Global Developments in Religion The document discusses global developments in three major world religions: Christianity, Hinduism/Buddhism, and Islam. For Christianity, it summarizes that the religion has grown rapidly in the Global South (Africa, Latin America, Asia-Pacific) in the last century due to higher birth rates and conversions. Pentecostalism has been a major driver of Christianity's growth. For Islam, it notes the rise of the global Muslim community (Ummah) due to factors like migration, technology and events like the Hajj pilgrimage. It also discusses concepts like Islamic fundamentalism.

1. Global Developments
In Religion
 Christianity
 Hinduism and Buddhism
 Fundamentalist Islam

2. Global developments
in Christianity
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3. This chapter is interested in examining the vitality of christianity in the
asian-pacific, africa and latin america.
After reading this chapter you will:
• be introduced to global developments in Christianity in the past 100
years;
• be aware of the regions and countries in which Christianity is growing
rapidly; and
• understand the sociological explanations for such developments.

4. Christianity's rise in the Global South
• Christianity is the world’s largest religion, with an estimated 2 billion adherents
worldwide in 2010 (Pew Forum 2011a: 9).
• Christianity was founded in the Middle East, was originally a Jewish sect, and its first
followers were persecuted by the Roman Empire.
• Within a few centuries, its fortunes changed; in 312 CE the Roman Emperor Constantine
declared it the religion of the Roman Empire, and its ascendancy to being the world’s
biggest religion began (McLeod 2003: 1).
• Over the next few centuries it grew mainly in Europe

5. • At the start of the twentieth century, the majority of the world’s Christians lived in the
Global North.
• The proportion of the world’s Christians who live in the Global South has increased
significantly, while the proportion who live in the Global North has shrunk markedly.
Christianity worldwide has turned upside down, and has literally ‘gone South'.
• In 1910, 66 percent of the world’s Christians lived in Europe.
• By 2010, that had dropped to 26 percent. In that time, Christianity has grown
significantly in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.
• In simple terms, the majority of the world’s Christians live in the Global South

6. Why has Christianity gone south?
1. Population growth in the Global South: the rate of population growth in Latin America has
generally outstripped population growth in the Global North. In effect, more Christians are
being born in Latin America than in the Global North.
• the rate of population growth in Latin America has generally outstripped population growth in the
Global North. In effect, more Christians are being born in Latin America than in the Global North.
• It is a similar story in the Asia-Pacific, where the Pew Forum (2011a: 15) estimates the proportion
of the population identifying as Christian has grown from 2.7 percent of the population in 1910 to
7 percent of the population in 2010.
• People there have converted, and consequent children are born into Christian families.
• the overall population growth in these regions generally outstrips the population growth in the
Global North. Through a combination of higher birth rates, and an increasing number of
adherents, Christianity now has more followers in the Global South than the Global North.

7. Why Christianity as the dominant religion in the
Global South?
1. It is derived from Colonialism: it is an inheritance (or imposition) from the age of European colonization.
• This has since been nurtured by effective missionary activity and evangelism, the nationalization of churches
(churches administered by locals rather than foreigners), and the lack of effective competition from other religions.
• This is the status quo in majority Christian countries like Brazil, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and South Africa
etc.
2. Has new dynamic styles: In minority Christian countries (e.g. China, India, Viet Nam), vigorous evangelism and the
loosening of state restrictions on Christianity are all important factors in the growth of Christianity.
3. Is associated with minimal materialism in the Global South (as compared to the Global North) facilates easier
conversion: the Global South is not as excessively materialised as the Global North. This facilates a situation
where people are easier to convert to Christian teachings of a spiritual life.
4. Has material benefits for communities: provides social acceptance, personal meaning, material opportunities,
social services and community. The need for these can be heightened in societies experiencing rapid social transition,
as is the case in many countries in the Global South.

8. Pentecostalism as a phenomenon
behind the rise of Christianity in
the Global South
What is a pentecostalism?
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is
a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement that emphasizes
direct personal experience of God through baptism with the
Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, an
event that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon
the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were
in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in
the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1–31).
• Main characteristics: speaking in tongues, miracle working,
prophecy, and other 'manifestations of the holy spirit'.
• Worldwide, Pentecostalism is now among the fastest-
growing movements within Christianity.
• An estimated 584 million people worldwide are Pentecostal,
representing 8.5 percent of the world’s population. It has
become the dominant form of protestantism in the Global
South.
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9. Factors
explaining the
growth of
pentecostalism
1. Adaptability: it is adaptable to local conditions. It has proven attractive to a
wide variety of peoples in different cultural settings. It is easy to adopt and
above all easy to adapt. Individuals and small communities ‘moved by the spirit’
can readily establish their own church, and lay persons often are able to serve in
pastoral roles.
2. Worship style, spirituality and theology: Pentecostalism is dynamic religion: it is
contemporary, alive and energizing. This is often in contrast to the staid,
liturgical and traditional styles found in the mainline churches. The widespread
use of supernatural teachings, prosperity gospel and contemporary gospel
music and an exuberant worship style are seen as critical to Pentecostalism’s
appeal.
3. Effective Evangelism: Traveling crusades … books, tapes and DVDs and the
beaming of televangelist radio and television programs have been central to
capturing broad audiences. Likewise there are a host of Pentecostal banners,
sign boards, stickers, and sounds that index the presence and power of
Pentecostal churches.
Other factors include: Urbanisation & social dislocation, and gender (women are
active participants in leadership).

10. Christianity in Africa
• Christianity is growing quickly in Africa. One estimate suggests that
22,800 Africans become Christian every day.
• Like other places in the Global South, in recent decades it has been
Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity which has grown most rapidly,
drawing in both converts to Christianity, and ‘switchers’ from the
mainline denominations. The main pull factor is the dimension of
prosperity gospel.
• The ‘mainline’ Christian denominations are an important presence. An
inheritance from the age of colonialism, they have grown prodigiously
in the twentieth century, and today there are large populations of
Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans and other conservative Protestants in
Sub-Saharan Africa.
• These traditional, mainline churches make an enormous contribution to
the provision of education, health care and social services.
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11. • African Christianity is not simply an inheritance of European colonization and
missionizing.
• Christianity, remarkably, had been a presence in Africa for almost two millennia:
the Ethiopian Orthodox church was established perhaps as early as the first
century AD. It became the state religion of Ethiopia in the fourth century AD.
• This is not the only form of African Christianity which owes little to European
colonization. In the early twentieth century several vibrant churches emerged,
established by Africans rather than European missionaries. These include the
Zionist Christian, Nazarite Baptist and Aladura churches.
• More recently, independent Pentecostal and charismatic churches have emerged.
These indigenous African churches are known collectively as African Independent
Churches. The uptake of Christianity has not obliterated indigenous folk religion
entirely, and the spirituality of many African Independent Churches is an
admixture of folk religion and Christianity.

12. Christianity in
China
• China has its own significant indigenous religions (e.g confucianism &
taoism), but like most parts of the globe, Christianity is present there
as well.
• The Pew Forum (2011a: 97) estimates there are now 67 million
Chinese Christians, about 5 percent of the population, the majority of
whom are Protestants. Scholars note that Pentecostalism is an
important part of this growth (see Cox 1995; Anderson 2000).
• Christianity’s fortunes flactuated in China, In the 19th century there
was extensive and vigorous missionary activity and the numbers of
Chinese Christians grew substantially.
• Christian growth was halted dramatically by the Communist regime in
1949. At that time, there were approximately 700,000 to 1 million
Christians in China.
• Initially, Christianity was brought under state control, however: with
the 1960s ‘Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution’ religion was officially
banned and Christians were harshly persecuted.
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13. • This ban was later dropped, but Christianity is still technically regulated by
the Communist state, and Chinese Christians are supposed to follow one of three
official church movements.
• These three ‘religious markets’ emerge: the red market, which is state-
sanctioned religious activity (e.g. one of the official Church movements);
the black market, which is officially banned religious activity (e.g. membership of
the unofficial branches of the Catholic church); and a gray market, which is religious
activities with an ambiguous legal status (e.g. yoga practice, or Chinese spiritual practices
like Qigong).

14. Discussion point...
To what extent do you think we have adopted an Americanised version
of Christianity in Africa?

15. Global
developments
in Islam
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16. Brief background on Islam as a religion
• Islam started around 610 CE in Mecca, a city in present-day Saudi Arabia. Islam is the name of the religion, although its followers are commonly referred
to as Muslims.
• Islam began with Muhammad, Islam’s most important prophet. According to Islamic sources, Muhammad was a religiously inclined caravan operator
(Esposito 1999: 50). He lived in a society in which most of the population followed polytheistic religions. In his early 40s, he began receiving messages –
divine revelations from God – from the archangel Gabriel.
• Muhammad founded a new religion based on the angel’s messages. These revelations eventually were collected together to form the Qur’an, Islam’s
holiest book.
• Muslims revere the Qur’an as the authentic, unmediated word of God. The Islamic religion is monotheistic, and followers believe in the one God, called
Allah (the Arabic word for God). This is effectively the same God worshipped by Christians and Jews (Kheirabadi 2004: 4). Islam, Christianity and Judaism
are known as the ‘Abrahamic’ religions. These faiths share the ‘common belief in God, prophets, revelation, a divinely mandated community, and moral
responsibility’ (Esposito 1999: 49).
• Modern Jews, Christians and Muslims are inheritors of a religious tradition that goes back to biblical figure Abraham, hence the title of ‘Abrahamic’
religions.
• Muslims are required to fulfill several religious obligations, the ‘five pillars of Islam’. These are acceptance of a creed (‘There is no God but Allah, and
Muhammad is his prophet’), prayer five times daily at set times, fasting (during the month of Ramadan), alms (giving to the poor) and pilgrimage (to
Mecca, at least once in a Muslim’s life, known as the Hajj, but only if this is financially viable).
• The pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the world’s largest massed religious rituals, and is the subject of this chapter’s case study.
• Contemporary Islam has two major branches, Sunni and Shia (the followers are called Sunnis and Shias or Shi’ites). This division stems from the earliest
days of Islam, when a schism occurred over the matter of Muhammad’s successor.
• Approximately 87–90 percent of the world’s Muslims are followers of the Sunni tradition, with Shi’ites and sects making up the remainder (Pew Forum
2011b: 153).
• Like all religions Islam has many small sects, some of which diverge considerably from orthodox Islamic teaching.

17. The rise of the global Ummah
• Islam is a diverse religion, and yet it is unified in a unique and important way; the ummah.
• What is the Ummah?: This is the idea that Muslims together constitute a worldwide community
of faith that transcends borders, cultures and ethnicities.
• The ummah is a ‘state of mind, a form of social consciousness, or an imagined community’ of the
faithful.
• While this idea has long been important in Islam, arguably it has grown in significance and
meaning in the last few decades and now has an increasingly global dimension.
• Scholars argue processes associated with globalization, particularly widespread migration, faster
and cheaper transport, and far-reaching media networks, have contributed to the rise and
development of a truly global ummah.
• The Internet is not the only factor contributing to the rise of the global ummah.

18. The 'Dannish Cartoon Affair' as a case study
that shows the rise of the global 'Ummah'
• In 2005 the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten,
published 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
• Many Danish Muslims were deeply offended by the
cartoons. Muslims around the world joined the protest,
expressing their displeasure in street protests, through
diplomatic channels and in the social media.
• Saunders (2008: 304) notes that the ‘ummah’s global
response to the “Cartoons Affair” underscores the
development of a robust collective identity among the
world’s Muslims’.
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19. The Hajj as a case study that shows the rise of
the global 'Ummah'
• ‘the annual Hajj (“pilgrimage”) has long served as a mechanism for making the
global ummah a reality’.
• One of the five pillars of Islam is the requirement (if feasible) that ‘every Muslim,
anywhere in the world, is obliged to perform, at least once in a lifetime, the Hajj,
or ritual pilgrimage, to Mecca’.
• Mecca is a city in eastern Saudi Arabia and the birthplace of Muhammad, Islam’s
most important prophet.
• The Hajj is open to Muslims only. It is undertaken at the same time each year,
during the eighth, ninth and tenth days of the last month in the Muslim calendar.
• Collectively performed rituals such as the HAjj has the function of uniting a
religious community. Durkheim argued ‘collective effervescence’ is generated in
the midst of large religious ceremonies or during religious rituals.
• The experience of collective effervescence can unite members of the same
religion and reinforce group solidarity and collective identity
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20. The global distribution
of the world's muslims
• As of 2010, 23.4 percent of people globally – about a
quarter of the world’s population – are Muslims.
• In today’s world, the majority of Muslims do not live in
the Middle East where Islam was founded (although all
countries there, apart from Israel, have Muslim majority
populations).
• The world’s four most populous Muslim nations are all in
the Asia-Pacific region: Indonesia, Pakistan, India and
Bangladesh. Apart from India, these are all Muslim-
majority countries.
• Overall, the world’s Muslims live mainly in Muslim
majority countries, most of which are economically
developing nations in the Global South.
• Only about 3 percent of the world’s Muslims live in the
most developed parts of the world: Europe, North
America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

21. UNDERSTANDING SOME ‘ISMS’ ASSOCIATED WITH CONTEMPORARY
ISLAM: FUNDAMENTALISM, EXTREMISM, RADICALISM, TERRORISM
On Islamic fundamentalism
• This refers to a theologically strict and conservative form of Islam which cultivates a pronounced
sense of ‘us’ (the true followers of the faith) and ‘them’ (liberals or non-believers).
• It encompasses a spectrum of views about matters of doctrine, ranging from the very strict and
conservative to the very liberal. Communities which follow a strict doctrinal code typically have
rules which govern dress and worship style, gender roles, permissible activities, paid work
and social interaction.
• There are groups and movements in Islam which might be described as fundamentalist. The
recently deposed Taliban regime in Afghanistan, for example, professed an extreme version of
Sunni Islam. This included strict policies about education, dress, and music and severe restrictions
on the roles of women.
• Other scholars refuse to classify such groups broadly as being merely 'fundamentalist', preferring
to call such movements ‘militant’, ‘radical’, ‘extremist’ or ‘Islamist’.

22. • In recent decades extremist Islamic movements have sought to advance their cause using military means or
terrorist action.
• The most infamous of these is the Taliban in Afghanistan. After taking power during the Afghan Civil War, it brutally
implemented its theocracy.
• Some parts of the Muslim world are at present embroiled in sectarian violence.
• This is particularly the case in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, and increasingly, in Indonesia and Bangladesh.
• Smaller groups of Muslims, such as Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda, also have perpetrated acts of terrorism against
targets in the West and within the Muslim world.
• Sometimes such acts of violence are called ‘jihad’ (meaning ‘struggle’, but recast by radicals as ‘holy war’ against
the enemies of Islam).
• In these different examples religion is implicated, either as the putative inspiration for violence or as the
justification for violent acts.
• while religious ideology is never the sole cause of acts of terror, it can play an important part in inspiring or
justifying such acts.

23. Global developments in Hinduism
and Buddhism

24. • While we aware that the Middle East is the birthplace of the three
Abrahamic religions such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism, another
important location for the birth and development of religions was
SouthEast, South and East Asia, sometimes referred to as the ‘East’.
• China has produced various Chinese folk-religions, ancestor veneration,
and the religious-like philosophies of Taoism and Confucianism. Japan was
the birthplace of Shintoism. India was the birthplace of Hinduism,
Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.

25. On Hinduism
• There are approximately 948 million adherents worldwide.
• Modern India is the country where the majority of the world’s Hindus live, but
large-scale migration from India to other parts of the globe means that sizeable
communities can be found in many countries outside South Asia.
• Hinduism, unlike the Abrahamic religions, is a polytheistic religion, and posits the
existence of many gods (literally thousands of gods).
• It emerged around 1500 BCE.
• Hinduism does not have a centrally defined doctrine or a rigid authority
structure, although smaller communities which worship specific deities may have
such structures.

26. The main beliefs of Hinduism
• The term Hinduism encompasses a broad range of beliefs, practices and activities
and its various practitioners come from culturally diverse backgrounds.
• Such beliefs include:
1. Krishna: as the major Diety among many other gods.
2. Brahman: the belief in an ultimate reality which unites all existence.
3. Samsa-ra: the belief there is an ongoing cycle of life, death and rebirth (rebirth
is known as reincarnation).
4. Karma: the idea of cause and effect, whereby one’s actions in this life have
consequences in the next.
5. Dharma: are prescriptions for a person’s behavior and actions.
• Hindus may practice yogas, which are various spiritual disciplines and practices
(e.g. meditation, yoga, temple worship, or pilgrimage to a holy place)

27. On Buddhism
• There are approximately 468 million Buddhists worldwide, the majority of which
live in Asia.
• As will be seen, however, there has been a major Buddhist diaspora across the
globe, particularly in the last 50 years.
• Buddhism first emerged from India around the fifth century BCE. According to
Buddhist tradition, an Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama (later called the
Buddha), experienced a series of revelations about the nature of existence.
• His followers moved through Asia (e.g. China, Tibet, Japan and Thailand), and
different regional traditions emerged.

28. The main beliefs of Buddhism
• Buddhists believe the self can be reborn many times.
• In strict Buddhist doctrine there are no gods. Some Buddhist groups, however,
particularly in East Asia, believe in various gods and demons.
• In such cases, Buddhist beliefs are mixed with other folk religions.
• Buddha revealed ‘Four Noble Truths’:
1. life is unsatisfactory;
2. suffering has a cause;
3. suffering can be stopped through enlightenment; and
4. there is a path to enlightenment.

29. • Enlightenment can be attained by following a set of precepts called the
‘Eightfold Path’.
• These include having right speech (avoiding non-edifying words) and
having right action (avoid stealing, killing, and sexual impropriety).
• Important practices in Buddhism include meditation, which can help the
follower remain aware of the conditions of existence.
• There are also several major traditions within Buddhism.
• These include: Theravada (traditions found in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia,
Burma, Sri Lanka and Malaysia), Mahayana (traditions found in China,
Japan, Viet Nam and Korea) and Vajrayana (Tibetan traditions).
• Some scholars suggest another identifiable strand is Triyana, which is
Western Buddhism

30. Migration as a factor behind the globalisation
of religion.
• Like all the world’s major religions, Buddhism and Hinduism have always been faiths ‘on the
move’, that is, characterized by migration.
• Today, in the ‘Age of Migration’, when an estimated 3 percent of the world’s population are
migrants, there has been a significant migration, numbering in the millions, of Hindus and
Buddhists around the world.
• After countries in Asia, the main destinations for Hindus are the United States (which has
received 1.4 million of the Hindu migrants alive today), the United Kingdom and Canada.
• In the past decade there has also been a sharp increase in the number of Hindu migrants
moving to the Gulf States of the Middle East.
• The most popular country of destination for Buddhist migrants is the United States, where an
estimated 1.7 million have settled.
• According to the Pew Forum (2012a: 41): ‘Buddhists also have migrated in substantial numbers
to Australia (more than 300,000), Canada (nearly 300,000) and Germany (about 200,000).’
• The proportion of Hindus and Buddhists living in the West has grown substantially in the past
two decades, mainly as a result of migration, coupled with high birth rates and conversion to a
far lesser extent.

31. The enchantment of Hinduism and Buddhims
in the West
• Why are Hindu and Buddhist beliefs popular in the West? The
following are some of the reasons:
1. Migration
2. Historical processes: the 1960's counterculture energy
3. Promotion in popular global western media