#004, The relevance of religion (Religion Bites podcast)

In order to understand the  contemporary world we need to take religion seriously. Although some  may think of religion as an ancient (or medieval) relic of bygone times,  religions are very often important elements of the contemporary world.  We need to recognise that religion and religions have an impact in many  different ways. Thus we can ask questions about the changing roles  of religion in contemporary societies. For example, is there a process  of ‘secularisation’, of the decline of religion, going on, and if so, is  there any way of knowing where this will go? Is religion part of  modernity or is it opposed to it? What role does religion have in the  processes of globalisation, and how is globalisation itself spread and  enhanced by religion? How do new media impact on religion, and again  vice versa – how are media themselves developed and changed by the  influence of religious groups and religious practices? And how can  we make sense of the particularities of the contemporary world in terms  of the historical legacies of particular religions. How has the world  we live in been shaped by particular religious ideas, by events in the  past that were rooted in religious issues. And how does diversity –  at the international, the national, and the local levels – create  religious issues in the contemporary world?