The New World Order - Essay Example

Modern World The New World Order 1. Describe how the social, political, and economic landscape has changed to produce the new world order. In the new world order, things are done differently from the past following transformations in various aspects of life including social, political and economic spheres. At the core of this change, is the world globalization that together with technology has increased interconnections and free movements of people, goods, ideas and information across the globe (Slaughter 1). The diverse traditional beliefs and practices of societies, to a large extent, have changed to become common social values practiced across regions and continents. Today, there are more social interactions across various cultures bringing communities together (Slaughter 7). Similarly, the global activism in quest of equal economic opportunities and social justice and fairness has led to free market economies bringing in a variety of consumer goods and allowing competition that lowers prices. This shared economic arena has led to organized society and significantly improved people’s lives. On the political side, there has been a shift from individualized political ideologies to shared principles thus transforming aristocratic governments to liberal democracies (Slaughter 5). There have been efforts to bring the world under one government having a world court, a global tax and so on. Moreover, new world religion has been created as noted by organizations like the World Council of Churches. 2. Discuss the effect modern capitalism has had on the world and religion. Modern capitalism has become a dominant economic and social system since its beginning in the late 18th century (Berger 443). It has not only created wealth but also raised the standards of living of many people. It has rationalized the economic life of the world and religion. Moreover, modern capitalism has promoted the belief in the rule of law and rational resolution of disputes thus influencing the performance of many institutions. Important to note also is its impact on the labor force. It has led to a more specialized and mobile labor force that promotes investment and wealth creation for sustainable physical and spiritual efforts. Due to the collective identity of capitalism, it has united religions that were initially separated from each other through collective self-representation of their values and emphasize social solidarity for the benefit of economic development (Berger 448). Capitalism has also had some negative impacts as well. For instance, it has given rise to social class that perpetuates discrimination based on social status. The religious groups have also devoted more of their energies promoting capitalistic ideas at the expense of their ideals and faith beliefs. 3. Define globalism and urbanism and explain their challenge to traditional religion. Globalism can be defined as a policy concept that places the interests of the entire world above those of individual nations (Darieva 9). At its core, it seeks to address the issues of the world defined by multiple networks of connections across the continents thus trying to understand all these interconnections of the modern world and explain patterns that underlie them. On the other hand, urbanism refers to sustainable and interesting places such as towns and cities where people can meet to interact and find opportunities (Darieva 16). Urbanism has been crucial to improving community life, preserving nature and efficient public infrastructure. Globalism and urbanism present significant challenges to traditional religion. They expose religion to a diverse segment of the population with different religious beliefs and practices. Globalism will challenge any view offered by traditional religions but is perceived to be far from reality (Darieva 21). Due to the large-scale city life associated with urbanism, it will challenge the traditional religion to confront the problems affecting the urban dwellers and at the same time take advantage of urban opportunities. For instance, traditional religion can dedicate their efforts and resources supporting the poor living in slum areas. Similarly, the large group of people brought together by globalization and urbanism can be a good target for traditional religion to teach their beliefs. The Recurring Challenge of Change 1. What are the two possible common denominators existing in every religion? Despite the varied views and beliefs held by different religions, some common denominators exist in all religions (Eck 3). Every religion believes in the existence of a supernatural being and origin of the universe. For example, Christianity believes in the creation of the world by God whereas Hinduism believes the universe evolved from an embryo, and it is continuously destroyed and created by the destroyer Shiva and creator Brahma and Vishnu playing the role of upkeep. Another common denominator in every religion is prayer and rituals. Religions believe in prayers for spiritual interventions as performing religious rituals that connect them with their creator. 2. In what major ways has the Roman Catholic Church adapted to modern changes? Modern changes have led to several changes in Roman Catholic Church as well ranging from its spiritual context to material objects. However, some of these revolutionary changes in the church began during the period of Vatican II based on their relevance and external influences (Berg 122). The church has adopted the modern instrument and equipment to conduct various activities such as using musical instruments for praising songs. Modern building technology has also influenced the church’s architectural designs shifting from the kind of old structures, though beautiful, holy and inspiring to new models with expanded capacity and many decorations. Roman Catholic Church has also used the growing technological advancements to propagate its teachings such as televised sermons. Western culture is also finding its route into the church where it has become tolerable to dressing code and women today enter the church with trousers. Finally, more changes are even expected as Pope Francis called for major reforms in the church to accommodate divergent views and redeem its image. 3. Define the phenomenon of fundamentalism. Fundamentalism is a widespread religious movement in the late 20th century to recover and restore the old order of strict conformity to sacred texts that has been obscured by the modern life (Armstrong 2). It considers the modern life secular that has focused only on the educational, democratic, and economic aspects of life but forgetting its spiritual dimension of life. 4. Give some examples of twentieth-century fundamentalism Examples of 20th-centiry fundamentalism include: (i) Christian fundamentalism that began in the late 19th-century to resist the theological modernism that aimed to change traditional Christian beliefs by accommodating new developments in the natural and social sciences. (ii) Islamic fundamentalism that has insisted on conformity to a code of conduct based on a literal interpretation of sacred scripture with some turning out to be terrorist networks. (iii) Sikh fundamentalism that has also advocated for conformity to a sacred text, Adi Granth, and the creation of a Sikh state governed according to sacred law. Works Cited Armstrong, Karen. The battle for God: A history of fundamentalism. Ballantine Books, 2011. Berger, Peter L. "Reflections on the sociology of religion today." Sociology of Religion (2001): 443-454. Berg, Thomas C. "Anti-Catholicism and Modern Church-State Relations." Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 33 (2001): 121-172. Darieva, Tsypylma, Nina Glick Schiller, and Sandra Gruner-Domic, eds. Cosmopolitan sociability: locating transnational religious and diasporic networks. Routledge, 2014. Eck, Diana L. "What is pluralism." On Common Ground: World Religions in America (2006). Slaughter, Anne-Marie. A new world order. Princeton University Press, 2009. Read More