God (religion) in a Globalized World

God (Religion) In A Globalized World

It’s surprising how humans have surpassed their barriers to distance and physical incapability. Hence, a man who lost his leg is able to independently walk and work. The world has transcends avidly in innovation and technology. Thomas Friedman’s book, “The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization”, is his effort in raising nations’ awareness of the state of the world that they are living now: an era of globalization. Alas, in such a modern setting, where have people place God in their life nowadays? For most Christian, perhaps the answer would be He is present every Sunday morning, but is that the only period individuals are willing to devote for their creator? Spending merely two or three hours within the 168 hours of their life per week to praise God. Globalized individuals are too preoccupied with advancement and technology that they often forget about their creator, God. This paper is dedicated to further discuss God, religious beliefs, and their withstanding in the context of globalization.

The era of globalization challenges individuals’ conscience to act morally. It started back with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The fall unchained a brand new trading pathway for businesses that does not only affect Germany, but every nation. The fall symbolizes the opening of the gate that once becomes a great barrier for humans. Along with overcoming barrier comes the dynamism of the economy. However, dynamism can’t thrive without the appropriate tools and medium. Consequently, technologies were developed to ease communication, transport, and other global necessities. As such, businesses that seized that chance progressed, erecting a demand to be agile. Unfortunately, one can’t be quick enough to respond to changes if one is neither efficient nor effective. Businesses strive for those two elements, and so must the individuals within. Businesses are always in an attempt to maximize profit, but with the call to be efficient or effective, they are forced to lower their cost as one of the ways. Often times, lowering cost involved having to pick an option that might cause harm to their surrounding. For example, choosing to move their factory to developing countries where probably child labor is acceptable. Most businesses too would choose to invest in a profitable project rather than being involved in philanthropic or humanitarian projects. These prove that sometimes to gain profit is to have one’s conscience of ethics and moral questioned.

       Furthermore, globalization has consumed and depleted part of humans’ essentials, which in this case is God. People still have faith, religious beliefs still exist, however the problem is that nowadays people lacks the behavior that truly reflects a religious individual. A man of religion is a man who has standards that abide to his religious beliefs. According to Buddhism, the body that humans live in does not belong to humans and thus in the end every earthly belongings will return earth as its source. Humans should live simpler and less earthly. Despite of that understanding, humans are corrupted, evolving into gluttonous, profit seeking creature that often times end up being owned by the things they own. Look at humans now. Leisure time is now enjoyed in front of monitors: laptops, desktops, iPod, iPhone, Blackberry. Before the computers came, neighbors know each other better and families spend more time together. Human interaction is a core element in their life and yet, it has been exchanged with the interaction via Internet. Fundamental human activities dimmed as technology soar globally. If an earthly essential such as human interaction is in a struggle battling globalization, then what of the intangible, eminent, and definite idea of religion? Well, “the more we are dependent on this technology, the more we need to come to it armed with our own ideals and codes of restraint” is the solution (Friedman 470).