Global Religion --Is That A Possibility in This Era of Globalization?

Global Religion --Is That A Possibility in This Era of Globalization? 

by 

Barnali Saha 

There are certain subjects that we deliberately avoid talking about in public, or at times even in private, and religion is one of them. Of late, mainly due to the victorious punch of globalization, I see the Pandora's Box of religious beliefs opening in public as many newspaper columnists and bloggers are putting forward their in-depth views about the sanctity of their religion; some of them are even suggesting various means to be more religious or to shun religion all together. With all the talks going on in print and net-media about religion, the next big topic of debate is possibly religious conviction. After watching Steven Colbert snapping NY Times columnist Robert Wright for trying to portray the evolution of God in a his book of the same name, it occurred to me that even though we all talk about evolution of ideas or metamorphosis of minds in general, we cannot and do not accept the idea of letting our God be subservient to Gods of another religious order, in other words, we all think our ultimate begetter as greater and in many ways better than Gods of another religion. And even though globalization and interethnic charity may cross the topographical bounds, they can never transcend the bounds of mind. We can never reach at a consentaneous conclusion when religion is concerned and even though a large number of people are coming out with grave and also outlandish evidences about the actual existence and evolution of Gods, we don’t seem too happy either to look at those scientifically modified religious data let alone practicing a globalized religion.  

To discuss this topic further let us first talk about the importance of religion in our lives. To me religion is the source of my strength, the force that helps me to survive and lead a good and fruitful life. Having been born in a deeply religious Brahmin family in India, I have always harbored a special respect for religion and have always let the juggarnautish strength of faith guide me. Several Indian spiritual doctrines portray God as one great force looking over the entire universe, He is our guardian angel, and He is our destiny, He has many faces, yet He is the one and only eternal Supreme Cosmic Spirit. In spiritual levels thus our God is the one and only begetter of the world, the overseer of all our actions (Karma) and the ultimate judge of our mortal lives. Thus, from this spiritual view it can be deduced that even though religious boundaries talk about separating the different religions of the world, spirituality seeks to unite us all under one global umbrella and ultimately foster ethnic tolerance. Spiritual doctrines from all over the world voice the same principles of life, the same lingo of wisdom written in different scripts. From that point of view we can say that indirectly we are all following a common spiritual doctrine.  

In all the different regions of the world we always see one great force guiding the population it may be Jesus to the Christians, Allah to the Muslims, Kali or Krishna to the Hindus, or to the pantheists the omnipotent power of Nature. It is always our basic human quality to glorify our God and cast him in a superhuman light. We cannot help but be awed by the overwhelming powers of our Gods.  Lores, myths and ancient tales have colored our Gods in different ways to such an extent that we don’t have any idea as to how our ancient spiritual leaders really existed. We have accepted such mythological stories and have added our own color to them and even though many of us may secretly question their validity, we dare not question them. So, however much we raise our voice to defend, polish, or solidify the basis of one religion with scientific data, we can never have a proper dissection of a religion. May be the moral liability of religion is too great to even question and such texts as Evolution of God really do not do it justice. It would be fit to say that religion is a sensitive subject, if not the most sensitive subject that can build and destroy nations and all critical affirmations and negations about religion are invalidated as soon as they are uttered.  Leave it or take it religion is a latent force, a force that stays, grows and dies with you. So, under the present circumstances if we try to consolidate the religious beliefs of all the main religious segments of the world, I guess that would create a discombobulated mess, wit people shouting for equal religious rights and more religious exposure.

In apodosis we may say that globalization may be the result of God's will, but global religion sure is not a part of His plan. By means of dutiful repetition the laws of our respective religions have become apodictic, and however much we try to shun the religious boundaries and create a kind of Din-i-ilahi for all, we do not have the workforce to do that. Under the current global circumstance we may regard the internet as the global-e-deity, the pulse of the universe, the modern eye of God, the virtual steeple of our virtual church, bringing the rich and poor, the sky and the earth under one threshold and virtually making the world a better place to live in. Let the internet be our Nuevo deity. Food for thought.

Have a good one.