chapter 6 Religion.ppt

Religion

Key Issues 1. Where are religions distributed?

2. Why do religions have different distributions? 3. Why do religions organize space in distinctive

patterns?

• “There has been more evil done in the

The Roots of Religion

Animism (Shamanism) -

the belief that all objects, animals, and beings are

“animated” or possess a spirit and a conscious life. Also called shamanism because of the prominence of a Shaman.

• Such beliefs are common among

hunter-gatherers. These were the first people

• 10% of Africans follow such traditional ethnic religions.

• These beliefs are losing ground to

Christianity and Islam throughout Africa.

Key Issue 1: Where are religions

distributed?

• There are 2 types of religions:

– Universalizing- religions that attempt to be

global and appeal to all people.

• The 3 main universalizing religions are:

– CHRISTIANITY- BUDDHISM-ISLAM

• The other two main universalizing religions other than the above three are:

– Sikhism 24 million followers, 21 of which are clustered in the Punjab region of India.

• CHRISTIANITY- 2 billion followers in N. and S.

America, Europe, Australia, and some Asian and

African countries.

• 50% Roman Catholic, • 25% Protestant,

• 10% Eastern Orthodox • 15% miscellaneous.

– About 90% of the Western Hemisphere is Christian. – 95% Roman Catholic in Latin American

Christianity

• 2 billion adherents make it most practiced in the world.

•Originated in

Bethlehem (8-4 BC) and Jerusalem (AD 30) with Jesus Christ.

• Spread by

missionaries and the Roman Empire

(Constantine A.D. 313).

• ISLAM- 1.3 billion followers in Middle East,

Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh.

– Core of beliefs is based on the 5 pillars of faith:

• There is no god worthy of worship other than the one God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.

• A Muslim must pray 5 times daily facing the city of Mecca. • A Muslim gives generously to charity, as an act of

purification and growth.

• A Muslim fasts during the month of Ramadan, as an act of self-purification.

• If physically and financially able, a Muslim makes a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Islam

• 1 billion + adherents

• Originated in Saudi Arabia (Mecca and Medina) around AD 600.

• Spread originally by Muslim armies to N. Africa, and the Near East.

• Sunni (83%) - throughout the Muslim world.

Islamic Calender

•Begins in AD 622 when Muhammad was commanded to Mecca from Medina (Hijra).

•Lunar calendar makes Ramadan move through the seasons (30 year cycle - 19 years with 354 days and 11 with 355).

Reading the Koran, Brunei

Prophet: Muhammad

• BUDDHISM- 365 million followers in China and

S.E. Asia mainly.

– Based on the 4 Noble Truths:

• All living beings must endure suffering.

• Suffering, which is caused by a desire to live, leads to reincarnation.

• The goal of all existence is to escape from suffering and the

endless cycle of reincarnation into Nirvana (a state of complete redemption), which is achieved through mental and moral self-purification.

• Nirvana is attained through an Eightfold Path that stresses rightness of belief, resolve, speech, action, livelihood, effort, thought, and meditation.

• 300 million + adherents

primarily in China and S.E. Asia • Originated near modern

Nepal around 530 BC by prince Siddhartha Guatama.

•Cool story on how this happens

• Spread originally in India and Sri Lanka by Magadhan Empire (250 BC).

•Widely accepted because of the Caste System

practiced in India

• Indian traders brought it to China in 1st century AD.

• By 6th century it had lost its hold on India, but was now in Korea and Japan.

Theravada - the older, more severe form which requires the renouncing of all worldly goods and desires.

Buddha is a teacher

Mahayana - focuses on Buddha’s teachings and compassion.

Buddha is a god

Karma - your past bad or good actions determine your progress toward Nirvana through

• The second type religion

– Ethnic- religion that primarily appeals to one

group of people living in one place. More

Animism

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to

ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.

~ Chief Seattle

Bear Dance

•ANIMISM- traditional African religions that focus on the animate qualities of normally considered inanimate

objects, like stones, water, etc.

• 900 million + adherents, primarily in India (4th

largest)

• Hinduism is an ancient term for the complex and diverse set of religious beliefs practiced around the Indus River.

Hinduism

•HINDU- the world’s 3rd

largest religion with 820

• The four sacred texts are

ancient hymns called the Vedas,

but few Hindus historically could read.

• Coastlines and river banks most sacred sites.

The first principle of Indian thought, therefore, is that the ultimate reality is beyond description. It is something that can be experienced only by bringing the mind to a stop; and once experienced, it cannot be described to anyone in terms of the forms of this world. - Joseph Campbell

Brahman

In the Hindu religion, Brahman is the

eternal, unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine

Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, and being.

Another important concept is that Hinduism believes in the omnipresence of the Supreme God in every individual. There is no "fall." Man is not cut off from the divine. He requires only to bring the spontaneous activity of his mind to a state of stillness and he will experience that divine principle within him. - Joseph Campbell

• Brahman is the divine creator but is manifested in

literally hundreds of gods, of which

The Purusharthas or The Four Aims of Human Life:

1. Dharma (righteousness)

2. Artha (wealth)

3. Kama (desire)

4. Moksha (salvation or liberation) – release from the endless cycles.

Hindu Beliefs and Practice

Reincarnation – the soul is immortal but the body

endlessly cycles to higher or lower levels of existence.

Yoga – the practices or tools used to break from habits of past lives. Includes various meditations and physical

Brahma (The Creator)

- depicted with four

faces each continually

reciting one of the Vedas. The force of creation and birth.

Shiva (The Destroyer)

- Shakti or power; the

dissolving force in life; centrifugal force;

entropy.

Vishnu (The Preserver)

- peace; balance;

Sustainer of life.

The Trinity of Brahman

A hint of

Judaism

• JUDAISM- 6 million followers in U.S., 4 million in Israel, 2 million in Russia, 2 million elsewhere. First religion to

support monotheism- the belief in only 1 god, as opposed to polytheism- the belief in many gods.

• 14 million adherents

• Monotheistic

• Pentateuch

– First five books of the Old Testament • Sects

– Orthodox, Conservative, Reform • Israel

– Homeland for Jewish people – Created 1948

The Geography of Religion

Other Religions

• Eastern Religions

– Confucianism (China) – Taoism (China)

– Shinto (Japan)

• CONFUCIANISM- mainly in China, stresses ethical lifestyles; More of a philosophy then a religion

• TAOISM- mainly in China also,

followers seek the dao (tao) meaning the way or path.

• SHINTO- mainly in Japan, before WWII was the state religion and emperor was regarded as divine.

14th _{Century Chinese painting depicting}

• Branch- a large fundamental division

within a religion.

• Denomination- a division of a branch that

unites a number of local congregations in

a single legal and administrative body.

• Sect- a relatively small group that has

broken away from an established

denomination.

How do Universalizing and

Ethnic Religions Differ?

Universalizing

•Appeal to people everywhere

•Individual founder (prophet)

•Message diffused widely (missionaries)

•Followers distributed widely.

•Holidays based on events in founder’s life.

Ethnic

•Has meaning in particular place only.

•Unknown source.

•Content focused on place and landscape of origin.

•Followers highly clustered.

• Which type religion

has more bearing on

the global

landscape?

• How does ethnic

religions try and

hold their identity

• Give three examples

of positive

influences and three

negative

• How is this either

unsuccessful or

Key Issue 2: Why do religions have

different distributions?

• As a general rule, universalizing religions have origins based on a specific individual’s life in the past, ethnic religions typically have either no origin or an unclear one at best.

• Some religious origins:

– Christianity- based on the life of Jesus

– Islam-trace lineage back through Abraham’s other son Ishmael; based on the life of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam.

– Buddhism- based on the life of Siddhartha Gautama, who later became Buddha (the enlightened one)

– Sikhism- founded by Guru Nanak about 500 years ago.

• Missionaries- individuals who help to transmit a

universalizing religion through relocation

diffusion.

• Pagan- followers of polytheistic religions in

ancient times.

• Ghetto- city slum designated for Jew habitation.

• Cosmogony- creation story.

• Diffusion of Religions

– Christianity spread mainly through the work of missionaries, and also by some conquest and colonization.

– Islam spread mainly through conquest.

– Buddhism spread mainly through missionaries and trade merchants.

• Buddhism and Islam are the universalizing religions that place the most emphasis on identifying shrines/holy places.

– In universalizing religions, the holy places are generally locations at which memorable events happened in the founder’s life

• Mecca is in Islam because it is Muhammad’s birthplace.

• Holy places in ethnic religions are often physical features that are closely tied to the religion.

Diffusion of Islam

Islam is considered the fastest growing religion in America. Only

a small part of this growth is from black Muslims and the Nation

• Ethnic religions rarely diffuse, and when they

do, it is to a small extent.

• universalizing religions diffuse mainly at the

expense of the smaller ethnic religions, and often

a semi-hybrid religion will result with concepts

from both the ethnic religion and the

universalizing religion intertwined.

• Cosmogony and calendars also differ betwixt

universalizing religions and ethnic religions.

– Ethnic religious creation stories tend to deal with the physical environment and natural events

– Ethnic religions typically organize their calendars around the seasons, other natural events, or the physical geography.

– universalizing religion stories often attempt to explain the mystical.

Syncretism -

the mixing of two or more religions that creates

unique rituals, artwork, and beliefs.

Examples include syncretism of Christianity and indigenous

beliefs in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

• Caribbean Voodoo (Haiti, Louisiana)

• Christianity in Indigenous Latin American

Voodoo Dolls, Haiti

Syncretism -

the mixing of two or more religions that creates

Key Issue 3: Why do religions organize

space in distinctive patterns?

• The distribution of religious elements on the landscape reflects the importance of religion in people’s values.

– In Christianity, the landscape is dominated by a high density of

churches. They are critical because of the emphasis placed on regularly attending worship.

– In Islam, mosques are the places for general assembly. They are not viewed as a sanctified place but rather a convening point for the

community. A mosque normally has a central courtyard surrounded by classrooms.

– In Hinduism, temples are built within the home or individual

community. They have a central room to house a spirit, with rooms for rituals, and outer purifying pools. In both Buddhism and Shinto,

pagodas are the common architecture. They are typically built to enshrine sacred religious artifacts.

Religion and Environment

• Burial practices

– Judeo-Christians bury. – Hindus and Buddhists

cremate.

• Relationship with

nature

– Sacred Spaces

– Sacred architecture – Role of religion in

• The disposing of the dead differs from religion to religion. Some prefer to bury while others choose to cremate.

• Religion often influences the place-names of certain regions.

– Ex. The vast amount of places named for saints in predominantly Roman Catholic Quebec.

• Hierarchical religion- well-defined geographic structure with a high degree of organization.

Ex. The Roman Catholic Church

• Diocese- the basic geographic unit of the R.C.C.

• Autonomous religions- self-sufficient religions with little organization.

Ex. Islam prefers to unify by faith rather than specific boundaries.

Key Issue 4: Why do territorial conflicts

arise among religious groups?

• RELIGION IS ARGUABLY THE MOST VOLITALE OF ALL HUMAN RELATIONS AND THE SOURCE OF MOST VIOLENCE THROUGHOUT HISTORY.

• Fundamentalism- the literal interpretation and strict intense adherence to one’s religious principles.

– Fundamentalists try to return society to its religious ways. The most obvious example is the Taliban in Afghanistan.

• Religion is nearly always suppressed in communist countries.

– Leaders believe that religion has a tendency to upset stability and therefore ban it altogether, though often they just concrete the people’s religious adherence instead of destroying it.

• Other times, when people of different religions live in close proximity to one another, engage in contact often, or share interests in a particular location, especially

violent interaction will occur.

– Ex. The Middle East. Jews, Christians, and Muslims have fought for over 2,000 years to control the same small strip of land in the East Mediterranean.

– Historically the Crusades between Christians and Muslims played out as each fought to control the Holy Lands.

Social Impact of Religion

• Gender roles

– Women’s rights

• Diet

– Vegetarians – Pork, beef – Alcohol

• Ethics and morals

• Schools and institutions

Economic Impact

• Banking and lending

- Biblical prohibition against usury (lending at interest). Still

followed in Muslim world (only fees are charged).

• Protestantism and capitalism

– Max Weber and the Protestant Ethic; argues that individualism of Protestantism leads to acquisitiveness.

• Catholic Church and capitalism

– Pope John Paul II praised free markets but with the caution that they cannot meet all needs and salaries must be “just.”

• Confucianism versus individualism

- Confucius elevated the status of noble bureaucrats and

commitment to societal good. This allows Asian nations to attract top talent to government jobs. Also, diligence with regard to

• The controversy in Ireland occurred when

predominantly Catholic South Ireland wished to secede from predominantly Protestant Great Britain.

– However, the northernmost six counties of Ireland are

overwhelmingly Protestant and wished to remain part of the U.K.

– When the split occurred a small number of Roman Catholics in both N. Ireland and the Republic of Ireland joined the Irish

Republican Army (IRA), a militant organization devoted to achieving Irish unity by whatever means necessary.

– A Protestant organization has formed in return.

• Violence continues as extremists from both sides disrupt the lives of peaceful civilians.

Secularization -

a process that is leading to increasingly large groups of people who claim no allegiance to any church.

Some of these people are

atheists. Others simply do not practice. Still others call

themselves spiritual, but not religious.

•Common in Europe and the cities of the U.S.

•Common in former Soviet Union and China.

Fundamentalism -

a process that is leading to increasingly large groups of people who claim there is only one way to interpret worship.

Fundamentalists generally envision a return to a more

perfect religion and ethics they imagine existed in the past.

Religious Conflict

The Big Question: Can secular society exist alongside

traditional and fundamentalist religious sects and

states?

• We are quick to notice fundamentalism abroad (i.e. Salman

Rushdie’s death sentence by Shia clerics) and not so quick to

recognize it at home (abortion clinic bombings; Southern Baptist Convention’s calls for women to submit to their husbands’

authority).

• _{American evangelical Christianity and Islamic}

fundamentalism are the two most influential fundamentalist movements in the world.