Globalisation and Religion

Religion in a global context

Ways globalisation may have impacted the nature of religion

1. Rising technological interconnectedness caused by globalisation means religion is now increasingly going online. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a rise in online church services, facilitated by more technological interconnectedness. Additionally, more people now use the mobile phone bible, rather than the physical book, suggesting that globalisation has changed the way people practice their religion.

Post-modernists - this alternative of practising religion online is a new alternative that may be replacing religion and religious practice.

Evaluation:

However, people no longer attending church in person may not be caused by globalisation entirely and rising individualisation may also play a role as people have more freedom and choice to choose how they practice their religion.

However, functionalists such as Parsons argue that people still choose to attend church as they can't gain the same collective effervescence online as they can in church. Therefore, online religion may not be fully replacing people's religious activities but just supplementing them.

2. Globalisation has led to more religious conflicts. Huntingdon - this is because globalisation has led to civilisation consciousness as it causes the world to appear smaller. As a result, we are more aware of the civilisations we live in which can exacerbate differences, such as religious differences, and fundamentally cause conflicts.

To highlight this, Huntingdon points out that there are many conflicts on the borders of civilisations 📝e.g. Clashes between Palestine and Israel, which are based on religion. Therefore, because of globalisation, we now see increasing religious conflicts between civilisations as we are more interconnected.

However, globalisation may not be that significant here as civilisations have already had conflicts before we became globalised. Thus, globalisation may not have caused conflicts as some conflicts between civilisations pre-date globalisation.

3. More access to alternative beliefs means people can take a "pick and mix approach" to religion. Postmodernist emphasis on choice and consumerism and call it a global spiritual supermarket