Chapter 8

There are many definitions of religion. It is not that easy to pin down exactly what religion is and then to ensure that the definition distinguishes religion from magic and from cults and sects. Many people offer definitions without much knowledge of the wide range of religious phenomena and the many different cultural manifestations of religion. It is a rather common misconception to think that religion has to do with god, or gods and supernatural beings, or a supernatural or spiritual dimension or greater reality. None of that is absolutely necessary because there are religions that are without those elements.

In this millennium there are over 6.2 billion people on the planet earth. Most of them would declare that they are religious in some way. Rough estimates are made that place people in the various traditions.

Christianity: 2 billion

Islam: 1.3 billion

Hinduism: 900 million

Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 850 million

Buddhism: 360 million

Chinese traditional religion: 225 million

primal-indigenous: 190 million

Sikhism: 23 million

Yoruba religion: 20 million

Juche: 19 million

Spiritism: 14 million

Judaism: 14 million

Baha'i: 6 million

Jainism: 4 million

Shinto: 4 million

Cao Dai: 3 million

Tenrikyo: 2.4 million

Neo-Paganism: 1 million

Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand

Scientology: 750 thousand

Rastafarianism: 700 thousand

Zoroastrianism: 150 thousand

(Source: https://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialsciences/ppecorino/phil_of_religion_text/CHAPTER_1_OVERVIEW/Religions.htm)

The three religions that are proselytizing religions, seeking more members actively are: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Islam is the fastest-growing of the traditions and will most likely have the most adherents in the world by 2020.

Some of these religions have no belief in a god. Some have no belief in the survival of a soul. Some believe in more than one god. What do they have that makes them religion?

Here is a definition that captures the common core and yet distinguishes religion from other institutions and phenomena. It is from Federick Ferre in his work Basic Modern Philosophy of Religion.

Religion is the most comprehensive and intensive manner of valuing known to human beings. We shall put this definition or understanding aside until the final chapter and after we have examined a number of important issues related to religion. For now it would be less abstract and more useful if the initial idea of religion would be phrased in terms of its characteristics which most people who have any experiences with religion can most likely identify.

These are the common characteristics or family traits of those members of the category or “family” of religion. Just as with family members not every member must have every trait but most have most of the traits. The more any human phenomena demonstrates these traits the more likely it is that it will be included into this category of social institutions known as religion.

Common Characteristics: (family traits)

• Notion of deity or absolute, that which is of ultimate concern and importance

• Ideas on the nature of human beings

• The idea of divine providence, destiny, fate

• The idea and meaning of human history

• Problem of evil explained

• Description of the central problem of human life and suffering idea of an after life-after death

• A concept of the world

• Ideas of human community and ethics-a moral code

The more any phenomena display the characteristics above, it is likely to be accepted as a religion. The fewer the features demonstrated, the less likely it will be termed a religion. It might be termed magic, or sorcery, cult or some other description but not as a full-fledged religion.

Religions of the West- Judaism-Christianity and Islam share in some common traits or characteristics that distinguish them from other religions in this world.

a. Belief in one god

b. Belief in linear history

c. Belief in a sacred scripture-the book

These common features bind the three traditions of the West together. They share many similar ideas. Among those shared are: One god made the universe and along with it the beginning of time and that one god will end the universe. Each human has a soul and at the death of the body the soul shall separate from the body and go on into another dimension. There is a judgment to be made concerning the moral worthiness of the soul at death for an eternal reward or lack thereof. Time is linear and there is but one period of existence for individuals and the entire universe. There may be variations from these basic tenets of the faith or religious beliefs, however, these are ideas fairly typical for most of the religions of the West. Other religions hold for multiple deities or no deities at all, cyclic time and the reincarnation of souls, even multiple reincarnations. Some religions have no idea of a deity and some have no belief in the survival of a soul. As the Living Religions of the World are examined in all their variety in this work it is with the understanding that they display enough of the characteristics listed above to be well placed in the grouping or category labeled as "Religions."

Religion is part of people`s culture. It is part of many people`s way of life. It caters into the spiritual need of people since people always have that belief of being greater than themselves. The term BEING is thought of to have both physical and spiritual attributes that capture the human spirit to the extent that it develops in a people sense of faith and the belief in the unseen----the all-encompassing Supreme Being, God, who has been attributed different names across cultures. Yet, even if religion`s aim is to immerse people into the possession of a sense of God, it is also ironic that because of religion, people hurting and killing each other. This was manifested in the crusades launch by the Catholic monarch in the middle ages and the Jihads by the Muslims when they feel that their culture and their religion are attacked by external invaders. This include the most recent move by the Islamic State of Iran and Syria (ISIS) a radical group to establish a caliphate.

Charles Sanders Pierce Philosophy of pragmatism, the main premise of this philosophy is "to view actions and things to be of value only if it works and brings satisfaction”. This philosophy sees goodness in people and things only if they are of value to a person. In line with this thinking, a person or thing is only good if it is only of value and not good if they have no value at all. This philosophy contradicts the tenets of religions, most especially, Christianity which looks at the innate goodness of man whoever and wherever he is. The above-mentioned philosophies are indubitably major causes of secularization since they give a premium to human freedom to determine himself and the world before him.

There is no doubt that religion is something that could infiltrate into the consciousness of a person. It had exploited the Filipinos as the history of the country could attest. Religion, though foreign in origin, had also been employed to advance the early Filipino people`s innate longing for independence from foreign colonizers. After all, religion could also likened to a two-edged sword since it could also enable people do the things that might be detrimental even at the expense of their own wellbeing. Religion penetrates the inner core of people`s consciousness in such a way that it has become an integral part of their lives. Hence, with the things happening in the modern world because of the workings of innovation and globalization, religion remains to be a very influential element in the lives of people.

Fascism during World War II posed a great challenge to religion. Fascism was very against Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic in the sense that religion served as a great competitor of fascism in relation to capturing people`s hearts and support. Fascism's relation with religion ranges from persecution to renunciation, and at times, compromise. Fascism and religion are very opposite from each other since many religions are products or have been introduced by foreign entities while fascism is ultranationalist and authoritarian. Religion would allow someone from outside to determine its direction, fascism gives premium on the things from within. While religion is one of the off shoots of globalization, fascism gives credence to the nationalistic flavors, which denounces some sorts of external interference and intervention.

Another challenge to religion is communism. Like fascism, communism is nationalistic in the sense that it espouses each workingman`s loyalty to the state, which is governed through the dictatorship of the proletariat or the working class. Religion demands loyalty from its members, while communism demands and requires the working class to be loyal to the state. Not only that , in many religions, there are according to hardcore communists, semblances of hypocrisies in favor of the interest capitalistic society (Mason, 1924). It`s true to many religions in the world that own big businesses.

For instance, the Roman Catholic Church owns the Vatican Bank, which has estimated assets of 8 billion US dollars. The Vatican at times rented the Sistine Chapel for charity purposes not to mention the influx of tourists in Vatican City. It is clear with this example alone that communism is a challenge to religion since many religions have businesses and financial connections, which are semblances of capitalism. Aside from Catholicism, other religions such as Protestantism have strong connections to the development of capitalism. Max Weber, a famous sociologist, has in one way or another, asserted that capitalism finds its roots in many Protestants cities [Novak, 2010]. Religion transcends beyond the borders of states, which is very much in contrast with the teaching of communism. After all, communism is a challenge to internationalism, which is one of the drivers of globalization.

around the globe, and thus, carry with them their religious affiliations and learnings wherever their destinations are where ever they tend to settle down. This creates a process of reconstructing, creating, or recreating locality. It is in this sense that the construction of a locality can be construed as also a product of globalization [Appadurai, 1995].

The globalization of religion manifests the retention of one`s religion and culture in a foreign land with completely different ways of life. These are what we referred to as cultural hybrids. As globalization enables another and one timeline to the next, it would be easy to assert that this will further lead to another development in the realm of religion, culture, and the way people view and perceive the contemporary world [Steger, 2014]. This is the reason behind the phenomenon why there are Filipino communities in Europe, America, the Middle East, and other countries around the world that still profess and practice their Christian faith or religion. The reason for this is that religion is a product of a long-term process of inter-civilizational or cross-cultural interactions [Steger, 2014]. Even with the fact at hand, religion still has to face challenges of what is put in front of them. After all, religions have to adapt to existing localities in order for them to be relevant in the ever-changing contemporary world.

After the Second World War II, the Vietnam war, and the revolution of Cambodia, many people from Southeast Asia migrated from their home countries to the first world countries in America and Europe. Through migration, people from the said countries are able to live and adapt to the culture of the countries that they have migrated to in terms of working environment, education, and social relations. It is quite fascinating that while people have become accustomed to the cultures of the countries that they have migrated to, a large number of them have purposely retained their own culture including religion. These people have continued to maintain ties with their home countries thereby maintaining their links to their roots, and thus their links also to their families and friends. This paved the way for the development of the connection between migrant people and religion in a transnational context [Steger, 2014]

According to Casanova [2001] Martin [2001] and Roy [2004], associated with the way people across their motherland’s borders, the migration of religion across the world has been a characterizing feature of the 20th-century world. Hence, it is needless to say that one of the basic landscapes of the present era points to the deterritorialization of religion. In this sense, the landscapes of a number of religions in places where such religions have been previously unknown have been directly or indirectly established [Steger, 2014]. In the United States, there are a lot of Catholic communities where most of the members are from Latin American nations such as Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, etc., not to mention the strong presence of Filipino die-hard from the Philippines.

In the case of the Overseas Filipino Workers [OFW] in the Middle East in which non-Islam is prohibited and outlawed, there are stories that Filipino migrant workers find time to gather in a secret and secluded place to worship GOD in line with their Christian faith even at the risk of being punished, deported, or even jailed for a certain amount of time. This phenomenon manifests that with the drivers of globalization that is very much felt in the present era, the realm of religion has not been able to escape the present world`s dynamic essence that it also cuts across boundaries just as people professing particular faiths move from one state boundary another.

References:

• Acuto, M. (2011). Finding the global city: An analystical journey through the “invinsible college” Urban Studies, 48 (14): 2953-73.

• Adorno, T.W., & Horkheimer M. (2002). Dialetic of Enlightment. Trans. Edmund Jephcott, Stanford: Standford University Press.

• Aguilar, FV., Fr (2009) Differentiating sedimented from modular transnationalism: The view from East Asia . Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 21 (2), 2012^th ser.