Global Religious Movements Across Borders


Book Description

From global missionizing among proselytic faiths to mass migration through religious diasporas, religion has traveled from one side of the world and back again. It continues to play a prominent role in shaping world politics and has been a vital force in the continued emergence, spread, and creation of a transnational civil society. Exploring how religious roots are shaping organizations that seek to aid people across political and geographic boundaries - 'service movements' - this book focuses on how religious movements establish structures to assist people with basic human needs such as food, clothing, shelter, education, and health. Examining a multitude of faith traditions with origins in different parts of the world, seven contributing chapters, with an introduction and conclusions by the senior author, offer a unique discussion of the intersections between religious transnationalism and social movements.




Religions, Nations, and Transnationalism in Multiple Modernities


Book Description

This edited book explores the impact of globalisation on the relationship between religion and politics, religion and nation, religion and nationalism, and the impact that transnationalism has on religious groups. In a post-Westphalian and transnational world, with increased international communication and transportation, a plethora of new religious recompositions religions now take part in a network society that cuts across borders. This collection, through its analysis of historical and contemporary case studies, explores the growth of both national and transnational religious movements and their dealings with the various versions of modernity that they encounter. It considers trends of religious revitalisation and secularisation, and processes of nationalism and transnationalism through the prism of the theory of multiple modernities, acknowledging both its pluralist world view but also the argument that its definition of modernity is often so inclusive as to lose coherence. Providing a cutting edge take on 21st century religion and globalization, this volume is a key read for all scholars of religion, secularisation and transnationalism.




Religious Identities and the Global South


Book Description

This book offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary account of religious identities in the Global South. Drawing on literature in various fields, Felix Wilfred analyzes how religious identities intersect with the processes of globalization, modernity, and postmodernity. He illustrates how the study of religion in the Global North often revolves around questions of secularism and fundamentalism, whereas a neo-Orientalist quality often attends study of religion in the Global South. These approaches and theorizing fail to incorporate the experiences of lived religion in the South, especially in Asia. Historically, the religions in the South have played a highly significant role in resistance to the domination by the colonial forces, an important reason for the continued attachment of the peoples of the South to their religious universe. This book puts the two regions and their scholarly norms in conversation with one another, exploring the social, political, cultural, and economic implications.




Religion Across Borders


Book Description

Religion Across Borders examines both personal and organizational networks that exist between members in U.S. immigrant religious communities and individuals and religious institutions left behind. Building upon Religion and the New Immigrants (2000)--their previous study of immigrant religious communities in Houston--sociologists Ebaugh and Chafetz ask how religious remittances flow between home and host communities, how these interchanges affect religious practices in both settings, and how influences change over time as new immigrants become settled.




God’s Heart Has No Borders


Book Description

"This timely and humane book redirects our attention from headlines that frame issues of ethnicity and religion as divisive and conflict-ridden to the quiet and unswerving work of persons of faith who promote understanding and compassion. As such, this book not only opens our eyes to the work of religious activists, it also provides insight into ourselves. It is an excellent study that offers much to scholars interested in immigration, religion, and social movements, and I certainly hope it will inspire policy makers and public officials as well."—Cecilia Menjivar, author of Fragmented Ties: Salvadoran Immigrant Networks in America "In this enlightening book, Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo explores the surprising ways in which diverse Muslim, Jewish, and Christian activists have engaged in projects of inclusion—from the workplaces of Los Angeles and Orange County to the San Diego-Tijuana border. In the process, rather than imposing new layers of monotheistic religious separatism, they advance the democratic ideals of American pluralism."—Rubén G. Rumbaut, co-author of Immigrant America and Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation. "Three of the most persistent themes in American history are immigration, race, and religious devotion. Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo brilliantly examines their interaction in recent U.S. politics. How to protect and nurture new immigrants is perhaps our nation's most morally urgent problem right now, even while mainstream politicians seem obsessed instead with 'protecting' our borders. This book shows how a small number of brave people, taking their religion seriously, are grappling with these fundamental issues."—James M. Jasper, City University of New York "A much-needed corrective to our often skewed understanding of the role of religion in public life. With unusual sensitivity and perceptiveness, Hondagneu-Sotelo tells the compelling stories of activists from a variety of religious traditions who are guided by their faith to work for immigrant rights and social justice. They provide the rest of us with a 'moral blueprint' for living in an increasingly global world."—Peggy Levitt, author of Transnational Villagers "God's Heart Has No Borders makes vital contributions to current policy and scholarly debates about immigration. It will elevate the national conversation, providing a much-needed antidote to facile and polarizing readings of this complex phenomenon. Hondagneu-Sotelo's judicious and rigorous-yet-sensitive approach allows the voices, values, and experiences of religious activists working for immigrant rights to emerge with full moral force. At the scholarly level, she offers rich and fresh insights into the unique ways in which religion can contribute to transformative social action and civil public discourse."—Manuel A. Vásquez, co-editor of Immigrant Faiths: Transforming Religious Life in America




Religion Crossing Boundaries


Book Description

Across the past twenty years major change has taken place in the structure of global society with respect to the nature of migration. The predominant pattern since at least the eighteenth century had been for peoples to move to and settle in Western countries permanently, with relatively little substantive interchange with their former homelands, hence adopting the modes of articulation characteristic of their new societies (a process expressed with respect to the USA, for example, as "Americanization"). This pattern has now changed, and there is considerable interaction between homeland and migrant peoples. One of the places this has become especially important is in religious exchanges. While some negative effects of this process may grab headlines, there have also been extensive positive interactions, not least among African peoples, especially with respect to pentecostal and allied religious movements. The chapters in this book illustrate the variety of these exchanges. Contributors include: Wale Adebanwi, Edlyne Anugwom, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Marleen de Witte, Laura Grillo, Susan M. Kilonzo, Samuel Krinsky, Géraldine Mossière, Philomena Njeri Mwaura, Joel Noret, Ebenezer Obadare, Damaris S. Parsitau, Mei-Mei Sanford, Linda van de Kamp, and Rijk van Dijk.




Borders: A Very Short Introduction


Book Description

Compelling and accessible, this Very Short Introduction challenges the perception of borders as passive lines on a map, revealing them instead to be integral forces in the economic, social, political, and environmental processes that shape our lives. Highlighting the historical development and continued relevance of borders, Alexander Diener and Joshua Hagen offer a powerful counterpoint to the idea of an imminent borderless world, underscoring the impact borders have on a range of issues, such as economic development, inter- and intra-state conflict, global terrorism, migration, nationalism, international law, environmental sustainability, and natural resource management. Diener and Hagen demonstrate how and why borders have been, are currently, and will undoubtedly remain hot topics across the social sciences and in the global headlines for years to come. This compact volume will appeal to a broad, interdisciplinary audience of scholars and students, including geographers, political scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, historians, international relations and law experts, as well as lay readers interested in understanding current events.




Borders of Belief


Book Description

Why have modern nationalists built religious identity as the foundational signifier of nationality in an increasingly secular world? The cases of 20th century Ireland and Turkey reveal the answer: religious nationalism is not a knee-jerk reaction to secular modernization, but a tool that forges new and independent national identities.




Secular States and Religious Diversity


Book Description

Contemporary nation-states have seen the rise of religious pluralism within their borders, brought about by global migration and the challenge of radical religious movements. Secular States and Religious Diversity explores the meaning of secularism and religious freedom in these new contexts. The contributors chart the impact of globalization, the varying forms of secularism in Western states, and the different kinds of relations between states and religious institutions in the historical traditions and contemporary politics of Islamic, Indic, and Chinese societies. They also examine the limitations and dilemmas of governmental responses to religious diversity, and grapple with the question of how secular states deal (and should deal) with such pluralism. This volume brings in perspectives from the non-Western world and engages with viewpoints that might increase states’ capacities to accommodate religious diversity positively.




Occupy Religion


Book Description

Occupy Religion introduces readers to the growing role of religion in the Occupy Movement and asks provocative questions about how people of faith can work for social justice. From the temperance movement to the Civil Rights movement, churches have played key roles in important social movements, and Occupy Religion shows this role is no less critical today.