Religion in the Twenty-first century and beyond: A Social sciences perspective

Description

The term "Religion" refers to a wide range of social-cultural systems, which include beliefs, morals,
ethics, religious practices, thought worlds, worldviews, holy texts and scriptures, sanctified holy
places, and institutions that typically relate to the general belief in a God or a supernatural entity.
Religion has been known in a wide variety of geographical contexts and situations, and attested since
very early times; as a matter of fact, even before the dawn of human civilization. As a matter of fact,
there have been very few known human societies without some form of an organized or an informal
religion. In the past few centuries, technology has progressed at a rapid pace, and at a rate that
would have been unimaginable just two centuries ago. Many pundits predicted that the role played
by religion in society would invariably and inevitably diminish; alas, such prophecies have not come
to pass. Religion, and the role played by it in society, remains as deeply entrenched as ever before. As
a matter of fact, globalization has unleashed a clash of civilizations, and has brought different and
widely differing ideologies into direct contact with each other, often unleashing waves of terror. In
the wide array and assortment of papers that we have been publishing over the years, we have
introduced many different concepts that we believe can greatly help in understanding the role
religion plays in relation to society. Readers can easily reference these papers. In this paper, we
attempt to take our endeavours to a much higher level, to analyse how the beneficial aspects of
religion can be magnified and amplified, and the negative implications of religion curtailed. We also
lay out the contours of social science research that can effectively tackle the menace of religious
fanaticism and hatred, and draw out a road map and a course of action other researchers and
scholars can easily relate to.............

About the Author

Sujay Rao Mandavilli is an IT professional (Governance Risk and Compliance) (Still practising as of 2024; Served major clients such as Tata Group, Mahindra Group, NECAM, Verizon and BAT, and also previously worked in IBM) and a born-again Anthropologist and researcher with major contributions to various fields of Anthropology and Social Sciences. He completed his Masters in Anthropology from the prestigious Indira Gandhi National Open University in New Delhi, India in 2020 with a first class. He has made major contributions to Anthropological Economics, the Sociology of Science, theories of socio-cultural change, Identity theory, Historiography, language dynamics, scientific method, Indo-European studies, the Aryan Problem, and the identity of the Harappans. His hypothesis is that most fields of Social sciences which are based on a study on social and cultural variables, are based on old Eurocentric paradigms, and that better theories can only come from intellectual multipolarity, and Ethnographic data collected from different parts of the world. He believes this will lead to better scientific research, and greatly boost scientific output in different parts of the world that have hitherto lagged behind the West in scientific research. He has also attempted to synthesize Anthropological theory with other fields of Social Sciences such as Economics and Pedagogy, generating several new paradigms as a result. He strongly believes that the ‘Globalization of Science’, with a particular emphasis on the social sciences, must become one of the major movements of the Twenty-first century. He has called for an "Indian Enlightenment" as well as similar renaissances in the developing world through a horizontal collaboration among developing nations. He is the Founder-Director of the Institute for the Study of the Globalization of Science (ISGOS) (Registered in India as the Globalization of Science Trust) which is has already started empaneling a group of researchers and scientists to plan its next course of action. In 2023, he launched the "Scholars and intellectuals for mankind" (SCHIMA) forum, which is reaching out to scholars and intellectuals from throughout the world to draft a common agenda.

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