Religion and Society: Agreements & Controversies

HTS Theological Studies/Teologiese Studies, 2011

2011

The Reformation and the movement which grew out of it paved the way for the Enlightenment by removing all agencies of intellectual control which inhibited freedom of expression and rational discourses. The secularization theory or thesis which affirms the inevitable decline or death of religion with the advances of modernization and development is a product of Enlightenment thinking and has been espoused by its thinkers. In the last 300 years however religion has not declined, it has grown and some parts of the world are more religious today than at any time. Religion which normally belongs to private sphere is making a bold reassertion and comeback into public sphere. The deprivatization of religion is a fact of the post-9/11 global reality and religion is bound to play more prominent role in the public sphere in future. Why is religion so important? Does religion matter? Is religion cardinal to development and progress? This essay examines the critical role of religion in development and progress in the past and how it can be a catalyst for advancement even now-instead of a sword of vengeance and hate. Using the historical method it examines the positive roles of religion across several epochs of human civilization. Introduction Great thinkers of the past have posited on what they believed to be the inevitable decline or death of religion with the advent of modernization. In the thoughts and writings of August Comte, Karl Marx, Max Weber and even Sigmund Freud, among others, religion is regarded as the unnecessary baggage of man's superstitious and ignorant mind, the opium invented by the rich to keep the poor in poverty and collective amnesia-away from an ever-present disastrous realities; a deceptive scheme to divert man's attention from his present problems to a future utopia. It was affirmed by these experts that with modernization and industrialization religion which normally belongs to the private sphere of life will totally decline. However, religion has refused to die or decline. In actuality, rather than being consigned to the private sphere it is making a comeback to the public sphere. And the future will not be different. In fact research and observation of world trends have shown that " the world is becoming more religious not less, the number of worshippers worldwide is on the rise and more people report that religion plays important role in their lives. " 1 A lot of atrocities has been committed in the name of religion and by religious exponents. History is replete with sickening cruelties, mind-boggling accounts of murder, bloodshed, genocide, wars of aggression, expansionist schemes, exploitation, expropriation, inquisition, oppression of minorities, unjust taxes, burnings, destruction of intellectual property, mass suicide, manipulation, forcible conversion, etc. We read these accounts today with dread and angst and we wonder how religion which is supposed to be a tool for spiritual engagement and reapproachment between man and his Maker could degenerate to this level. And even in our days things are hardly better. The population of a section of this country today is still living in fear for their lives because of the evil deeds and meaningless war being waged by a fringe sect of a particular religion. It is for cases like this that Wole Soyinka in an interview on BBC some years ago said that religion has brought woes on Africa.

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Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2008

The oldest institution on earth, the Roman Catholic Church, sustains a far-flung flock whose one billion-plus adherents comprise nearly one-sixth of the world's population and half of all Christians. The tectonic shift of the world's Catholic population to the 'global south' has transformed the Church into a truly global institution. In 1910 two-thirds of Catholics were Europeans; now over two-thirds live in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. 1 Leadership of the Church reflects this new global reality, not only in the person of Pope Francis but in the many cardinals he has appointed from across the world. Also crucial to understanding the Church's political role is its deep tradition of engagement with worldly affairs-a comfortableness with politics not shared by all religious faiths. These facts, combined with the visibility and popularity of Pope Francis, ensure the impact of the Church in world politics. The Catholic Church, however, defies easy political categorisation. On the one hand it remains a quintessentially conservative body with a hierarchical organisation designed to preserve traditional theological teachings. This impulse produces conservative stances on sexual morality, abortion, and marriage, and puts the Church in alliance with other religious traditionalists, including Muslims. On the other hand, Catholic teachings on the dignity of the human person and the authenticity of the common good produce concern for the poor in the global economy and, especially in recent decades, advocacy of religious freedom, human rights, and democratic governance. 2 Thus the Church stands in seeming equipoise between contending impulses of tradition and modernity. Despite this strategic position the Church faces challenges that can blunt its political impact. A shortage of priests and women religious (nuns and sisters) stretches Church resources in some places, while elsewhere the Church must sustain itself amidst syncretic influences of local cultures, desperate poverty, or hostile governments. Thus Catholic politics varies enormously by region, context, and issue. This chapter begins with a review of the theological and historical context of Catholic engagement with politics, paying particular attention to the evolution of Catholic social teaching. It will then examine Vatican diplomacy and global initiatives, with emphasis on the papacies of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. This is followed by a discussion of Catholic politics in different regions of the world. The chapter concludes by examining issues that loom large on the

2000

It is beyond any question that any society or nation is not void of religion of some kind or other. Today religion and its various practices have become the macro-determinants of social, economic, cultural and political aspects of any nation. Both in history and at present, religious beliefs, ideas, philosophies, structures, social systems, cultural patterns, institutions, rituals and symbols are in the process of exploration. There are theories that suggest a mode of interdependence wherein one sees religion as the soul of the society, but such a perspective does not take into account the existence of certain aspects of societies or cultures whose identifiable elements do not fit into popular prescribed religious elements. Such heterogeneity is confused with and against grammatical directives of dominant religious praxis and popular culture, which clashes with a societal interpretation of functional rules for a nation's governance and policymaking. Karl Marx in his statement notes that 'Religion is the opium of people.' For many intellectuals, perhaps this statement is the lone source to know about the ideas, ideology and writings of Marx, mostly quoted – rather misquoted – as per the whims and fancies. This is more specific when such intellectuals from the European Christian background or that of any other similar religions. This differing opinion about religion needs a serious revisit. This snippet from Marx's Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right goes like this… 'Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world, and the soul of the soulless conditions. " It is the opium of the people. " The abolition of religions as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their conditions is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo. Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and pluck the living flower. The criticism of religion disillusions man, so that he will think, act and fashion his reality like a man who has discarded his illusions and regained his senses, so that he will move around himself as his own true Sun. Religion is only the illusory Sun which revolves around man as long as he does not revolve around himself.' In the Indian context too, one could observe many critiques of religion. In modern India, Ambedkar was the first person to challenge the more liberal paradigms of Vivekanand and Gandhi where he emphasised untouchabilty as part of the caste system, whereas caste system is the foundation on which the Hindu religion stands. He believed that repairing the blot of untouchability

Current Sociology, 2014

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the sociology of religion enjoyed a remarkable growth in both theory and empirical research. The scholarly consensus argues that the early secularization thesis associated with modernization theory was misleading and simplistic, or that it was primarily relevant to northern Europe. Beyond the European framework, there is ample evidence that religion continues to play a major role in society, culture and politics. With urbanization in the developing world, there has come increasing piety and religious revivalism. Religion will be a major factor in political and ideological struggles across the globe in this century. One negative aspect of this focus on political conflict, however, has been an over-concentration on radical Islam and other manifestations of religious violence.

Theology in dialogue. The impact of the Arts, …, 2002