Globalization, Subsuming Pluralism, Transnational Organizations, Diaspora, and Postmodernity

Abstract

Following a discussion of the meaning of the term, globalization, the article examines the different ways that religion has been treated in the literature on this subject. Much of this work ignores religion almost entirely; but where it does find a serious place, emphases are on a global ‘religious’ function; on religious pluralism; on the religious dimension of local, ethnic, national, and civilizational identities; and on the way that transnational religious movements, religious organizations, and religious networks are able to go beyond and even ignore state and other local boundaries. As such religion is a prime way of expressing both universality and particularity in global society. In contrast to the global capitalist economy, religions are more divergent than convergent; and yet like culture and nation, religion is a social form to which all humans have access. In true postmodern fashion, religions provide a way of multiplying ultimate narratives, of doing difference in a situation where we all share the same place and time. Moreover, through the creation of diaspora communities, the amplification of readily accessible communication technologies, and the development of transnational organization, religions attain a more globalized presence, abstracting more and more from particular places and cultures. Globalization therefore provides conditions for the multicentered reformation and reformulation of religious traditions; and for the creation of new religions whose existence is simultaneously global and local, tied to place and yet not tied to place.