Introduction
Religious resurgence is the transformation of belief systems to suit the global world. The resurgence process tends to differ between the belief systems exercised by different communities in the world. Of all the belief systems the Christian faith is believed to be the most changed form of religion. It has moved a long way from Judaism to the modern Christian cultures and beliefs. The Islamic religion has also been slightly transformed to enable the modern Muslim faithful to fit in the modern society.
Buddhists and Sikhs have also undergone some key transformations to enable the believers to perfectly coexist with one another. Globalization and religious resurgence however is a very wide and complex topic. This is because the study has been modeled through the simplification of complex theories.
It is believed that people have increasingly used religious concepts such as radicalism and extremism to dictate and describe their international connections with the rest of the world. For instance, the extremist in the Middle East has used Islamic religion as the unifying factor which joins their countries together.
The Christian revivalists and resurgence which is mainly identified in Europe and western countries have also glued them together. Similarly, the fundamentalists in the Asian continent have also played a big role in the integration process of the Asian countries. People with similar beliefs systems will tend to share common objectives and goals. It becomes easier for nations that share a common religious belief to relate with one another. This paper seeks to analyze some of the impacts that the religious resurgence in the contemporary world has made in international relations.
Secularism
In most cases, religion and politics cannot be separated. This is because the political leaders in the various nations are also believers and followers of the belief system that exists in that country. The influence of religion on politics is shown during the election periods. People will often elect one of their own, meaning that the leader ought to come from their belief system. There is, therefore, a very close connection between people who share similar beliefs. This connection is also depicted between nations sharing similar faith. It is because of this faith attraction that makes the Middle East, Asia, and the Western countries be united. Globalization has nevertheless pushed for revival in religious beliefs (Antoun, & Hegland, 1987, p. 2).
This is because nations have come to understand that they cannot operate on their own. The revival has also led to the removal of the extremist and fundamentals which bars easy interconnections between nations. A good example of religious resurgence in the contemporary world is the Turkish secularism status. According to Yavuz & Esposito, 2003, secularism is the removal of religious denomination authority from the general constitution of the nation.
The move, therefore, gives the residence freedom to choose the kind and type of religion they want to engage themselves in. as it is also noted, the Turkish Islamic faith has also been moderated to suit the modern secular beliefs. For instance, a Muslim in Turkey can intermarry from other religious faithful (Hurd, E.S., 2007, p. 8). This is not an acceptable move in the extremist and fundamentalist nations within the Middle East. According to the fundamentalists, it is taboo for a Muslim to marry an outcast, and such a move can lead to seclusion or disciplinary action. The secularist nature of Turkey has greatly enabled it to interact freely with the rest of the European countries.
It is because of that religious resurgence that the European nations have opted to consider including it in the EU (Esposito & Tamimi, 2000, p. 6). It is mainly argued that the westerners are mostly afraid of the strict and harsh rules which are mainly common in the Islamic fundamentalist. It is also important to note that religious beliefs, mostly Islam, may influence the economic policies within a state. A good example of the economic influence is the belief that the Islamic faithful has on the bank interest.
The Islamic faith believes that banks should not charge interest on the money lent to their clients. To them, interest is illegal extortion of money from a client. Instead, the banks are supposed to share the profit generated by the money lender. This religious and economic policy conflicts with the western and secular belief systems.
According to the secularist, a capitalist form of economy is established where the forces of supply and demand are left to dictate and determine the market operations. To them, charging interest is aimed at maximizing the stakeholder’s wealth. Through interest charges, banks can influence the demand and supply of loans in the market. These conflicting policies make secularist investors not invest in the Islamic nations. The religious resurgence in the world has therefore made it easy for the countries to easily relate with one another mostly through business. It is believed that secularism has provided a solution to the civil and international wars in Europe.
Secularism has not only provided peace among the warring communities but has also provided political stability in the subject nations. Since secularism has effectively separated the religion and state’s affairs, political accountability amongst the leaders has been raised. The revival has also enabled the European nations to transform from their traditional fundamentalist to the modern socialist states. Similarly, the European nations have been transformed from hierarchical and status-based to rights-based societies. The right-based society acknowledges and appreciates impartiality amongst people. The past experiences of these nations have also greatly enhanced the interrelations between different European nations. It is also evident that countries that share similar beliefs tend to come together by forming a regime.
The regimes are however used to suppress their religious allies in case they tend to threaten the existing unity and political orders. Economic and political sanctions may be advanced to such nations as a move to suppress a negative move from them. There is a long-term challenge on the political leadership in the various countries which mostly emanate from the revitalized religious movements across the world.
The movement has mostly advocated for accountability and in the social, economic, and political equities of the society members. The western and eastern countries have tried to ensure gender equality by empowering the women who had earlier been left out due to fundamentalist beliefs. It is evident that although there have been many challenges on the religious resurgence, the move has lead to the worldwide support for secularism. This has also greatly connected nations, as secular belief has enabled them to share common objectives and dreams in life. Religion and secularism have mutually dominated the world as it caters for the complex and modern societies (Sahliyeh, 1990, p. 306).
The American religious resurgence has undergone some major cultural and sociological changes. It is even said that the resurgence has gone beyond the secular expectations. There have been a lot of religious-political arguments in America which have sort to cover the political debates with the secular language. Religious statements in America have changed to the extreme of making it hard to distinguish between the religious people and the non-religious ones.
There is a constant invocation of God in the public debates as people have tended to take religion in a very light manner. For instance, scientists and stem cell researchers almost overruled the presence of God as they tended to value human life more. It is due to the increased behavioral and belief change that some even attributed hurricane Katrina to God’s punishment on the American people (Ledewitz, 2007, p. 28). American politicians have a great tendency of incorporating some religious statements in their speech. Among the common statements which the politicians have repeatedly used in their public speech includes, “God bless America”.
Islamic Resurgence
The Islamic region has tried to maintain its originality. Since its inception, the religion has consistently tried to maintain the key fundamental teachings which form the basis of its religion. The beliefs retention has therefore made its faithful remain committed to the scriptural teachings established in the Qoran. There have been some changes in the Islamic beliefs as it has been cultivated by the AKP in Turkey and the Egyptian brothers (Thomas, 2007, Para. 2&3).
These two groups of Muslim faithful have greatly influenced the international cooperation’s between the Muslim communities. The Egyptian brothers have successfully been able to unit the Muslim communities from Egypt and other Arab countries. They instill and propagate their unity basing it on the Qoran. According to them, the Muslim-dominated states should come together to formulate a larger community that can take care of their political, economic, and social issues uniformly.
The integration of these communities is also aimed at ensuring that possess power and influence over other states and religions in the world. These religious connections have also outrightly come out to rebel against the non-Islamic communities. Since the Muslim faithful have strong allegiance in their faith, the coalition has worsened their behavior into being extremist. It has constantly instigated conflicts between the Islamic and the non-Islamic communities.
As a result, some groups have even used physical power and jihad towards their opponents. A good example of extremist cooperation is the continued support of Al Qaeda and Al Shabab militias by the governments. These extremist organizations have also been translated into terrorist networks (Tehranian, 2007, p. 7). The networks have therefore been used to fight the threatening parties and nations. They use force, coercion, and threats to demand cooperation and adherence. Such Islamic communities have therefore used religious resurgence to seek power and control in the world.
They have also sort cooperation amongst nations which shares common belief system. Another good example of the Islamic resurgence is the revival of the OPEC communities to ensure their might in the world’s economy. There has been very strong cooperation between the oil-producing countries notably Saudi Arabia and Libya (Stowasser, 1987, p. 77). This economic cooperation also enables the countries to gain political power in the world’s politics.
It has also literally empowered the countries as the integration enables them to control oil prices within the global market. Although the cooperation might seem to be economically based, there is a very strong religious influence in the integration. The resurgence is however observed as these nations interact with one another. For instance, the Saudi Arabia leaders once accused the Iranian leader of supporting and hiding the Muslim extremist (Voll, 1994, p. 309).
In most cases, such conflicts are mainly based on religious beliefs and not the economic cooperation among these nations. The conflicting revolutions have mainly dominated the Muslim brotherhood and the Iranian Muslims. According to the Muslim brothers, religion should not instill hate and rivalry between people; instead, it should enhance unity and cooperation. It is because of this reason that the majority of Muslim brothers have always cooperated and related nicely with other international communities (Haynes, J., 2006, Para. 6).
Conclusion
The religious resurgence in the contemporary world has been coupled with states’ cooperation and integration as they seek to increase their political, social, and economic power in the world. It is also evident that international relations are mostly instigated and propagated by the religious belief of the parties involved. Islamic countries will therefore tend to jointly come together as the secular states on the other hand join up to form an enlarged community. The Asian countries cooperate as they share a common religious belief. The religious revival is therefore basically aimed at improving the relationship between nations.
Reference List
Antoun, R.T & Hegland, M.E., 1987. Religious resurgence: contemporary cases in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. New York, Syracuse University Press. Web.
Esposito, J.L & Tamimi, A., 2000. Islam and secularism in the Middle East. London, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. Web.
Haynes, J., 2006. Religion and international relations in the 21st century: Conflict or cooperation? Web.
Hurd, E.S., 2007. Theorizing religious resurgence. Evanston, Northwestern University. Web.
Ledewitz, B., 2007. American religious democracy: coming to terms with the end of secular politics. Greenwood Publishing Group.
Sahliyeh, E.F., 1990. Religious resurgence and politics in the contemporary world. New York, SUNY Press. Web.
Stowasser, B.F., 1987. The Islamic impulse. Washington, Taylor & Francis. Web.
Tehranian, M., 2007. Globalization and religious resurgence: An historical perspective. California, Aliso Viejo. Web.
Thomas, S.M., 2007. Outwitting the developed countries? Existential insecurity and the global. Web.
Voll, J.O., 1994. Islam, continuity and change in the modern world. New York, Syracuse University Press. Web.
Yavuz, M.H. & Esposito, J.L., 2003. Turkish Islam and the secular state: the Gülen movement. New York, Syracuse University Press. Web.