Conclusion: Faith and Development — of Ethno-separatism, Multiculturalism and Religious Partitioning?

Abstract

At the heart of this collection is a discussion of the role of faith in modern society. What can faith-based organizations (FBO), communities and l eaders contribute to social, economic and political development, in the contemporary world? In particular, what are the links between faith and modernity? Does religion speak to what is often presented as a secular mission, the eradication of poverty and the empowerment of the poor? For much of the twentieth century, the answer from social scientists was that faith and religion were increasingly irrelevant. And taking its lead from such analyses, the donor community similarly failed to see faith communities as partners in development. The past century, it appears, has seen the victory of the secular, at least in Western Europe and North America. At the beginning of the twentieth century eminent thinkers across Europe believed that faith, at least in its organized form, was losing the battle against an encroaching secularism. Durkheim saw the rise of science as the greatest threat to religion: ‘it seems natural that religion should lose ground as science becomes better at performing its task’ (Durkheim 1995: 431). And whilst the new gods of science had not been fully born, ‘the former gods are growing old or dying’ (ibid.: 431). Secularism was given political form in France, with its 1905 law separating the Church and State.