Why do modern societies still remain attached to religious identities?
One of the ways in which people in modern society identify themselves with is by belonging to a certain religion or
religious group. One may argue that the idea of a ‘modern society’ should have moved from an ancient, medieval and ‘supernatural’ way of thinking to a more non -traditional, rational and secular way. However, not only do certain members of society use their religion as their main form of identity but also, over the last few years, this phenomenon has markedly increased, as seen in recent years by the emergence of the hyphenated identity of Americans with a Muslim background, identifying themselves as ‘ Muslim –
Americans’ after the ‘9/11’ incident. This essay will look at some research of immigrants, mainly in the United States of America and why they have held on to their religion as their major form of identity over the years. Moreover, this essay will also discuss how an international political/religious crisis like ‘9/11’ has made many young ‘Muslim - Americans’ take their religion more seriously and have made Islam shape the base of how they identify themselves.
In the first paragraph of my essay, I will briefly describe
what is meant by ‘modern societies/modernism/modernity’. My second paragraph will explore the concept of ‘identity’ in our modern age. The third paragraph will discuss 'religious identity' specifically and will look at some research done on immigrant communities in America and the reasons as to why these communities have defined themselves on the bases of their religion. My fourth paragraph will look at the incident of '9/11' in America and will discuss the impact of this crisis on the identity of young ‘Muslim - Americans’ and the birth of the hyphenated identity. My fifth and final paragraph will be the conclusion to my essay. Modernity ‘typically refers to a post -traditional, postmedieval historical period, one marked by the move from toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance. Conceptually, modernity relates to the modern era and to modernism. (Wikipedia). Modernity developed in the west over a 500 year period – from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment to Modernism. Modernity has been associated with cultural and
intellectual movements of 1436–1789 and extending to the 1970s or later.
According to one of Marshall Berman's books, modernity is periodised into three conventional phases: ▪
Early modernity: 1500–1789 (or 1453–1789 in
traditional historiography) ▪
Classical modernity: 1789–1900 (corresponding to
the long 19th century (1789–1914) ▪
Late modernity: 1900–1989
Central to modernity is emancipation from religion, specifically the hegemony of Christianity, and the consequent secularization. Modern thought repudiates the Judeo-Christian belief in the Biblical God as a mere relic of superstitious ages.’ (Wikipedia) Therefore, modernity is opposed to tradition and is considered anti-traditional. One of the major bases of tradition is religious authority, and so modernity assumes technical authority away from any kind of religious influence. Since this essay is about the concept of
‘religious identity’ in modern society, I will be first discussing the concept of ‘identity’ as seen in the era of modernity or in 'modern times'. I will then go on to explore the role of ‘religious identity’ specifically, in ‘modern
society’. A person’s identity has many attributes. It is a representation of one’s unique personal experience, memory, ethnicity, culture, religious orientation, gender, occupational role, amongst various other factors. The
concept of identity was derived mainly from the work of the psychologist Erik Erikson in the 1950s. Erikson refers to
identity as ‘some belief in the sameness and continuity of some shared world image.’ He also defined ‘identity’ as ‘one’s consciousness of one self and others’ perception of one’s individuality.’ In recent years, scholars working in the field of social sciences and humanities have taken an intense interest in concepts relating to identity. Phillip Gleason, an American historian discusses how our present sense of
‘identity’ has evolved in the last forty years, where he obtained most of his ideas from Erik Erikson’s conc ept of an
‘identity crisis’. He observed that ‘the meaning of ‘identity’ as we currently use it is not well captured by dictionary definitions, which reflect older senses of the word. Our
present idea of ‘identity’ is a fairly recent social construct, and a rather complicated one at that.’ Eve n though many may know how to use the word in everyday discourse, it still proves quite difficult to give a short and adequate summary that captures the range of its present meanings. Some of the
definitions of ‘identity’ from various sources are as follows: 1.“National identity describes that condition in which a mass of people have made the same identification with national symbols, have internalised the symbols of the nation ...” (Bloom 1990).
2. Identity is “people’s concepts of who they are, of what sort of people they are, and how they relate to others” (Hogg and Abrams 1988).
3. “By social identity, I mean the desire for group distinction, dignity, and place within historically specific discourses (or frames of understanding) about the character, structure, and boundaries of the polity and the economy” (Herrigel 1993). Furthermore, in relation to studies of the political sciences, we can see that the idea of ‘state identity’ in international relations, is the core of constructivist critiques of realism and analyses of state sovereignty (Wendt 1999). Whereas in
political theory, questions of ‘identity’ are the main focus of discussion on issues of nationality, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and culture in relation to liberalism and its alternatives (Taylor 1989). Therefore, looking at all of the above, the range, complexity, and differences among these
various formulations in the concept of ‘identity’ are vast and very diverse.
Apart from the exploration of ‘identity’, ‘religious identity’ has become more and more popular over the last decade. The growing impact of religion as a socio-political force has become central to the interests of social scientists, politicians and mass media (Haynes 1998). Although some research has not recognised religion as a dimension of
‘identity’ and has included things like gender, race, ethnicity, etc. (Frable 1997;Howard 2000), other research has explored religion in relation to individual and group
‘identity’ and this will be our main focus of discussion in this
paragraph. Research in the increase in social awareness regarding religion has been analysed in many various ways. For example, Duijzings (2000) discusses how religion relates to the politics of identity that fuel nationalist movements. Kepel (1993) describes how religion is seen as part of
‘culture without religiosity’, a phenomenon which is coded as ‘religion without God’. Moreover, social phenomena related to religious affiliation, such as the headscarf movement in several European countries or the faith schools movement have also been explored and found to be challenging the foundations of European modernity (Gardner, Cairns et al. 2005). In addition, there has also been numerous research that has explored the role of religion in maintaining group identity and solidarity, particularly in immigrant groups (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000;Hammond 1988). Many of these studies have examined the connection between religion and ethnic identity. Yang and Ebaugh (2001) argue that some immigrant religious communities stress on their members' religious identity more than their ethnic foundation, whereas others stress ethnic identity and rely on religious institutions. Smith (1978) described immigration as a ‘theologizing experience’ where immigrants frequently react to the confusing and alienating nature of arriving in a new country by turning to religion. Therefore, they build religious institutions and conduct cultural activities in the new society to solve their adjustment issues (Kurien 1998). Another explanation of
why religion may become an important basis for identity is the function that religion plays in society. In addition to meeting spiritual needs, membership in religious organisations may offer social benefits, such as psychological support, peer trust, networking, economic opportunities and educational resources (Chen 2002; Hurh and Kim 1990). Furthermore, as positive benefits increase, it is more likely that individuals will affiliate religiously. Rayaprol (1997) also argues that in countries such as the United States where it is secular and pluralistic in nature, religion may be used to maintain personal and social distinctiveness. Another interesting research argues that religious identity and expression serve to ease the tensions caused by incongruent immigrant, ethnic, and American identities (Yang 1999). Sullivan (2000) discusses how when church members define themselves first, in religious terms, their ethnic variation and national differences become less problematic. We can therefore see how religion in certain groups of society, mainly immigrants, plays an important role in not only forming individual and group identities but it also reinforces its’ importance through the ‘benefits’ that it provides. One of the other important reasons that I would like to explore in this paragraph is to briefly look at ‘religion and
identity’ in the context of an international political crisis, such as ‘9/11’ in America and how it has shaped religious
identities (mainly of young American Muslims). Portes and Rumbaut (2001) had introduced the concept of ‘reactive
ethnicity’ to describe the rise of defensive identities and solidarities to counter confrontations with an adverse native mainstream. In addition, Smith's (1998) theory of ‘subcultural identity formation’ is- ‘as long as the perception of a threat remains, personal identities and group solidarity will likely continue to be strong ’. Haddad (1994) looked at that the Arab-Israeli war in 1967 and the American support for the Israeli cause, this resulted in a shock to the Arab community in the United States and led to the creation of the Arab-American hyphenated identity. As Islam came under intense scrutiny by non-Muslim Americans from the tragic
events of ‘9/ 11’, this led to an identity formed in response to a crisis – ‘Muslim - Americans’, the hyphenated identity with a religious face. This religious identity was not only shaped by ‘9/11’ but also seemed to have strengthened by
the post ‘9/11’ hostility and the perceived threat to both Islam and their individual identities. First, the increasingly negative portrayal of Islam following the attacks (Haddad 2004) and perceptions of how non-Muslims now viewed
‘American - Muslims’ and their religion caused many Muslims in America to identify more closely with Islam. Within hours of the attacks, unprecedented xenophobic incidents began. In the months following ‘9/11’, thousands of Muslims and Arabs (as well as Sikhs, South Asians, and other individuals who simply appeared to be of Middle
Eastern descent) endured discrimination, harassment, racial and religious profiling, and verbal and physical assault (American- Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee 2003). This kind of ‘collective threat ’ from the Non-Muslim American majority brought all the ‘Muslim -Americans’ together. Second, after the attack, many ‘Muslim - American’ students were being questioned about their faith and religious beliefs and so many started studying the Qur'an. Not only did this act again bring cohesion and solidarity to the group as a whole but it also strengthened their knowledge in religion and solidified it as part of their identity. Third, the spiritual gratification and the easing of anxiety by the regular reading of the religious texts during the post ‘9/11’ crisis, again maybe seen as another reason of reinforcing religion as a strong form of ‘identity’ in the vulnerable community. The above mentioned reasons are possibly some of the many reasons why young Americans with a Muslim background have used their religion as their main identity after the ‘9/11’ crisis which also resulted in the birth of the hyphenated identity. Moreover, in my previous paragraphs, I have highlighted some of the reasons of why immigrant communities in America have adhered to their identity on the basis of their religion. The reasons being as mentioned earlier, may be due to their need to be part of a larger community with familiar cultural and religious activities to ease their feelings of isolation or/and it could be to gain
various kinds of social and psychological support from a community or/and it may be because of a desire to be distinctive in a multicultural society. And thus, it may be safe to say that even though ‘modern societies’ assume to be secular in character, it is difficult however to look at in that way because religion has become a strong geo-political force in our society. However, does assuming a religious identity in this day and age mean that the person is religious? i.e believing in God, regularly practicing religion etc. or is it motivated possibly by secondary gain? (as described earlier) And so, if it is the latter, then assuming a religious identity in most cases may still be considered ‘secular’ or ‘non religious’ in some ways in modern society and so the concept of
modernity and a ‘religious’ affiliation may coexist.
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