The Globalization of Religion and Politics
Gandhi and bin Laden
by Darrell J. Fasching Department of Religious Studies University of South Florida
Global Security ?
We Can’t Go Home Again
Before 9-11, like Charlie Brown in his childhood, we felt secure at home. After 9-11 we feel vulnerable in a way we didn‟t before. Now we are adults who have lost our illusions. Like Charlie Brown, we can never go home again.
Global Security / Homeland Security?
People who feel secure don‟t talk about security. Before 9-11 we had no Department of Homeland Security. We can‟t go home again but the world can be a safer place. It will take more than the FBI, CIA and the military. It will require an understanding of the role of religion in global politics, among other things.
The Globalization of Religion and Politics
“I can say without the slightest hesitation . . . that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means.” Mahatma Gandhi
Religious Resurgence
In the 1960s sociologists studying modernization and secularization predicted the demise of religion in an age of science. Since the 1970s we have had just the opposite, global religious resurgence.
Religion and Politics Are Inseparable
Religion is about what people hold sacred. What people everywhere hold sacred is their way of life. Every society is politically ordered by a sense of the sacred. If gods and/or sacred ancestors are appealed to, it is to legitimate this way of life.
Three Models of Religion and Social Order
Premodern – Religious Totalism. Modern – Privatization and Separation of Religion and the State. Postmodern – Pluralism and Interdependence.
A Global Conflict ?
The real conflict today is not between Islam and the West. The real conflict is not between Islam and Christianity. Nor is it the conflict between Islam and Judaism. The real conflict today is between alternative visions of the future within every religion and culture.
Our Enemies Are in Our Own Ranks
Gandhi‟s assassination by a Hindu radical (1948). Sadat‟s assassination by Muslim radicals (1981). Rabin‟s assassination by a Jewish radical(1995).
Religious Resurgence and Global Conflict
Two Forms of Resurgence: Religious Fundamentalism and Religious Postmodernism.
Two models: Premodern totalism and postmodern pluralism.
Two examples: bin Laden and Gandhi.
Globalization: Entering World History
The real war is between two visions of religion and civilization in a postmodern world.
There are two kinds of people in the world. There are two ways to enter world history.
Two kinds of People: Those who say there are two kinds of people and those who don’t.
(e.g., bin Laden and Gandhi)
Two Paths to Globalization: Conquest vs Mutual Understanding.
Religion, Politics and Mass Media The media revolutionized religion and politics:
Luther, Nationalism and the Printing Press. Gandhi and Global Media (Radio & the Press).
Bin Laden and Cable Television.
Global Terrorism – Using Western Media Against Themselves
Post-colonial globalism is experienced as a Western media driven invasion. The success of global terrorism depends upon using the Western media against themselves. The essence of terrorism is psychological: symbolic action and communication. Global political action can only occur through image making via the mass media. Worldwide cable news amplifies terrorism and gives terrorists a double victory.
Gandhi and the Globalization of Religion and Politics
According to Peter Bergen who interviewed bin Laden for CNN, bin Laden‟s uniqueness lies in globalizing terrorism. Yet a generation before bin Laden, and the religious resurgence of the 1970s Gandhi globalized the political role of religion. Bin laden is a dark emulator of Gandhi, a mirror image.
Gandhi’s War Against Western Colonialism
Turning Points: Oct. 2, 1869 Mohandas K. Gandhi is born Porbandar, Gujarat India. 1890, Law degree in England, introduced to the Bhagavad Gita. 1893, Turning point --Humiliation in South Africa. 1906, Serving in the ambulance corps during the Zulu uprising.
1906-1914, Forging non-violent civil disobedience as a political tool in training camps in South Africa -Phoenix Farm and later Tolstoy Farm. 1915, (age 45) Returning to India to lead the movement to overthrow British colonial rule and create a united India. August 15th,1947 Success and Failure Assassinated January 30, 1948.
Bin Laden and the War Against Western Global Dominance
Born in Ryadh Saudi Arabia in 1957. Earned a degree in public administration in 1981 and was exposed Radical Islam. 1980s: Lead to his participation in the Afghan war with Russia. 1990: Saudi‟s rebuff bin Laden‟s offer to defend against Iraqi invasion in favor of U.S. Troops. (1994, loses Saudi citizenship) 1990s: Operating from the Sudan, his war experience transforms him into a hero and leader of international terrorism modeled on a multinational holding company. 1996 return to Afghanistan, declares Jihad on America and the West.
Gandhi & bin Laden: Similarities
Both were educated for bureaucratic public service careers. Both experienced religious awakenings during their college years. Both are fearless in the face of death because of their religious transformations. Both call for a guerilla warfare against colonialism and Western global domination.
Both reject the modernist privatization of religion and insist on the political importance of religion for transforming the social order. Each turned to his culture‟s ancient scriptures for insight to guide their revolutions. Both are rhetorically charismatic. Both are masters of social organization and political strategy.
Both inspired an international following and created international movements based in foreign training camps. Both depend on global media strategies to achieve their objectives. Both are masters of using the opponent‟s system against itself.
Gandhi and bin Laden: Differences
Gandhi‟s education was cross-cultural, bin Laden‟s was not. Bin Laden‟s religious awakening embraces a sacral dualism, Gandhi‟s embraces the oneness of all humanity. Bin Laden seems to reject all Western social values, Gandhi embraced those that affirm and protect the oneness of all humanity.
Both draw on the narratives of war from their scriptures to guide their revolutions but bin Laden literalizes war in terrorism (body force) while Gandhi spiritualizes it (soul force) in non-violent civil disobedience. Gandhi used the global impact of the media to awaken the consciousness and conscience of all to the oneness of humanity, bin Laden uses the global impact of the media to evoke hatred and division.
Gandhi teaches transforming society through one‟s own suffering, bin Laden through the suffering of others. Success for bin Laden means geographically separating those who are sacred from those who are profane (dar al Islam vs dar al harb). Success for Gandhi means creating cooperation and interdependence in pluralistic world.
Bowling Alone on Planet Earth
Global Security & U.S. Policy after 9-11
The Myth of the Lone Ranger: Foreign Policy --Texas Style. The Myth of Cosmic Dualism: “The Global Axis of Evil”.
Lone Ranger Foreign Policy
Rejecting the Kyoto Treaty. Breaking the nuclear arms treaty. Rejecting the jurisdiction of the international criminal court. Proposing war against Iraq without allies or congressional consent.
Cosmic Dualism
Lumping North Korea, Iran and Iraq together obscures important differences. Lumping these countries together may undermine potential possibilities of cooperation.
Global Policy: Dualism or Interdependence?
There are no walls to hide behind anymore, everything is connected to everything else.
Thomas Friedman, New York Times
What is needed is “a more productive, compassionate and caring globalization.” Mahathir Mohamad,
Prime Minister of Malaysia
“We the people of the world have a right to demand „no annihilation without representation.‟”
Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima
Our Choice: To Be Terrorists or Global Partners
New York Times survey two days after 911 revealed the temptation to become terrorists ourselves. The moral lesson of being a victim – compassion and interdependence. The moral task of religious communities around the world is to reclaim the message of compassion and interdependence, and delegitimate those who hijack religion for hatred and division. A final word from Charlie Brown.
The Wisdom of Charlie Brown