Religion and Culture and Their Dynamic Interactions - Essay Example

The connection between religion and culture; How closely are they tied together in the West as compared to other parts of the world, particularly theMiddle East?” Religion and culture and their dynamic interactions are a visible reality everywhere in the Middle East and in the West. There is the vigorous presence of the religious inputs in the socio-cultural arena (economics, politics, etc). There is a current surge as we see the growing assertiveness of the Catholic Church and the Muslim Mosque, which allies itself with their governments, secular groups and communities on defence and social welfare issues that ultimately affect the peoples view towards their lives and their environment. Religion has played an important role in moulding the culture in a given society. In addition, religion has always been an important constituent of culture. Society has always affected how groups of people interrelate with each other and is always evident in daily relations. It is more evident when different cultures based on different religions intermingle. Different cultures mix differently – they may easily mix or they may be highly contrasting. Man’s faith is as old as humankind itself and because of this; religion has a large probably of being able to influence people into its sets of beliefs and principles and thus, a change in its culture. By definition, a religion is composed of a series of beliefs and practices that is essentially residing in a community that involves people adhering to a set of beliefs and rituals of study of ancestral facts and coincidentally cultural traditions. In this kind of situation, religion by far mainly affects how people interact with each other. Over a long period of time, the people’s writings, history, and mythology, as well as mystic experience are moulded or affected by religion. In addition, religion also refers to both an individual’s practice as it is related to his/her communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from a common belief. Religion is often described as a communal system wherein people focus their beliefs and adhere on a single system of thought, unseen entity, a person, or an object. These elements in turn are considered to be supernatural or either extraordinary, sacred or divine to the group, and can be consider as the ultimate truth (Fletcher, 1994). This will be in turn, moral codes, practices, values, institutions, tradition, rituals, and scriptures are then converted into cultures as these practices or rituals are practiced in a daily core belief. It has also even been considered that religion is considered as a way of life for people. Already there are hints that religion plays a strong role in moulding people and therefore moulding their culture (Reese, 1980). The second element of the study is culture. Generally speaking, culture is defined as a set of human actions and symbolisms initiated by groups of people and communities that have such predominant significance within the abovementioned community that it has become part of their daily existence. This can be attributed to the chronological nature of culture as it has been passed on from generation to generation. (Kroeber, 1952). As Wikipedia defines culture “In general, the term culture denotes the whole product of an individual, group or society of intelligent beings. It includes technology, art, science, as well as moral systems and the characteristic behaviours and habits of the selected intelligent entities. In particular, it has specific more detailed meanings in different domains of human activities.” Scientists have used the term culture as a point of reference to the universal human capacity to identify and communicate their experiences with other people and other cultures symbolically. This single capacity has been one of the longest elements that define humans from other sentient beings. Groups of people are categorized by themselves and by others along a variety of dimensions such as their race – that is sometimes dictated primarily by their skin colour (other physical traits); the amount of their income and social class and where they live and work; ethnicity by their national origin or ancestry, and their own feelings of being a affiliated or strongly allied to a certain group or community (White, 1949). In a study that focused on western religion, particularly religion in American, it was stated that religion in American today is thriving, activist, and diverse. Some 96 % of Americans profess a belief in God or a universal spirit, with well over 80 % describing God as a heavenly father reachable by prayer. Nine out of every ten persons surveyed have a religious inclination and a considerably large portion of the population assert the importance of religion in their lives. In addition to this, six out of ten people believe that most if not all of the problems prevalent in the world today can be addressed by religion. (Teicher, 2007). One way to understand the dimensions of faith in the Western countries is to compare each identified western country against the other. “On every measure -- belief in God and Christ, born-again experiences, church attendance, and daily prayer” (Ralph, 1999) -- Americans repeatedly express far more religious faith than citizens in Great Britain, West Germany, France, and most other nations in Europe. Thus “whereas some 70 % of Americans express belief in life after death, only 45 % of those in Great Britain do, 39 % in Germany, 35 % in France, and 26 % in Denmark. 65 % of Americans believe in the Devil, versus 28 % of those in Great Britain, 35 % in West Germany, and 7 % in East Germany prior to unification. Over 40 % of Americans say they pray daily compared with only 18 % in Great Britain” (Ralph, 1999). Religion in western countries (America, Britain, etc.) flourishes with pluralism and vitality, yet it does so amid contrary secular forces. Thus we have something of a paradox. On the other hand, faith that is explicitly expressed remains to be highly prevalent and churches remain to be mainly involved in the many facets of society. However, given with this current state, there is a lot of moral and ethical problems that occur within society and the remaining sectors of countries namely the mass media, government, business, educational institutions (secondary and tertiary education) seem to run and operate themselves with a secular frame of mind that is seemingly independent of religious influences. One of the perennial questions, therefore, is why such apparently thriving religion does not exercise more influence than it does. A major reason lies in religious pluralism. Because unanimity does not exist on most issues, people hear Babel of competing religious voices. When religious groups do form a united front, they can be quite effective. But those instances are so rare as to prove the rule. Pluralism dilutes any groups power and promotes more diversity (White, 1949). In a study made by John Buchan, a character in paper observes that “theres a great stirring in Islam, something moving on the face of the waters”. Several decades later the world is now well aware of this stirring, of the revival of power and prestige in the Islamic world, of memories of the Arab past and grandeur, of the revitalization of the religion of Islam and of the rise of fervent fundamentalist Muslim groups using Islamic concepts to attain ends that go further than personnel and family matters (Reese, 1980). Religious fervour has affected even secular states in the Middle East. Turkey, formally a secular state since the early 20th century has witnessed the rise of anti-Kemalist religious sentiment. In the Soviet Union, the more than 50 million Muslims comprise a restless element and the source of possible future fragmentation of the country. The reassertion of religious values for socio-economic ends in the Middle East suggests a need for reconsideration of the process of social change. Social scientists in the post-war era have frequently used the concepts of socio-economical development or modernization as devices to explain change and the differing characters of cultural systems (Gibbon, 2005). Development, and the concomitant characteristics of industrialisation, urbanisation, increased communication and secularism, would lead to the passing of traditional society (Entelis, 1979) with its religious and ethnic components. Development theory suggests the declining relevance of religion and reduced importance of religious leaders in cultural affairs in developed societies where the state and the exercise of authority derives legitimacy from the principle of popular sovereignty. Westerners have been surprised by the opposition of many youth to modernity; young women have resorted to greater use of the headscarf covering the hair and ears or to the chador, and young men have grown beards as a display of religious fervour. Both sexes have increased attendance at mosques. In Western societies the place and role of the clergy rests on the acceptance of traditional behaviour (Kautsky, 1972), which has been weakened or destroyed by modernization. But Middle Eastern Islamic clergy have popular support and can form the basis of opposition to attempts at modernization. Some of those, like Nasser and Ayub Khan, attempting to speed the modernization process have felt obliged to use religious symbolism to gain support. Moreover, modernization measures have been imposed by elite groups or by individual rulers (Kautsky, 1972). The middle class who in Western societies gained socio-economic power after its economic rise has not yet reached a comparable status in the still highly centralized and elitist socio-economic systems in the Middle East. In these systems no real continuing communication medium on cultural issues exists between the elite and the populace which thus resorts to occasional riots or mass demonstrations. Nor are there genuine secular avenues of pluralistic expression, opportunities for diversity or provision for legitimate criticism. Not surprisingly the mosque has been an important meeting place for social life and exchange of news where socio-economic discussion has limited outlets. The renewal of Islam has stimulated the growth of fundamentalist Muslim groups. An uneasy and uneven relationship exists between these groups and the socio-economic elite in the different systems ranging from the intimate as in Iran and Libya, the tolerant as in Egypt and Turkey to hostility as in Iraq, Algeria, and Syria. The values and behaviour of Islamic societies have naturally been affected by a technologically efficient, economically powerful and militarily strong West. Even the political independence of the Islamic countries and the ending or severe reduction of Western colonial rule, socio-political domination and economic control, has not overcome the past feeling of humiliation, the sense of inadequacy caused by their subordination to the more economically advanced West. Yet the strength of indigenous values has remained great and the search for an identity of their own has caused these countries to be wary of Western influence in social relations and cultural behaviour and even of the very rationale of modern societies based on technology and a high rate of consumption. From the beginning of Islam religion and culture have been intertwined. Government and other socio-economic infrastructures is a religious institution expressing the will of God, the ultimate sovereign and the source of authority. Legitimacy is equated with actions in accordance with the law of God as revealed to his prophets. The duty of these representatives of God is to administer and to interpret the law. The central purpose of these social structures in most Muslim political thought is justice which at first meant maintenance of the Holy Law of Islam and later the maintenance of the social and political orders (Parkes, n.d.). Western socio-economic systems, in theory if not always in practice, embody a distinction between religion and culture; such a separation is both a limitation on the exercise of power and a protection of different religions. For those asserting the socio-economic primacy of Islam the Quran is seen as the basis of social decision-making, the mosque as the centre of social life, and the religious dignitaries, the mullahs, as the leaders of the country. The Quran deals with and governs all spheres of life and social behaviour, all aspects of public and private life. The leader of Islamic communities thus serves both a religious and political function. In past Arab empires the Caliph was both temporal and spiritual leader. Those advocating an Islamic system today hold that the mullahs, as students of the truth, should administer it or those political rulers are subordinate to them (Lewis, 1966). For Islamic societies the problem remains of how to combine or reconcile Islamic law, Sharia, with the regulation of contemporary public and private matters. On the other hand appropriate they may have been for the 7th century, parts of the Sharia are difficult to envisage in a modern context: the justification of polygamy and the generally inferior position of women, the condition of minorities, the special taxes paid by non-Muslims, the division of the world into Muslim territory and the house of war, the call for a holy war against the infidel, the prohibition of usury, and the "canonical punishments" which have from time to time been carried out. In conclusion, it is clearly evident that both the Western and Middle Eastern culture has been greatly influenced by the kind of religion the majority group practice. Centuries of practicing a singular religion (or for some countries, several “derivative” all originating from a single religion) has moulded their laws, traditions, socio-economic infrastructure, the way they interact and congregate with each other based on the precepts of the kind of religion they practice. Though when examined more closely, one can ascertain that western countries have a more distinct division between religion and culture, particularly in such socio-economic structures as western politics, law, and economics. On the other hand, Middle Eastern culture is highly founded on religion. In almost all facet of Middle Eastern Life you can see a strong foundation and adherence to religion. Centuries old traditions based on religious beliefs in western countries have evolved with current day culture and likewise the people’s interpretation of religions doctrines have also evolved. In Middle Eastern cultures however, traditions and culture have changed very little. In closing, although it is clearly evident that the degree of effect religion has played in culture is directly opposite, with Middle Eastern culture exhibiting a very strong reflection of their religion and with most Western cultures already evolved out of their religious foundations, religion will still play a very critical role in continuing to mould the cultures of both societies in the years to come. References Teicher, Z. (2007) American Children Encountering the Bible: Ensuring Engagement through the American Education System and the Children’s Bible Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/reli_honors/2/ Pejkova, Z. (2001) Youth, Church and the Future Retrieved from http://www.rusk.ru/st.php?idar=6021 Ralph C. (1994) Religion in Public Square Retrieved from http://zl9eq5lq7v.scholar.serialssolutions.com.ezproxy.bond.edu.au/?sid=google&auinit=RC&aulast=Chandler&atitle=The+Culture+of+Disbelief:+How+American+Law+and+Politics+Trivialize+Religious+Devotion&title=Public+administration+review&volume=59&issue=2&date=1999&spage=179&issn=0033-3352 The Harris Poll. (2005) The Religious and Other Beliefs of Americans Retrieved from http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=618 Wikipedia Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture Gibbon, E. (2005), The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. 50. Entelis, J. (1979), Ethnic Conflict and the Problem of Political Identity in the Middle East, Polity, p. 400. Kautsky, J. (1972), The Political Consequences of Modernization, Wiley, New York, p. 104. Parkes, J. (n.d.) Whose Land? p. 10. Lewis, B. (1966), Arabs in History, Hutchinson, London Kroeber, A. L. and C. Kluckhohn, (1952). Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. Cambridge White, L. 1949. The Science of Culture: A study of man and civilization. New York: Farrar Reese, W. 1980. Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought. New Jersey U.S., Sussex, U.K: Humanities Press. Fletcher, A. & Roberts, P. (Eds.). (1994). Religion, Culture, and Society in Early Modern Britain: Essays in Honour of Patrick Collinson. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Korotayev, A. (2004). World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations: A Cross-cultural Perspective, Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press Read More