Globalization and Conversion

The defining characteristic of contemporary globalization is the accelerated circulation of people and ideas across the globe, aided by technology and typified by mass migration from the Southern to the Northern Hemisphere. There is no lack of literature on globalization and transnational religion. Robertson and Chirico's is the earliest theoretical analysis of the link between globalization and religion, in which they point to the increasing eruptions of religious and quasi-religious concerns and themes within societies worldwide. This entry identifies four main dimensions of the contemporary relationship between religion and globalization.

First, religions currently follow intercontinental immigration networks, making their presence and recruitment now truly global. This is an important factor in many contemporary religious conflict zones, especially where these conflicts are based on economic and political power imbalances.

Second, the construction of global religious networks and global religious identities is accelerated. This is connected to the first dimension, but it goes [Page 466]beyond that. The global spread of religions implies increased contact between religions and, where allowed by national states, increased interreligious competition for members. This often makes the dialogue between them more complicated.

Third, the increased use of mass media—especially television, the Internet, and e-mail—in both religious practice and religious recruitment is noteworthy. Again, this is connected to the first two factors, but it also has a dynamic of its own. Some religions, such as Pentecostalism, prefer to use certain mass media (radio and television), but there is almost always an influence following from this use on the religious organization itself. Its liturgical styles often change, the “health and way” gospel often becomes more important, and the religious organization continuously needs more funds to finance its mass media operations.

Fourth, political religion or religious fundamentalism was already on the rise in the 1970s, culminating in the guerrilla insurgency against the Russians in Afghanistan and the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979. Political religion was visible during the starting phase of all world religions, but the current pace of globalization has intensified global religious competition and hence global religious conflicts. In some areas, especially the Middle East and South Asia, this tendency has led to armed conflicts that are framed in religious terms.