Global Religious Movements Across Borders

Sacred Service

Stephen M. Cherry, Helen Rose Ebaugh

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781409456889
• eBook ISBN: 9781317127321
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Comparative Religion

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.

Chapter 1

Introduction to Religious and Global Transnational Service Movements

Stephen M. Cherry

Amidst revolutions in transportation and communication that have eased and accelerated flows of people, goods, and services across borders, the terms globalization and transnationalism have become the hallmarks of a new theoretical paradigm for the twenty-first century. The terms were hardly used in academic literature or everyday language prior to the late 1980s, but today they are commonplace (see Giddens 2002). Although there is a great deal of debate as to what these processes entail, most scholars across a host of fields readily accept that they are occurring on some level (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2002; Lechner and Boli 2000; Smart 1993; Waters 1995). Publically, the concepts have also gained considerable acceptance and have become almost cliché in their use to describe local and international trends or rationalize economic and environmental woes such as global stock market collapses or climate change (Lechner and Boli 2000). This does not mean, however, that these terms have become any easier to define or subject to less debate.

Globalization can be defined as a process whereby the historical constraints of geography on cultural, economic, and social interactions and relations recede, and people become increasingly aware that this is occurring (see Waters 1995; Wiarda 2008). It involves geographic spreads and exchanges to more than two continental regions, and it is a phenomenon people readily recognize or can feel in their everyday lives (see discussion in Hytrek and Zentgraf 2008; Maiba 2005). Transnationalism, on the other hand, can be defined as the flow of people, goods, information, and culture across two or more national boundaries (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2002; Menjivar 2000; Levitt 2001; Portes, Guarnizo, and Landolt 1999). It is not necessarily global, but like globalization, can be equally recognized or felt. In both cases, transnationalism and globalization are not things but processes that are subject to theorizing and considerable debate (Eitzen and Zinn 2006). In providing rudimentary definitions of these concepts, we understand that not everyone in the academic community will agree with our summation. In the public domain, people might also view the differences we highlight between the terms as purely semantic; however, whether we collectively agree on these definitions or not, any disagreement reminds us that these concepts can form the very core of some of our most intense public and academic debates (Giddens 2002). Oddly, these discussions often have not historically extended to the subject of global and transnational religion (see Meyer et al. 2011).

Over two decades ago, sociologist Roland Robertson stated that the social-scientific study of religion from a global perspective was in its infancy and hampered by a widely held notion that religion had lost its saliency in the world (Gane 2001; Hargrove 1988; Robertson 1985; 1990; 1994; Robertson and Lechtner 1985; Wuthnow 1980). Today, few people, academics or otherwise, can deny that theories of widespread secularization were largely overstated (Sherkat and Ellison 1999; Stark 1999). Religion has not died out in an age of scientific discovery nor has it completely lost its ability to shape people’s lives or inform public policy. One needs to look no further than the recent history of nations, such as the United States or the Philippines, as an example of the saliency of religion in the lives of average citizens and/or the extent to which religion has shaped governmental debates and policies in these countries. Yet scholars are just now only beginning to discuss the impact of globalization and transnationalism on religion, as well as the impact religion has on globalization and transnationalism (Csordas 2009).

Religion, Globalization, and Transnational Migration

Religion has always been transnational and over time has become increasingly global. Historically, religious traditions and communities have fluidly transcended borders and, as such, are among the oldest of transnational entities (Csordas 2009). From global missionization among proselytic faiths to mass migration through religious diasporas, religion has traveled from one side of the world and back again (Jenkins 2002; Juergensmeyer 2006; Robertson 1992; Rudolph and Piscatori 1997; Wolfe 2002). While the fluidity of these flows is very old, advances in communication and transportation, as well as increases in migration, have all heightened the impact of these flows to unprecedented levels over the last several decades (Rudolph and Piscatori 1997). Exploring these flows in greater detail, it is useful, at least analytically, to distinguish between the global and transnational migration of religious people and flows of religious resources. At the same time, we must also acknowledge that both processes can obviously travel hand-in-hand.

As people move across the globe, for leisure travel, work, or in migration to new homes, they often bring their religions with them. Religious messages and practices can be portable and transposable and, hence, unbound geographically (Csordas 2009). Even in the short term, temporary residency can lead to an exchange of religious ideals or foster new religious ties and experiences. Whether this comes through a religious pilgrimage, visiting a congregation while on vacation, or a sharing of faith on a business trip, transnational and global religious exchanges do not necessarily need to be long-term to make a lasting impact both at the micro and macro levels (Cunfu and Tianhai 2004; Khan 2005; Kurien 2007; Wuthnow and Offutt 2008; Yamamori and Eldred 2003).

People may also be forced to leave their countries of origin due to natural disaster, economic collapse, war, or even religious persecution. When this occurs, migrants may turn to a common religious tradition and faith as a source of unity in diaspora. Even when this is not the situation, religion can be a source of comfort or a rallying point of identity in the face of uncertainty, confusion, and distress, both for people who are religiously active and those who do not consider themselves to be religious. Understanding this, we highlight the fact migration can be a theologizing experience (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000; Smith 1978; Warner and Wittner 1998). If people were not religious before they migrated, they very well may be after they migrate, given the stressors inherent in the migration process and the extent to which religion is so vital to the reproduction and maintenance of ethnic and cultural identities (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000; Hagan 2008; Wuthnow and Offutt 2008). Faced with new cultural, social, economic, and political situations in their destination countries, immigrants can often find a certain amount of security and comfort in their collective religious beliefs, practices, and material structures (Dolan 1985; Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000; Warner and Wittner 1998).

Historically, as nineteenth- and early twentieth-century immigrants settled in the United States, one of their first goals was to build a church in the architectural style of their home country churches (Dolan 1985; Holifield 1994; Stout and Brekas 1994). Church architecture, interior furnishings, and visual representations of the sacred became a part of the “localization of immigrant cultures” (Conzen 1991: 5) that reinforced identity and a sense of ethnic community; (see also Conzen et al. 1992). As such, immigrant communities frequently settled around a church and built a social life embedded in the customs, rituals, and festivals reminiscent of their home countries. Today, this still remains the case. With the arrival of large numbers of new immigrants to the United States after 1965, the appearance of temples, shrines, mosques, guadwaras, and other houses of worship have dotted the landscape of America, alongside new Christian churches. Ethnic festivals and celebrations of saints and gods once unfamiliar to most Americans have become regular spectacles in many ethnic neighborhoods and have also begun to gain a certain amount of wider public recognition (Cherry 2014; Levitt 2007; Tweed 1997; Williams 1988).

However, in the course of recreating these religious rituals and institutions, immigrants often introduce various kinds of changes in organization and practices, either by choice or necessity, to adapt to their new settings. Immigrant religious institutions in the United States, for example, tend to become more congregational in nature over time and often seek to increase more lay involvement in their congregations, in addition to establishing voluntary memberships and prescribed times of worship that fit the American work week (Yang and Ebaugh 2001). They also tend to establish community centers that stand side-by-side with their places of worship (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000). Immigrant congregations are often composed of people who share the same faith (for example, Islam or Hinduism) but come from different regions of the world where that faith is practiced. As such, they tend to become aware of what is essential in their faith and what expressions are cultural, a process Yang and Ebaugh (2001) describe as pristinization. Given these processes, after a while, immigrant congregations often become more ethnically and religiously inclusive, as a critical mass of people and resources are required to not only establish a place of worship, but to also maintain it.

In the past two decades, scholarship on religion and immigrants has increasingly focused on the global impact that immigration is having on the globalization of religion (Appadurai 2004; Bowen 2004; Csordas 2009; Ebaugh and Chafetz 2002; Hannerz 1996; Marquardt 2005; Vertovec 2000; 2004). As scholars now recognize, many contemporary migrants maintain a variety of physical ties to their home communities while becoming incorporated into the countries where they settle (Basch, Glick-Schiller, and Blanc 1994; Cherry 2014; Ebaugh and Chafetz 2002; Faist 2000; Levitt 2001; 2007; Mahler 1998; Portes et al. 1999). However, a sense of community is often maintained more virtually through the media as well as international travel (Levitt 2007). As immigrants travel back and forth to their home countries and communicate via social media, they often transport their adaptive ways of “doing religion” back to family, kin, and friends there. Religion becomes one of many social remittances that immigrants share back home, thus influencing religious changes there and preparing future migrants for changes they might experience in migration. These social remittances ultimately influence their religious beliefs, practices, and institutions wherever these migrants go (Levitt 1998).

In many cases, these connections are established through religious congregations as a means for religious continuity (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2002; Levitt 2004). In other cases, the connections between these congregations can foster financial exchanges between national communities, lead to civic exchanges, or result in an exchange of clergy that collectively allow immigrants to actively participate in several nations simultaneously through their religious communities (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2002; Levitt 2004). Whether this comes through volunteering on a mission trip or sponsoring a monk or imam on pilgrimage, the link between nations through congregations and religious adherents is not only an important part of global and transnational trends but also one that can involve considerable resources. Take, for example, the exchange of monies between nations through migrants’ remittances sent back home to their families each year. Remittances to developing countries totaled nearly $316 billion United States dollars in 2009. In a recent Gallup poll, 45 percent of foreign-born Latino immigrants who stated that religion is important to them sent remittances abroad compared to 35 percent who said that religion is not important to them (Torres, Pelham, and Crabtree 2009). Among United States born Latinos, 26 percent who stated that religion was important to them sent remittances abroad compared to only 7 percent who stated that religion was not important to them (Torres et al. 2009).

However, this money represents only a fraction of more private financial flows and other means of support such as volunteering that often go unnoticed (Ratha, Mohapatra, and Silwal 2010). For example, in 2010, over a million Americans volunteered overseas. Among these were an estimated 110,000 first-generation immigrants and 76,000 second-generation immigrants (Terrazas 2010). These volunteers represent only a small portion of their respective populations, but their volunteerism provides invaluable technical advice and specialized skills for their homelands. While religion may not always be outwardly seen as an important part of these exchanges, it can be crucial; and this aid is above and beyond the numerous churches, temples, and mosques that are built in the home communities of migrants who send specific remittances for the construction of these religious institutions (Hagan 2008; Menjivar 2000).

Those who are more religious are more likely to help physically through volunteering, send money home, or fund projects; however, this behavior does not only apply to Latinos in the United States but also migrants worldwide (Gonzalez 2009; Welliver and Northcutt 2004). While a number of scholars have described global religious communities around the world that have been created by immigrants who share national origins (Bowen 2004; Ebaugh and Chafetz 2002; Levitt 2007; Marquardt 2005; Yang 2002), almost no research has been done on the service movements these immigrants have established through their faith traditions. This is somewhat surprising given that many of these service movements are among the largest philanthropies in the world. Seeking to address this need for research, this book is one of the first attempts to describe these global service movements rooted in faith traditions. Acknowledging this, however, it is not simply goods and services that are flowing across global borders through these movements but ideas, values, and truths.

The age of mass missionary activity may commonly be thought to be over, but missionaries are still a vital part of the globalization of religion (Csordas 2009; McLeod 2004; Wuthnow and Offutt 2008). In the United States, for example, 74 percent of church members surveyed stated that their congregations supported missionary work in other countries (see Wuthnow and Offutt 2008). These missionaries are not simply spreading the good word of their faiths, as many of the contributions to this volume will highlight, but engaging in civic works through which both an exchange of goods and services and religious values and truths are seen as an extension of each other. Under some circumstances, the establishment of new religious institutions and the importation of foreign-born clergy can lead to the same civic ends. Once in their new countries, these foreign-born clergy often do not simply serve their co-ethnics or other foreign-born populations but also serve native-born congregants as well. In doing so, they not only facilitate changes in religious practices or institutional structures in their host countries but also encourage their parishioners, foreign-born or not, to join them in fundraising activities for projects in their homelands or to volunteer across several borders, in addition to encouraging them to join in protest against what they consider unjust (see Cherry 2014; Menjivar 1999). Although these events and projects often go unnoticed, they can have far-reaching political consequences nonetheless.

In 1996, when Al Gore attended a fundraising luncheon at Hsi Lai Chinese Buddhist temple in Hacienda Heights, California, the event drew criticism from many and became the focus of controversy over campaign financing. The fact that the event was at a Chinese Buddhist temple raised additional concerns over the role of foreign religions in American politics and led many to question if Clinton and Gore were secretly making policy concessions with the People’s Republic of China in exchange for campaign support (Prebish 1999). Conversely, when Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, delivered $1.2 million dollars of aid to Haiti to rebuild schools destroyed by earthquakes, it reminded us that religion not only continues to play prominent roles in shaping world politics but has been a vital force in the continued emergence, spread, and creation of a transnational civil society (Rudolph and Piscatori 1997). Today, well over a decade later, nothing has changed. If anything, these roles have only intensified in recent years as globalization continues to accelerate.

Religion has shaped and continues to shape globalization and transnationalism as much as these forces have shaped religion. Understanding this, in this book we ask how religious roots are shaping service movements and collective action that seeks to aid people across political and geographic boundaries. By movements, we refer to conscious, concerted, and sustained efforts by ordinary people to change society both inside and outside of normative institutional means (Goodwin and Jasper 2009). These movements typically come from the people for the people and involve some form of collective action. When this is not the case, whatever their origins, the movements must still be adopted and adapted to serve the people they seek to mobilize. Regardless of the circumstances, religion can be both a source of inspiration and provide the physical resources that sustain their ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Notes on Contributors
• Preface
• List of Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction to Religious and Global Transnational Service Movements
• 2 The Redeemed Christian Church of God: African Pentecostalism
• 3 The Gulen Movement: Sunni Islam
• 4 Soka Gakkai International: Nichiren Japanese Buddhism
• 5 BAPS Swaminarayan Community: Hinduism
• 6 The Gawad Kalinga Movement: Charismatic Catholicism
• 7 Aga Khan Development Network: Shia Ismaili Islam
• 8 Bahá’í International Community: Bahá’í Faith
• 9 Studying Global Transnational Religious Service Movements
• Index