The rally around religion

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A time of expanding global trade, new technologies disseminating information in unprecedented ways, and religious fanaticism forcing people to take up arms -- yes, the 16th century was a momentous period that saw a surge in globalization, the invention of the printing press, and wars driven by religious fanatics. It also saw the unraveling of a unique alliance between the popes and the emperors, the so-called Holy Roman Empire, after eight centuries of mutually beneficial -- and sometimes uneasy -- collaboration. That alliance and its unraveling may have important implications for the present time, particularly as the world experiences unprecedented levels of immigration and grapples with difficult challenges in the assimilation of immigrants.

Beginning with Charlemagne in A.D. 800, the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire used religion -- through the papacy -- to wield power over subjects spread over various principalities and fiefdoms in Western and Central Europe. Charlemagne and his successors were officially crowned by the popes, thereby bestowing a spiritual legitimacy to their reigns. In return, the pope received security and protection. The emperors recognized the power of religion to unify diverse subjects -- people of various ethnicities and social classes, speaking languages that varied from German and its dialects to the Slavic languages.

-- AFP/Desire Martin: A boat carries immigrants from Africa who were rescued at sea by a Spanish Coast Guard ship June 29.This strategy worked because Europe was going through a tumultuous period characterized by changing emperors and kings, shifting boundaries among fiefdoms, and people on the move. Under these ever-changing conditions, individual identity was shaped by the one constant in people’s lives: religion. Allegiance to religion bested all other loyalties such as allegiance to emperors, barons, and even ethnicity, language and social class.

Today in most parts of the world people are undergoing unparalleled change, driven by the effects of globalization. We are witnessing the greatest wave of migration in the history of the world. According to the International Migration Organization, there were nearly 200 million immigrants worldwide in 2005, a number that equals the fifth-most populous country in the world. Even as we see efforts in the United States and Western Europe to deter illegal immigration, the forces of globalization are driving legal immigration to levels never seen before. Globalization is changing the structure of the world economy, with nation-states giving way to giant trade-blocs and national borders being re-defined or erased. All these factors fundamentally undermine patriotism and national identity.

Identity and immigration

People in the West may not appreciate or recognize this “identity crisis” because they have yet to fully experience the wrenching consequences of globalization affecting those in the developing world. Consider today’s global immigrants. Where do the identity and allegiance of a new immigrant lie? Nation of birth? Nation of present residence? A giant trade-bloc? This is a crucial question because individual identity is fundamental to how conflicts start. According to Stanley Kober, a research fellow in foreign policy studies at the CATO Institute, “Wars begin in people’s minds -- and are rooted in how they view other people. Put simply, people do not kill people with whom they identify.” In a borderless world wrought by continuous instability and change, with what or whom does one identify?

History would suggest that just like during the Holy Roman Empire, people’s identities and loyalties are increasingly tied to the one constant in their lives: religion, be it one of the established faiths or otherwise. So much so, they are likely to put their lives on the line for religion more readily than for any other cause. As an example, Kober offers the breakup of Yugoslavia. Its citizens coalesced into countries based on religion: Muslim Bosnia, Orthodox Serbia, Catholic Croatia. More telling was the pattern of international sympathy for these new nations; Germany, the kingpin of the erstwhile Holy Roman Empire, led the way for the early recognition of Catholic Croatia, as did Greece and Russia for Orthodox Serbia, and a host of Islamic nations for Muslim Bosnia.

It is a matter of time before the full effects of this identity crisis hit the West. As national borders continue to fall and more trade blocs emerge, the people in the West will join the migrating masses, moving from one economic opportunity to another, tied to very little but their religious faiths. In the future, even if you don’t move, much of the world’s population will be doing so, fundamentally affecting you and forcing you to confront the basis of your national identity. We already see this in Europe where a growing Muslim population is causing Europeans to take a closer look at their Christian roots. In the United States, if non-European, non-Christian immigrants come in great numbers as they are already starting to do, many Americans will also feel a need to defend and emphasize the “Christian” identity of the United States. Americans will react like the rest of the world, rallying around their religious faith and fiercely protecting it. It may be the aspect of their identity that Americans prove unwilling to compromise on, even as they adapt to and tolerate the changing face of their country in terms of skin colors, languages and cultures. In the extreme, a “brown” America (or even a “Spanish” America) will likely be tolerated but not a Muslim America, or a Hindu America.

Tomorrow’s superpowers

There is little incentive for today’s immigrants to completely assimilate in the host country because their sheer numbers make it easier for them to hold on to their old ways, traditions and loyalties. By not assimilating comprehensively, the immigrants are perceived to be “different” and thus less welcome by existing citizens, further alienating the new immigrants and producing even less integration. The end result is that new immigrants don’t completely accept their new country as home, and for the existing citizens it feels less like home because of the changing character of their country. However, even under these conditions, you can be sure that people -- new immigrants, old immigrants, natives -- would stand, kneel and sit shoulder to shoulder at the church, mosque or temple, listening as one to their religious leaders. Or in many cases, disillusioned by traditional, organized religion, they are drawn to other breakaway sects and variations of religion, sometimes called “New Age spirituality,” served by a number of charismatic leaders. Regardless, it will be faith -- be it traditional or otherwise -- that will bring people together in the future, not the Stars and Stripes or the Union Jack.

-- MCT/Fresno Bee/Craig Kohlruss: Sikh men sit in prayer at the temple of the Fresno Sikh Society July 6 in California.Tomorrow’s superpowers will not have physical boundaries; their boundaries will be those of the mind and soul. In fact, it will be countries or trade blocs that will divide the faithful of various religions with ever-changing physical borders. And it will be religions -- traditional, organized or otherwise -- that will unite the far-flung faithful. Those with strong and charismatic leaders will be able to affect and influence the behavior of vast numbers of people, and therefore our world. The mantle of power will fall on religious leaders, be they benevolent and selfless, or power-hungry renegades. It is the likes of Pope Benedict XVI and, yes, even maniacal individuals like Osama bin Laden who will have increasing power to influence our world.

As in the past, the conflicts and wars that will rage in our future may not be driven so much by religion per se as by economic factors or scarcity of resources, or simply by people looking for a means to power. However, religion will be the most powerful way to galvanize people to action. We have seen this with Hindus and Muslims in India, Catholics and Protestants in the United Kingdom, Muslims and Jews in the Middle East or Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq. In each case, it is countrymen killing each other in the name of religion. With the continuing march of globalization and its impact on individual identity, it is likely that tomorrow’s global leaders will be religious leaders, not political heads of state, and tomorrow’s global superpowers will be religions, not nation-states. As such, legitimate leaders of peace-loving religions must recognize this situation as an opportunity to effect positive change in our world and help thwart the efforts of religious fanatics who are using it for their selfish and twisted goals.

Arun Pereira is an associate professor at St. Louis University. His recent book, Papal Reich, is a historical-fiction thriller set in a world where religions are displacing nations as the global superpowers.

National Catholic Reporter August 1, 2008