Religious NGOs in the Contemporary World
Riaz, Asmara (2020)
Riaz, Asmara
2020
Master's Degree Programme in Global and Transnational Sociology
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2020-10-21
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202004183368
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202004183368
Tiivistelmä
This study aims to comprehend the position of Christian values in the activities of Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) which is a Religious International Non-Governmental Organization (RINGO). Like the majority of the RINGOs the YMCA was originated with the intent to construct a practical system of serving communities strayed from the pathway of God. The YMCA is a Christian organization and as the name suggests, was founded to help Christian men in the Christian majority countries from where it was started. But the rise of globalization has changed societies and currently, new communities have evolved into a mix of diverse cultures, different languages and several denominations including Christianity. In the modern world, RINGOs are considered traditionally associated with a particular religion yet their projects revolve relatively around similar key topics as the projects of their non-religious contemporaries. These key topics typically are social or economic inclusion, empowerment, justice or world peace. The fundamental question arises here, how is the now-evolved YMCA incorporating Christian values in the contemporary world? I tried responding to this fundamental question through this academic research. For the case study, I have carefully selected two independent branches of the YMCA; one branch is situated in Helsinki and the other is in Lahore.
The YMCA has been selected as a case study for mainly three key reasons; the incredible diversity, the grand scope and the possible access to necessary data. Diversity and scope are naturally required to efficiently conduct this research because they both help adequately understand the heritage, contemporary outlook and diverse local representations in the activities of the local YMCAs. The similarity of systems and policies in International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) functioning in various parts of the world have already been studied under World Society Theory. In this thesis, I attentively intended examining the international structures and similar themes of the YMCA presented for the diverse local audiences. The natural acceptability of these foreign systems in societies has explained by domestication theory which I found apt for this research. Data was obtained from online sources of two local YMCAs and from the interviews with their employees to acquire an insight into Christian values on a personal and organizational level. An extensive system of codes and code groups was developed to analyze the data with the help of critical discourse analysis. It was developed to grasp the abstractedness of Christian values and recognize the local association of these international YMCAs. These code groups and categories then assigned to data to profoundly analyze the values behind the activities of YMCA.
Results revealed similarities in the functioning themes of both YMCAs even though they maintain distinctively locally appropriate representations and projects. Also, the interpretation of Christian values varies from one individual to another and from one organization to another that made it difficult to measure. I argued that due to the abstract nature of Christian values, it is challenging to measure the use of Christian values in their activities. Furthermore, religion has developed into more of an individual matter in present times in comparison to what it was at the time of conception of the YMCA. Affiliation and deep ties with Christianity have been seen more in the interviews than in the textual and visual representation of the organizations. The Y movement of YMCA is not representing Christianity in a pithy way; it has embedded those values in the local fabric of Finnish and Pakistani societies. Their functions revolve around local issues just like any other INGO. Both YMCA Helsinki and Lahore have a-political and a-religious narrative despite being religious NGOs and present themselves as part of the community helping other community members.
The YMCA has been selected as a case study for mainly three key reasons; the incredible diversity, the grand scope and the possible access to necessary data. Diversity and scope are naturally required to efficiently conduct this research because they both help adequately understand the heritage, contemporary outlook and diverse local representations in the activities of the local YMCAs. The similarity of systems and policies in International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) functioning in various parts of the world have already been studied under World Society Theory. In this thesis, I attentively intended examining the international structures and similar themes of the YMCA presented for the diverse local audiences. The natural acceptability of these foreign systems in societies has explained by domestication theory which I found apt for this research. Data was obtained from online sources of two local YMCAs and from the interviews with their employees to acquire an insight into Christian values on a personal and organizational level. An extensive system of codes and code groups was developed to analyze the data with the help of critical discourse analysis. It was developed to grasp the abstractedness of Christian values and recognize the local association of these international YMCAs. These code groups and categories then assigned to data to profoundly analyze the values behind the activities of YMCA.
Results revealed similarities in the functioning themes of both YMCAs even though they maintain distinctively locally appropriate representations and projects. Also, the interpretation of Christian values varies from one individual to another and from one organization to another that made it difficult to measure. I argued that due to the abstract nature of Christian values, it is challenging to measure the use of Christian values in their activities. Furthermore, religion has developed into more of an individual matter in present times in comparison to what it was at the time of conception of the YMCA. Affiliation and deep ties with Christianity have been seen more in the interviews than in the textual and visual representation of the organizations. The Y movement of YMCA is not representing Christianity in a pithy way; it has embedded those values in the local fabric of Finnish and Pakistani societies. Their functions revolve around local issues just like any other INGO. Both YMCA Helsinki and Lahore have a-political and a-religious narrative despite being religious NGOs and present themselves as part of the community helping other community members.