such as through assistance with well-drilling, irrigation, and farming assistance enabling people to better feed their families. In other places, they have assisted with education and training. The dilemma, of course, is that helping with people’s standard of living can also enhance westernization of local cultures: indigenous ways of life can be undermined. Missionaries, aware of this criticism, respond that other people’s cultures have already long since been undermined by modernization, and the only question is whether organization such as theirs are going to help poor countries to cope with the new global environment. Further, there is evidence that at least some missionaries have helped to

3 revitalize and preserve aspects of indigenous cultures – so the role of missionaries has been by no means one sided.

Missionaries themselves are predominantly American today (80% by 1980, and rising). Interestingly, now African and Latin American churches are also starting to send missionaries to Europe and the U.S., particularly as religious revivals have been so vibrant in the Southern hemisphere.

Still, there is a concern that goes beyond that of Christian missions undermining traditional religions and beliefs. American missionaries in Latin America have often been aligned with U.S. international interests and may have done more for the U.S. than for the target countries. Clearly the U.S. government has intentionally tried to use, even manipulate, religiously sponsored mission programs to achieve objectives that primarily served capitalism, business interests, and U.S. national security (helping locals being of secondary interest). Concerns about the ethics of changing other cultures and being intrusive with North American culture has caused mainline denominations to cut back on their evangelistic orientations to missions.

Religious movements and institutions can have an impact on international processes in other ways as well. U.S. televangelists have sometimes expanded their markets by broadcasting abroad. They diffuse a very Americanized version of Christianity. When not warmly received or prohibited by local governments, some evangelists jam the message into the country with high-kilowatt stations nearby. Such “pirate broadcasters” assume that God’s law and purposes (that they alone know) stand above the laws of mortals, thus they will not be dissuaded by local officials or national leaders if they feel called to evangelize a country.

Often such televangelists are American, rather ethnocentric and culturally insensitive ones at that. The bad feelings created by such practices can create diplomatic tensions and conflicts, jeopardize sensitive negotiations, and result in problems for national interests.

Of course, religious groups from the global North are also often involved in benevolence programs directed toward impoverished parts of the world. These have the potential to enhance goodwill between countries, but occasionally the way that assistance is provided can be demeaning to the recipient nation or people. If the latter occurs, the result could be hostile feelings rather than mutual respect and appreciation.

Whether the concern is international bigotry, prospects for economic cooperation and trade, struggle for human rights and justice, or a desire for world peace, religious groups are likely to be important players. Religion affects international relations and is affected by global trends. It serves as both a dependent and independent variable in all of this.

4 Transnational vs. Autocephalous Religious Organizations:

International religious bodies like the Roman Catholic Church must show sympathy to the circumstances of people in many nations, not aligning itself too closely with one or a set of nations without risking the alienation of many others.

There are other ways that multinational religious organizations can be involved in the social and economic policies of a nation as well (e.g. the Catholic Church’s pivotal role in resistance to the former communist regime in Poland: something a state church funded through the system, could never have done).

Thus, the locus of control of a religious hierarchy is an important issue. On one hand, a religious structure may involve an organization that is external to any one and includes representation from many countries. On the other hand, it may be autocephalous not organizationally linked to congregations in other countries. In this latter case, the religious hierarchy and membership is contained within a single nation. Transnationalism can influence the power of religious officials in our complex global environment. On the other hand, in an autocephalous religious community, its vitality may be connected more closely to its functions in the mobilization of political power of a particular state or for affirming ethnic identity.

Religion, Local or Ethnic Identity and World Peace:

The role of religion in solidifying ethnic identity can be even more important for religions in pluralistic societies, where supernatural sanction of one’s own culture helps to fend off anomie. Nonetheless, the conclusion that a confluence of religion and ethnic group interests is important to religious vigor raises serious questions about the capacity of religion to unite people across those boundaries. Can a religion that advocates tolerance and diversity and downplays us-them polemics retain vitality? In a local community seeking divine legitimation of its own values, religious ambivalence and non- specificity are not appreciated.

Religious groups are often faced with a dilemma. Officials may choose to embrace the emerging global culture, acknowledge and celebrate global economic interdependence, and foster greater tolerance and open-mindedness towards those who are “different.” The alternative would be to intensify the solidarity between the religion and the national/ethnic group, to stress the differences between “us and them.” The latter course is likely to enhance the number of adherents. While virtually all religions give lip service to a desire for world peace, and world peace requires greater tolerance and understanding between peoples, institutions are actually rewarded with increased numbers and resources when they take the path of identifying with ethnic pride. Hence, the institutional reward system may actually work against openness to diversity. Indeed, the drive for institutional survival may entice religious leaders to follow a path leading to popularity and membership growth. Those religions that do not choose this path may dwindle in numbers and risk continued viability.

5 There is some evidence that religion can enhance patriotism and national fervor, often in the process creating “we/they” distinctions against outsiders. While helpful if done in a balanced manner, this can be dangerous if it sacralizes the nation and its political system, which can theologically result in idolatry. The nation, the land, or the political entity becomes sacred in itself and begins to be the primary sense of worth for the citizenry.

Towards a Global Civil Religion?

Previously we discussed the idea of “civil religion,” the idea that pluralistic societies need a common core of sacred symbols, values, and beliefs to enhance social integration and to provide an overarching system of meaning. Furthermore, Bellah (1970) expressed an expectation that a global civil religion would eventually emerge, alluding to the possibility that American civil religion could eventually be only one part of a new civil religion of the world. The world currently has no such universal system, no myths, rituals, and symbols that powerfully unite the people of the globe – though the spread of human rights and international law gives some prospect for this in the future despite bewildering religious diversity across the globe.

Beyond this lack of a comprehensive and unifying meaning system, this planet is populated by religions that have each historically claimed exclusive access to divine truth. It is hard to imagine how one can have several universalistic, global, evangelistic religions within the same world political space. How can one have mutually exclusive households within the world cultural system?

It is not just social cohesion that it at stake. In the midst of a pluralistic world, with extraordinarily strong self-interests inclining nations and societies to conflict, world organizations such as the World Court and the UN lack the legitimated authority that civil religion can provide. Without some sacralization of their authority, such bodies find it very hard to make their policies binding.

Of course, many other sociologists insist that the primary “glue” that unites most modern societies is not common beliefs and values anyway. For them, economic interdependence, technological linkages between social units, and bureaucratic processes provide the primary coherence, such that a global civil religion is unnecessary. Time will tell if they are correct in such modernist assumptions.

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