Louisville Process Theology Network

Resurgence in Asia

Social scientists have long predicted that East Asia would become more secular as modernization and globalization spread, however, there are many significant contradictions across that region today according to the November issue of "The Journal of Asia Studies." In many cases, these religious movements are led by women and laity. In a some cases, however, they appear to be exploitive.

In the Philippines, for example, a recent Catholic Pentacostal movement known as El Shaddai is attracting millions, mostly poor. Adherents are promised "wealth in magical exchange" for their tithes.

In Thailand, the Buddhist Dhammakaya Temple is bringing in middle class Thais with appeals to "confidence and moral security." It  promises to teach forms of meditation once considered accessible only to monks.

And; in Indonesia, "Islam de marche" (market Islam) is thriving by all accounts. This is a mixture of American Protestant evangelism, capitalist "free market" idealogy, and Islamic teachings. One of this movement's most prominent leaders is Craig Abdurrohm Owensby; a convert to Islam and former leader of the Moral Majoritiy in the United States with Jerry Falwell.

China, as always, is the exception to social trends elsewhere. Here, the resurgence of religion appears to be a broad-based response to the Cultural Revolution of a generation ago. Government that pushed for many years to smash the "superstitions" of religions is now faced with tens of millions of practicing Buddhists, several hundred million observants of ancestral rites at local temples spread across the country, and as many as 60 million self-identified Christians.

Some social scientists say that moderization and globalization have unexpectedly deepened regional sensitivity to human needs and solidarity; which in turn may have revived interest in religion.