7.3 Case Studies Flashcards
Religion as a source of social change
Hinduism as a Dual Character
Nanda
The idea of a dual character is exemplified well in Hinduism which, for generations, was used as a powerful conservative force, not least in the maintenance of the caste system where Indian society was divided up into immobile social classes by birth, with the Dalits or “untouchables” at the bottom of the social pile, outside the caste system itself.
However, the same religion inspired huge social change in the Indian nationalist movement, and particularly the principles of non-violence and self-renunciation at the heart of Mahatma Gandhi’s ultimately successful campaign against the British Empire. Today, Hinduism is again argued to be driving social change, as a key factor in India’s economic development, according to Nanda.
Civil Rights Movements
evidence for religion for social change
After the second world war, in the USA, a movement grew to end segregation and racist policies in the United States, and particularly to end the Jim Crow laws in the southern states. These were rules that segregated black and white people in various public places including schools and in many states prevented many black people from voting (and, as a result, from serving on juries, etc.) Terrible abuses against black people, including lynching by the Klu Klux Klan, were all too common.
Campaigns for equal rights took place on a number of levels and using a number of different tactics, but the most high-profile were the civil disobedience campaigns of the Reverend Martin Luther King, a black Christian clergyman who took a leading role in the campaigns. King combined Christian teachings with the campaigning ideas of Mahatma Gandhi in order to change hearts and minds and ultimately laws in the USA. Although King was a clergyman, this was not a religious campaign. Other civil rights campaigners had different religious views (for example some of the more militant campaigners joined the Nation of Islam, a black nationalist Islamic sect, e.g. Malcolm X.) However, religion did play its part, in the following ways:
Churches provided sanctuary for campaigners and became local campaigning hubs.
The use of supportive biblical verses shamed white clergy and congregants into supporting the movement. It was hard to ignore or argue with clear commands such as “love thy neighbour.” Similarly, statements that are deep in the American psyche, such as “all men are born equal before God” took on a new significance in the light of the campaign.
Liberation Theology
evidence for religion for social change
Latin America
The catholic church in some Latin American countries performed a clearly political role in protecting people from fascist oppression and helping to organise the fightback. This movement was known as liberation theology. Otto Maduro (1982) saw this as an example of how religious organisations could provide guidance to the working class and the oppressed as they struggled with the ruling class. Rather than being a conservative force, the Catholic Church locally performed a revolutionary role in countries like El Salvador and Guatemala in the fight against their military dictatorships.
A key example is Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador. Initially Romero, as quite a conservative Catholic bishop was concerned about priests in his diocese working alongside the poor, helping them to organise groups and participating in political campaigns. However, he became increasingly angered by the oppressive nature of El Salvador’s military dictatorship and the brutal repression of the poor and of peaceful protesters, including the widespread use of death squads. As archbishop, Romero used his platform to speak out against the government, denouncing state killings and widespread torture. He also set up various schemes to assist the victims and their families.
Romero was assassinated in 1980. This is a very clear example of religious figures and religious organisations not working hand-in-hand with the state and the ruling class as a conservative force, but doing quite the opposite.
Criticism: Although Archbishop Romero was officially declared a martyr in 2015, there was some official condemnation of liberation theology in the years in between. Pope John Paul II was highly critical of what he saw as links between liberation theology and Marxism and some leading proponents of the position were banned from speaking at Catholic events and went as far as to call it a distortion pf Christianity. As such, it could be argued that Romero and liberation theologists were acting against the conservative position of their international Church.
Criticism: Some question how central religion was to the Civil Rights movement. Although King was a clergyman, the movement was multi-faith and broadly secular.
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Crusade Against Neoliberalism
Liberation Theology
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, seems to be firmly against corporate greed and Tory neoliberal policies which allow Corporations the freedom to exploit workers.
His explicitly political stance against mainstream political and economic institutions seems to be a good example of a religious leader getting involved in political conflict.
At the Trade’s Union conference Just last week Welby described zero hours contracts as ‘the reincarnation of an ancient evil’ and accused Amazon of avoiding tax and ‘leaching’ off the public.
The Archbishop seems to be firmly in the ‘Jeremy Corbyn camp’: he has been speaking out against Tory austerity policies since he took up office in 2013. He has consistently criticized modern capitalism and tory welfare cuts.
Welby probably has a lot of direct experience to draw on: all over the country Church of England churches have been setting up food banks and acting as night shelters for the homeless, effectively playing a role in filling the Tory’s welfare gap.
This seems to be a great example of a major religious leader standing up for the poor, in the tradition of Liberation Theology.
Potentially this is religion acting as a source of conflict… here Welby is railing explicitly against mainstream political and economic institutions.
This is most definitely NOT an example of religion acting as a conservative force: this is a religious leader demanding radical change.
There is possibly an element of hypocrisy to Welby’s views: The Church of England itself has shares in Amazon, and even uses zero hours contracts.
This further suggests that Welby’s views might be out of step with the rest of the Church of England. Maybe the views of this one individual are genuine, but maybe he actually has any real power to really bring about any kind of far reaching, radical social change?
Evangelicalism
Political influence in US
Evangelicalism has been important throughout the history of the USA.
- It derives from Protestantism, and has a strong emphasis on the need to be ‘born again’ and on the literal truth of the bible.
- There is a ‘religious right’ - the New Christian Right (NCR) - that includes loose-knit groups such as the Moral Majority and, more recently, the politically conservative Tea Party political movement.
- The NCR played a significant role in the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 as US President and of Trump in 2016. Its role in politics was analysed by Steve Bruce, using statistical data and interviews with NCR activists.
The Ayatollah’s in the Iranian Revolution
Azad
Applied a similar analysis to social transformations such as the Iranian Revolution (1979). The overthrow of the ‘old order’ - a tyrannical, secular dictatorship, supported by countries such as the UK and the USA.
- Only after the Shah was deposed, Azad argues, did a power struggle for control emerge in which religious leaders such as the Ayatollah Khomeini proved stronger than secular leaders.
- The struggle for power was primarily political and ideological, because no major economic transformation took place in Iran: In 1979 the Iranian economy was a capitalist economy. Sixteen years later, despite many religious edicts, that is still its essence.
Lakewood Church and the Prosperity Gospel
trad marxist argument
Three out of four of the Largest churches in the U.S. preach the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ – these are megachurches which preach the idea that God is a spiritual source which individuals can call upon to ‘enrich’ their lives – popular buzzwords include ‘hope, destiny and bounty’, and the sermons are filled with optimism, with the Christian themes of guilt, shame, sin and penance hardly ever being mentioned.
These mega churches are attended by 10s of thousands and watched by millions, and it’s estimated that one in five Americans now follow the ‘Prosperity Gospel’, which is a sort of cross between Pentacostalism and Faith healing and run by celebrity mega preachers such as Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland.
Joel Osteen’s sermons draw in a massive 7 million viewers a week, and more on Satellite radio. Apparently he practices his sermons for hours, until he gets them exactly right, totally polished.
Osteen’s Church is the ostentatious Lakewood in Texas, and it brought in an income of $89 million in 2017, the same year it failed to open its doors to those driven to homelessness by Hurricane Harvey, at least until a social media backlash forced it to do so!
Osteen himself has a personal fortune of around $60 million and speaks broadly for the broken middle classes of America. He is a fan of Positive Thinking, as is Donald Trump.
Underlying both Trump’s and Osteen’s idea is a belief that God underwrites the justice of the marketplace – or put another way, the market rewards those who work hard!
