Religion in a Global context

Fundamentalism

Globalisation - 'The widening, deepening and speeding up of world wide interconnectedness in all aspects of life' (Held).
Fundamentalists - Believe in the literal interpretations of their religious doctrines, and feel threatened by modernity (liberalism, materialism, secularism etc...) Giddens argues that globalisation undermines traditional social norms concerning the nuclear family, gender & sexuality. Therefore people are attracted to fundamentalism because it relieves them from the anxiety & uncertainty caused by a 'risk society'.
Christian fundamentalism - Formed on the principles that liberal societies and watered down religions will lead people to damnation. They want to reintroduce religion into American schools & increase the church attendance rate.
Bruce believes that in the 3rd world fundamentalism occurs due to resistance of changes being imposed upon society from the outside, e.g, 'Westoxification'.
The Islamic revolution - The Shah created a liberal society in Iran where women & non-muslims could vote etc...Shah's new regime ignored islamic principles & alienated religious traditionalists. Then overturned to a society based on Sharia law by Ayatollah Khomeini; Bruce argues that their fundamentalist response was a wish to fix the social and economic change that the Shah had created, he was seen as repressive and a betrayer of Islam.

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Beyer claims that globalisation has caused marginalisation, as religion has been pushed out of politics/public life into the private sphere.
Particularism has emerged, as groups use a mix of fundamentalism & nationalism to express a sense of identity, feeling threatened by globalisation.
Globalisation has encouraged universalism, as there are common values shared within religious. Religious environmentalism is an example of this; many faiths have come together in a common concern to protect a 'God-created world'. Inter-faith dialogue reduces conflict.
Deterritorialisation - Meyer suggests that the worlds religions are becoming less linked to particular geographical locations or social groups.
Countries are no longer identified by religion, e.g, 'Christian country' because technology/migration has lead to people being exposed to many religions, causing hybridised faith. Singelton states that Islam is now a transnational religion.
Lyon (Postmodernist) - Religion has now become disembedded due to the role of the internet, it has become a consumer product, people can 'pick and mix' their faiths through 'spiritual shopping'. They only adopt certain teachings & belief systems that apply to them.
Hunington argues that globalisation can cause a 'clash of civilisations', conflict arises between Christian & Islamic fundamentalist groups in Western society.

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Garrod & Jones wrote about Salman Rushdie and The Satanic Verses, which was a book he published that was seen as offensive & blashphemous to Islam. Due to globalisation & technology, British press drew attention to the situation by criticising Muslim fanatics who were reacting violently to the text. Muslims in Iran soon found out & the Ayatollah Khomeini imposed a death sentence (Fatwah) on Rushdie.
Charlie Hebdo shooting caused by an extremist response to an 'offensive cartoon' of Islam.
Pentacostalism has become a global religion, although it was rooted in America it spread to poor areas in Africa & South America. It has now increased in Britain due to migration, cultural defence and the fact that it offers a sense of community.
There is a resurgence of Catholicism in Britain mainly due to the effect of recent Polish migration.
Criticisms - Chippendale argues that Hunington is grossly misleading about Islam as only a tiny majority of the 1.5 b Muslims are involved in jihad against the west.
Kurtz argues that globalisation isn't all negative & actually revitalised religious traditions because the culture wars fuel stronger beliefs (cultural defence).
Beckford criticises Giddens for being too fixated on fundamentalism, ignoring how globalisation is affecting non-fundamentalist religions such as Catholicism.

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