Chapter 6 – Religion

A set of beliefs

existence of a higher power, spirits

or god

an explanation of the origins and

purpose of humans and their role on

earth

Which involves rituals, festivals,

rites of passage and space

(religious landscapes)

Universalizing religions

global appealing to all people

regardless of location or culture

Ex. Christianity , Islam , Buddhism

Ethnic religions

one group of people living in one

place.

26% of population

Tribal (Sometimes)

Animism

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.

• Holidays based on local climate and

agricultural practice.

PRINCIPAL WORLD RELIGIONS

CATEGORIES OF RELIGION

Universalizing:

Buddhism

Christian

Islam

Ethnic:

Judaism

Hindu

Shinto

Tribal:

Animism

Shamanism

World Patterns 1970 2002

Christian 933 m 2.0 b

Islam 503 m 1.3 b

Hindu 458 m 900 m

Buddhism 180 m 360 m

Judaism 14 m 14 m

Secular 850 m

Measure of affiliation

More than ½ world population adheres

to universalizing religions

Branch

A large and fundamental division

within a religion.

Denomination

A division within a branch of a

religion.

Sect

A relatively small denominational

group that has broken away from

an established church.

Origin and Diffusion

Palestine (modern Israel)

Messiah: Jesus

3 Branches

Roman Catholic 51%

Southwest & East Europe.

Protestant 24%

Northwest Europe

Eastern Orthodox 11%

East and Southeast Europe

Most practiced religion in Africa

Basic Precepts

Belief in One God

Father, Son & Holy Spirit

30 C.E.

Covenant (contract) with God

New Testament

Belief in Jesus Christ and his

teachings

Salvation is by grace

Believers Heaven with everlasting life

Conversion of others (proselytize)

• Catholicism - largest branch

• Headed by the Pope

• direct link to God

• Ceremonial - 7 sacraments

• baptism, marriage, Eucharist,

etc.

• Very traditional

CHRISTIANITY SPREADS

Hierarchical Diffusion

Emperor Constantine

Roman Empire

Embraced Christianity

Relocation Diffusion

Missionaries

Migration

Settlement of Americas, Australia &

New Zealand

CHRISTIANITY BRANCHES

Protestantism

1517 Reformation era

No Pope needed

All Direct link to God

Grace

Grace through faith

No Sacraments

Sins forgiven through prayers

Spread though N. Europe and England

1466 Gutenberg Bible & the printing

press

CHRISTIANITY BRANCHES

Eastern Orthodoxy

5th Century split

Rivalry between Pope and Patriarch of

Constantinople (Istanbul)

Rome remained center for Roman

Catholicism

Rejected Roman Catholicism doctrine

1054 officially split

National Churches

Russian, Greek, Serbian Orthodox, etc.

CHRISTIANITY IN NORTH AMERICA

Roman Catholic

93% Latin America

40% in North America

Protestant

82 million members in

the United States.

Baptist largest with 37

million.

Paris

Sacramento

Vermont

Origin and Diffusion

Mecca, Muhammad

Submission to Allah

Branches

Sunni (majority)

Largest branch in most Muslim

countries in Southwest Asia and

North Africa

83 % of all Muslims

Shiite

Greatly concentrated in the

Middle Eastern countries of Iran,

Azerbaijan, Iraq, Oman, and

Bahrain

16% of all Muslims

ISLAM BASICS

• Basic Precepts

• Founder - Prophet Muhammad

• Submission to God (Allah)

• Lineage

• Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, &

Mohammed (different lineage)

• Holy Book

• Koran

• Built on Old Testament

• Five pillars of faith

• Creed “There is no God but Allah”

• Prayer 5 times a day facing Mecca

• Giving to the poor

• Fasting Month of

Ramadan

• Pilgrimage to Mecca

Art of beautiful handwriting

Living things in art was not allowed

So artists turned to calligraphy to express

themselves.

Muhammad’s successors

followers into armies

led a conquest to spread the

religion over an extensive area

of…

Africa

Asia

Europe

Relocation diffusion

Missionaries to sub-Saharan

Africa & Southeast Asia

Turkey

Uzbekistan

Burkina Faso

Granada

Cordoba

• Origin and Diffusion

• Founder: Siddhartha Gautama

• Branches

• Theravada

• 38%

• Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri

Lanka, and Thailand

• Mahayana

• 56%

• Zen

• China, Japan, and Korea

• Vajrayana

• 6%

• Tibet & Mongolia

BUDDHISM BASICS

• Basic Precepts

• Buddha - the enlightened one

• Nirvana - highest degree of

consciousness

• 4 noble truths

• Life involves suffering

• Cause of suffering is desire

• Extinguish desire

• Nirvana reached through 8 fold path

BUDDHISM BASICS

•Basic Precepts

• Individuals choose the “Middle

Path”

• Buddhist believe:

• not in any God, blind faith, or savior

• what is created is impermanent

• True Permanent Absolute Reality

• uncreated, unborn, permanent

bliss of Nirvana

BUDDHISM SPREADS

Diffused slowly

Origin in Northeast India.

Emperor Asoka

Magadhan Empire (273 to 232 B.C.).

Missionaries sent to territories

neighboring the empire.

Buddhism introduced to China

Trade routes in the first century A.D.

Origin & Diffusion - unknown

Collection of scriptures 1500BC -

500AD

Not widely diffused

Almost exclusive to India

Oldest religion in Asia (1500 B.C)

No authority or holy book (ancient

scriptures)

Polytheistic (perceived)

Numerous Gods

Yet one reality

Brahman - one God

HINDUISM BASICS

Basic Precepts

Caste: The class or distinct hereditary

order into which a Hindu is assigned

according to religious law.

Brahman (manifestations)

Vishnu (preserver)

Shiva (destroyer)

Shakti (mother god)

HINDUISM BASICS Basic Precepts

Maya - forms, categories, structures are

an illusion from our perspective

Reincarnation - chain of rebirths of each

soul

Law of Karma - “is the form of creation,

where from all things have their life”

(life’s baggage)

Moksha - break the bonds of karma;

experience that everything, including

ourselves, is Brahman

Origin and Diffusion

Ethnic Religion (origins of Christianity)

Diaspora

In 70 A.D., Romans forced Jews to

disperse throughout the world.

Ghetto

During the Middle Ages, a neighborhood

in a city set up by law to be inhabited

only by Jews.

Christianity and Islam find some of

their roots in Judaism.

JUDAISM BASICS

Basic Precepts

Belief in One God

Torah - original 5 chapters of Bible

Prophecy of Moses

Coming of the Messiah still to come

Atonement accomplished by sacrifices,

penitence & good deeds

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.

10% of Africans follow such traditional

ethnic religions.

These beliefs are losing ground to

Christianity and Islam throughout Africa

SYNCRETISM The mixing of two or more religions that

creates unique rituals, artwork, and

beliefs.

Examples

Christianity and indigenous beliefs in the

Americas, Africa, and Asia.

Caribbean Voodoo (Haiti, Louisiana)

Christianity in Indigenous Latin

American

OTHERS

Secularization

Large groups of people who claim no

allegiance to any church

Ex. American Cities and Europe

Fundamentalism

leading to increasingly large groups

of people who claim there is only one

way to interpret worship.

Ex. Islamic Nations

Confucianism

moral code

Daoism

philosophy of harmony &

balance

Shintoism

Japanese traditional religion

SACRED SPACE Places of worship

Physically anchor religion to landscape.

Christian Church

More significant than other religions

Belief that building is the house of God.

Traditionally largest & tallest building in a

community.

Prominent location

Ex. Square or center of town

No single architectural style

Bahá’í Houses of Worship

Dispersed to different continents

Open to adherents of all religions

WESTERN WALL - JERUSALEM

SACRED SITE – CHRISTIANITY CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY – BETHLEHEM

EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCHES ARE ORNATE TOPPED BY ONION-SHAPED DOMES.

BYZANTINE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN?

Muslim Mosques

Space for community assembly

Not viewed as a sanctified place

Attention to directions

Pulpit at end of a courtyard faces Makkah.

Minaret, a tower where a man known as a

muezzin summons people to worship.

Buddhist Pagodas

Tall many-sided towers arranged in a series

of tiers, balconies, and slanting roofs.

Contain relics

Portion of Buddha’s body or clothing.

Not designed for congregational worship.

SACRED SPACE BUDDHISM Cities and places associated with the

founder’s life

Not close proximity of each other

Not needed to be related to physical

environment

Buddhism and Islam

Emphasis on identifying shrines

Marking locations of important events

in the life of Buddha or Muhammad.

Pilgrimages

Journeys for religious purposes, are

incorporated in Islamic doctrine.

Holy Places in Islam

Holiest locations are in cities associated

with Prophet Muhammad.

Makkah (Mecca)

Birthplace of Muhammad.

Holiest object in the Islamic

landscape—al-Ka’ba—a cube like

structure encased in silk that stands

in Islam’s largest mosque, Masjid

al-Haram.

Second-most-holy place is Madinah

(Medina).

Muhammad’s tomb is in Madinah.

Shrine which houses a sacred stone

Stone believed to be the location of

Muhammad’s ascent to Heaven

PUTRAJAYA MOSQUE IN MALAYSIA (PUTRA MEANS CENTER AND JAYA MEANS ROAD)

SACRED SPACE HINDUISM Hindu Landscape

Tied to physical geography of India

Mt. Kailas is home to Siva.

Holiest places are riverbanks and coastlines.

Hindus believe that they achieve purification

by bathing in holy rivers

Ex. Ganges River

Pollution problems

1 billion liters of untreated raw sewage

Inadequate cremation procedures

contribute to partially burnt corpses floating

in river

45% of people who take a dip in the river

regularly have skin or stomach ailments.

Solstice

Special significance in some ethnic

religions

Stonehenge is a prominent remnant

of a pagan structure aligned so that

sun rises between two stones on

solstices.

SACRED SPACE – DEAD Disposing of the Dead

Climate, topography, and religious doctrine

combine to create differences in practices to

shelter the dead.

Burial

Christians, Muslims, and Jews

Bury the deceased in cemeteries.

Cemeteries were typically only public

open space in congested urban places

prior to the 19th century.

Cremation

Hindus wash the bodies of the deceased

with water from the Ganges River first,

then burn them with a slow fire on a

funeral pyre.

Calendar

Holidays

Ramadan (Islam): part of five pillars

of faith

Easter (Christian): resurrection of

Jesus

Ethnic Religions tied to Agriculture

Toponyms

Names also come from religion

Utopian – Mormons

Utah

RELIGIONS ORGANIZING SPACE

Hierarchical Religions

Well-defined Geographic structure

Organizes territory into local

administrative units.

Roman Catholic Church - Diocese

Headed by a leader who is

accountable to the next higher-

ordered leader.

Locally Autonomous Religions

Islam

No religious hierarchy

No formal territorial organization

RELIGIOUS TERRITORIAL CONFLICTS

Religion versus Government Policies

Religion is element of cultural

diversity

Religious fundamentalism

a literal interpretation and strict

adherence to basic principles of a

religion, has spurred more intense

conflict recently.

Taliban versus Western Values

Taliban’s control of Afghanistan’s

government in the 1990s led to strict

laws opposing Western values.

“Western, non-Islamic” leisure

activities banned

Ex: Soccer stadiums converted to

settings for executions and

floggings.

RELIGIOUS TERRITORIAL CONFLICTS Religious Wars in Ireland

A small faction chose to join the United

Kingdom when Ireland became independent

in 1937.

46 percent protestant and 40 percent

Roman Catholic (2001)

Roman Catholics have been victimized

discriminatory practices, such as exclusion

form higher-paying jobs and better

schools.

Belfast, the capital city, is highly segregated.

Protests by Roman Catholics began in 1968

with bloodshed of both Protestants and

Roman Catholics.

RELIGIOUS TERRITORIAL CONFLICTS

Middle East

Conflict in the Middle East is among the

world’s longest standing.

2,000 years of fighting

Judaism: claim the Promised Land

Islam: The third holiest city to

Muslims, because it is believed to be

where Muhammad ascended into

heaven.

Christianity: The major events in

Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection

occurred there.

RELIGIOUS TERRITORIAL CONFLICTS Conflicting Perspectives of the Holy

Land

1973

Palestinians emerged as Israel’s

principal opponent.

Palestinians viewed themselves as the

legitimate rulers of Israel.

Biggest obstacle to peace in the

Middle East is the status of Jerusalem.

Peace will likely not be possible, if one

religion has political control over

Jerusalem.