Globalization vs. Traditional Religion

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-placentra-johhston/globalization-vs-traditional-religion_b_2170609.html

Margaret Placentra Johhston
Author, 'Faith Beyond Belief: Stories of Good People Who Left Their Church Behind'

Posted: 11/26/2012 3:16 pm

We may as well face some facts. Back in the old days people would be born, live and die in the same village. Everyone they knew was of the same nationality, ate the same kinds of food, wore similar clothes and, most likely, was of the same religion. Some may have been vaguely aware that other cultures exist, but lacking any real contact with them, it was almost as if people from those other cultures were not really real. Back then it was common and acceptable to perceive one's own culture and religion as central -- and to see all others as somehow not "counting" quite as much. Few people had reason to think any more widely than this: provincial worldviews were the norm.

But as transportation options improved, people began to move from place to place. Then suddenly they were exposed to people who were different. Some wound up with neighbors from a different country. Some might have had coworkers, or even supervisors, from a different religion.

This brushing up against different world cultures would have caused people to compare their own customs and beliefs against those of these strangers. Generally speaking, two types of reaction were possible: 1) people could retreat into their comfortable and familiar worldviews, resisting and resenting the influx of these strangers into their awareness. They could dig in their heels and insist their own ways were more real, more right, and more valid than all the others. Or 2) They could forge relationships with the strangers and seek to understand the differences. They could try the strangers' foods, listen to their music, even engage in conversations about their contrasting religious beliefs. People choosing this more transformative response would find themselves seeing commonalities with these strangers. They would likely come to see that there is good and bad, truth and falseness in all cultures -- and all religions. This most likely would loosen the stronghold of religious exclusivity, and weaken the fences between people with different beliefs.

People choosing the first option above would be refusing to allow themselves the opportunity to learn about others. They would be excluding a part of the truth from their awareness. They would be reinforcing their own provincialism and limiting their own growth. Conversely, those choosing the second option would be allowing more of the truth about our existence into their awareness, expanding their own horizons, growing.

more at link

[lalalu]

1. Still pushing globalization.

So we only have two options in the whole world? Hide in our villages or become global pawns for the plutocrats?

Thanks for posting this. It proves what I have told people for decades. That those on the left pretending to be liberals have also been proponents of outsourcing, trade agreements, and globalization.

Not surprised this is coming from Huffington Post which was founded by Mrs. I love Ronnie Reagan and his policies but I now pose as a progressive.

[rug]

4. What a bizarre post.

[lalalu]

5. As bizarre as thinking globalization is good.

Next there will be a thread that greed is good.

[tama]

6. It's not globalization

it's the final stage of capitalistic imperialism. It's neoliberal anti-Earth cancer, it's Jeebus saying "Procreate, Ye Mammon Worshippers, and Fill the Earth" followed by Manic Evil Laughter and then rolling on the floor in hysterical fits. That dude had really sick and twisted sense of humor.

But it's not all bad in the big picture, because it is the path opener and challenge for real globalization, which is wrongly called anti-globalization movement. The global grass roots revolution against neoliberal world order with global networks of mutual aid and solidarity, creating another world because it's possible.

[tama]

7. Has there ever been

much real life difference between Catholic universalism and "globalization" by Mammon worshippers?

[libdem4life]

2. Right on the mark. I also see it as a Left-Right continuum. The parties that cluster around

one or the other memes are having a difficult time justifying the religious/social attributes with politics. It's the trend from Red State to Blue State as the above happens in a geographical sense. Cities/urban and Farms/rural.

Then add in the newer arriving cultures, such as Hispanic, Cubano, Asian, and it gets even more complex, but mostly to the urban population.

It is not just by chance that the coastlines or riverbeds are typically the Bluest and the heartland is the Reddest...even in ancient history such was the case, and for likely similar reasons. Those who have learned their future well-being is co-mingling with and assimilating other cultures and religions and that said future translates to profits ... that they grow even as they integrate the Red State to Blue State "immigrants" for whom the farm or small town can no longer meet their economic needs. Waterways seem to encourage this evolution.

I hopefully see the future as trending Blue and inclusive, rather than Red and exclusive.

[cbayer]

3. Agree. Those that belong to the groups that

"insist their own ways are more real, more right, and more valid than all the others" are the most likely to create and reinforce divisions and to try and force their POV's on others. I would include both believers and non-believers in this. They only hurt and divide our party and what we strive for.

Great post