Religious echoes in secular dialogues

What is happening to religion in global and plural societies? I hope to address this question by providing an overview of empirical cases of religious echoes and secular dialogues in India and the Americas (including the United States). The main purpose of this chapter is to identify and describe types of interactions and responses between religion and global societies by identifying what I call religious echoes in secular dialogues. What is a religious echo in secular dialogues? Religion in global societies interacts with highly complex problems in the world, resulting in religious and interreligious practices evolving in secular scenarios. Religious echoes do not signify the disappearance of religion. They are ways in which religion is integrated in daily life and society. Accordingly, a dialogue between religious and secular standpoints creates flexible ways for society to create strategic practices to respond to social changes in the form of peacebuilding and nonviolence. The chapter’s central questions are: Can religious and spiritual practices and associated echoes in global societies enhance secular nonviolent conditions for peacebuilding? Are religious echoes in secular dialogues a description of what is happening to how the religious without religion is contextualized in global society?