Globalization; Identity Crisis and Undermining Religious Education

Globalization is a concept for a process through which the world becomes integrated, the cosmic knowledge increases, the social institutions become interrelated and the knowledge of the world transforms into a whole integrity. This phenomenon is referred to and interpreted as the cause of a split between space, time and place, as the three elements which constitute identity. Though globalization carries with it new opportunities and remarkable potential capacities, it is also associated with serious threats among which one can refer to the so-called ‘emergence of identity crisis in society’. This newly born phenomenon exerts its influence by undermining the logical and sensible relationship between the elements constituting identity and prevent the formation of a fixed and constant identity for individuals in different societies in conformity to the national, ethnic and religious values or native culture. By undermining the relationship between religious understanding, religious practice and religious beliefs as the preliminary to the emergence of religious identity, globalization leads first to the appearance of a dubious identity (not traditional, not modern) and then to a compound or mixed and finally to a non-religious identity. With the emergence of non-religious identity, the role of religious teachings in training people in society as a value criterion is weakened, minimized and becomes ineffective. The present article, which is, in fact an analytic kind of work, seeks to cast light at the fact that globalization is a sort of non-religious process while accepting the clam that globalization is something dynamic, progressive and in the state of becoming.