Transcript Religious Realms

Religious
Realms
World Population by Religion
Fig. 6-1a: Over two-thirds of the world’s population belong to Christianity, Islam,
Hinduism, or Buddhism. Christianity is the single largest world religion.
Major Religious Hearths
Diffusion of Universalizing Religions
Fig. 6-4: Each of the three main universalizing religions diffused widely from its hearth.
Introduction
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People are less willing to tolerate or
accommodate differences in religious
matters than any other aspect of culture
Proselytic or Universalizing religions
sometimes grow out of ethnic religions—
Christianity from Judaism
The Semitic religious hearth
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Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all arose
among Semitic-speaking people
All three arose from the margins of the
southwestern Asian deserts
Judaism, the oldest, originated about
4,000 years ago probably along the
southern edge of the Fertile Crescent
Later, Judaism acquired dominion over
lands between the Mediterranean and the
Jordan River — territorial base of modern
Israel
The Semitic religious hearth
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About 2,000 years later, Christianity arose as a
child of Judaism from this same area
Islam arose about seven centuries later in
western Arabia, partly from Jewish and
Christian roots
Religions spread by both relocation and
expansion diffusion
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Expansion diffusion can be divided into
hierarchical and contagious subtypes
Hierarchical diffusion — ideas are implanted at
top of a society, leapfrogging across the map
taking root in cities
Use of missionaries involves relocation diffusion
The Semitic religious hearth
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Christianity spread through the
Roman Empire using the existing
splendid road
system
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Clearly reflected hierarchical expansion
diffusion
Early congregations were established in
cities and towns
Temporarily established a pattern of
Christianized urban centers and pagan
rural areas
Diffusion of Christianity
Fig. 6-5: Christianity diffused from Palestine through the Roman Empire and continued
diffusing through Europe after the fall of Rome. It was later replaced by Islam in
much of the Mideast and North Africa.
The Semitic religious hearth
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Scattered urban clusters of early
Christianity were created by relocation
diffusion
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Missionaries moved from town to town bearing
news of the emerging faith
Missionaries often used the technique of
converting kings or tribal leaders
Some expansion was militaristic — reconquest
of Iberia, invasion of Latin America
Christianity spread farther by contagious
diffusion, also called contact conversion
Diffusion of Christianity
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This is St Mary’s
Anglican Cathedral in
a primarily Muslim
nation. Constructed
under British rule in
1894, it catered to
English residents and
missionized among
the locals. Services
are also in Tamil, a
Dravidian language of
southern India
Diffusion of
Christianity
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Tamils were brought to Malaya as indentured
labor to work in mines and plantations during the
colonial era. Many Hindu Tamils were of a low
caste or even untouchables in India.
Christianity, without proclaimed social divisions,
was and remains attractive to downtrodden
peoples.
Religious culture regions
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Christianity
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A Universalizing religion
World’s largest in both area and
number of adherents—about 1.9 billion
Long fragmented into separate
churches
Greatest division is between Western
and Eastern Christianity
Religious culture regions
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Eastern church dominated the Greek world from
Constantinople (Istanbul)
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Coptic Church—originally the nationalistic religion of the
Egyptians, and today is the dominant church of the
highland people of Ethiopia
Maronites — Semitic descendants of seventh-century
heretics who retreated to a mountain refuge in Lebanon
Nestorians — live in the mountains of Kurdistan and
India’s Kerala State
Eastern Orthodoxy — originally centered in Greekspeaking areas
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Converted many Slavic groups
Later split in a variety of national churches—Russian,
Greek, Ukrainian, and Serbian
Religious culture regions
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Western Christianity initially
identified with Rome and Latinspeaking areas
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Most notable split was the Protestant
breakaway of the 1400s and 1500s
Tended to divide into a rich array of sects
 Denominational map of the United States
and Canada reflects fragmented nature
and complex pattern of religious culture
regions
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Religious culture regions
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American frontier a breeding ground for
new religious groups
United States displays less regionalization
of faiths but can still see in small scale
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“Bible Belt”—lies across the South, Baptist
and other conservative fundamentalist
denominations dominate
Utah is core of Mormon realm
Religious culture regions
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Lutheran belt — stretches from Wisconsin
through Minnesota and the Dakotas
Roman Catholicism — dominates
southern Louisiana, the southwestern
borderland, and heavily industrialized
areas of the Northeast
The Midwest a thoroughly mixed zone —
Methodism generally the largest single
faith
Some experts believe American culture
is becoming homogenized religiously,
with weakening regional contrasts
Religious culture regions
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Geographer Roger Stump points to a
twentieth-century trend toward religious
regional divergence
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Baptists in South
Lutherans in upper Midwest
Catholics in Southwest
Mormons in the West
Each dominate their respective regions more
today than at turn of century
Each has long-standing, strong infrastructure
Terms:
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Branch – large fundamental division
Denomination – division of a branch
that unites as a single legal and
administration
Sect – small group that has broken
away from an established
denomination
Christian Branches in Europe
Branches: Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox
Islam
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Monotheistic, universalizing faith claims 1.1 billion
followers
Located mostly in the desert belt of Asia and
northern Africa, extends as far east as Indonesia
and the Philippines
Biblical figures, such as Moses, Abraham, and
Jesus are venerated in Islam
Most important prophet and founder is
Muhammad —lived about 14 centuries ago
The Koran — Muslim holy book, contains a code of
morals and ethics, and promises an afterlife for
the faithful
Diffusion of Islam
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Origin – Mecca 613 a.d.
Prophet’s death in 1632
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Military expansion
Combined with hierarchical diffusion
(social)
Created an Arab empire
Trade as important as religion
Culture, not just religion
Diffusion of Islam
Fig. 6-6: Islam diffused rapidly and widely from its area of origin in Arabia. It
eventually stretched from southeast Asia to West Africa.
Islam
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The Five Pillars of Islam
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Adherents are expected to pray five
times daily at established times
Give alms to the poor
Fast from dawn to sunset in the holy
ninth month
Make at least one pilgrimage to the
sacred city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia
Profess belief in Allah, the one god
Islam
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Two major sects prevail
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Shiite Muslims — 11 percent of Islamic total in
diverse subgroups
 Form the majority in Iran and Iraq
 Major fundamentalist revival now occurring
under Iranian leadership to throw off Western
influences, and restore the purity of the faith
 Political tension with the potential for severe
disruption is spreading
 Strongest among Indo-European groups
Islam
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Two major sects prevail
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Sunni Muslims — represent Islamic
orthodoxy forming the large majority
Strength is greatest in the Arabicspeaking lands
 Non-Arabic Indonesia now contains
world’s largest concentration
 Large clusters occur in western China,
Indo-European Bangladesh, and Pakistan
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Distribution of Shia (Shite) and Sunni Muslims
Buddhism
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Derived from Hinduism began 25 centuries
ago
Reform movement grounded in the teaching
of Prince Siddhartha — the Buddha
He promoted the four “noble truths”
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Life is full of suffering
Desire is the cause of this suffering
Cessation of suffering comes with the quelling of
desire
An “eight-fold path” of proper personal conduct
and meditation permits the individual to
overcome desire
Nirvana — reached when one has achieved a
state of escape and peace, which is attained by
very few
Hinduism
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Closely tied to India and its ancient
culture. It is an Ethnic Religion
Claims about 750 million adherents
Polytheistic religion involving the
worship of a myriad of deities
Linked to the caste system — rigid
segregation of people according to
ancestry and occupation
Hinduism
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Believe in ahimsa — veneration of
all forms of life
Belief in reincarnation
No set standard of beliefs prevails,
and the faith takes many local
forms
Includes very diverse peoples
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The faith straddles a major
ethnic/linguistic divide
Includes both Indo-Europeans and
Dravidians
Judaism
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Monotheistic faith
Parent of Christianity, and closely
related to Islam
Certain Hebrew prophets and leaders
are recognized by Christians and
Muslims
Does not actively seek converts and
has remained an ethnic religion
Has split into a variety of subgroups,
partly as a result of forced dispersal
Judaism
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Ethnic religion
Forced from Israel in Roman times and lost
contact with other colonies
Jews resided in Mediterranean lands were called
the Sephardim and in central and Eastern Europe.
Large-scale migration of Jewish residing in Europe
to America during the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries
During Nazi years, perhaps a third of the entire
Jewish population of the world was systematically
murdered
Judaism
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Europe ceased to be primary
homeland and many survivors fled
overseas to Israel and America
Has about 14 million adherents
throughout the world
Nearly 7 million live in North
America
Hinduism
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Hinduism has splintered into diverse
religious, some regarded as separate
religions
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Jainism — ancient outgrowth, claiming perhaps 5
million adherents
 Traces its roots back over twenty-five centuries
 Reject Hindu scriptures, rituals, and priesthood
 Share Hindu belief in ahinisa and reincarnation
 Adhere to a stern asceticism
Sikhism — arose in the 1500s, in an attempt to
unify Hinduism and Islam
 Centered in the Punjab state of northwestern India
 Has about 19 million followers
 Sikhs practice monotheism and have their own
holy book, the Adi Granth
Buddhism
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Today the most widespread religion in
Asia
Dominates a culture region from Sri
Lanka to Japan and from Mongolia to
Vietnam
Universalizing religion
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Formed composite faiths as it fused with
ethnic faiths especially in China and Japan
Fused with Confucianism, Taoism, and
Shintoism
Southern Buddhism dominant in Sri Lanka and
mainland Southeast Asia retains greatest
similarity to original form
Buddhism
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Difficult to determine number of
adherents because of tendency to
merge with native religions —
estimates range from 334 million to
over 500 million people
In China, has enmeshed with local
faiths to become part of an ethnic
religion
Outside China, remains one of the
great universalizing religions in the
world
Animism
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Retained tribal ethnic religion of people
around the world
Today, adherents number at least 100
million
Animists believe certain inanimate objects
possess spirits or souls
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Spirits live in rocks, rivers, mountain peaks,
and heavenly bodies
Each tribe has its own characteristic form of
animism
A Shaman — tribal religious figure usually
serves as the intermediary between
people and the spirits
Animism
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To some animists, objects do not actually
possess spirits, but are valued because
they have a potency to serve as a link
between people and the omnipresent god
Animism can be a very complex belief
system
Sub-Saharan Africa is the greatest
surviving stronghold of animism
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Along the north edge Islam is rapidly winning
converts
Christian missionaries are very active
throughout the area
Animism
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Animism in the Western Hemisphere
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Umbanda — kept alive by descendants
of African slaves in Brazil has 30 million
followers
Santeria — is found mainly in Cuba
Survives beneath a facade of nominal
Roman Catholicism in Cuba
Secularism
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In much of Europe religion has declined
Today, number of nonreligious and
atheistic persons worldwide is about 1
billion
Typically displays vivid regionalization on
a variety of scales
Areas of religious vitality lie alongside
secularized districts in a disorderly jumble
Causes of retreat from religion
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A government’s active hostility toward a
particular faith or religion
Failure of religions oriented toward the need of
rural folk to adapt to the urban scene
Sacred space
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Includes areas and sites recognized as
worthy of devotion, loyalty, fear, or
esteem
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Notion occurs in many different cultures, past
and present the world over
B.C. Lane says—”an ordinary place made
extraordinary through ritual”
May be sought out by pilgrims or barred to
members of other religions
Often contain the site of supposed
supernatural events or viewed as abode
of gods
Jerusalem
Sacred Space
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Jerusalem is sacred space to Christians, Jews, and
Muslims. It contains the Via Dolorosa (Way of the
Cross) leading to the site of Christ’s crucifixion.
According to Jewish tradition, the sealed Golden
Gate (far right) is where the Messiah will enter the
city and bring redemption. Ruins of the City of
David are at the southwest corner of the wall.
Sacred Space: Sample of it’s Use
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Muslims are buried at the foot of the wall; Jews
on the Mount of Olives in the foreground; and,
Christians in the valley between. The golden
Dome of the Rock covers the site where
Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac and
Mohammed ascended to heaven.
It also occupies the site of the First and Second
Temples built by Kings Solomon and Herod. All
that remains is the sacred Wailing Wall.
Sacred space
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Conflict can result of two religions
venerate the same space
Example of conflict in Jerusalem
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Muslim Dome of the Rock — site of
Muhammad’s ascent to heaven
Wailing Wall — remnant of greatest
Jewish temple
Cemeteries also generally regarded
as type of sacred space
Sacred space
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Sacred space is receiving increased
attention in the world
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An internationally funded Sacred Land
Project began in the middle 1990s
Goal — to identify and protect such sites
 In the United Kingdom alone, 5000 sites
have been cataloged
 Includes — ancient stone circles, pilgrim
routes, and holy springs
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Sacred space
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Sacred space is receiving increased
attention in the world
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Mystical places — locations unconnected with
established religion where some people believe
extraordinary, supernatural things can happen
 “Bermuda Triangle”
 Some include the expanses of the American
Great Plains
Some ancient sacred spaces never lose or they
regain the functional status of mystical place —
example of Stonehenge in England
Native American Burial grounds
Culture Regions
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Religious Regions
Religious Diffusion
Religious Ecology
Cultural Integration in Religion
Religious Landscapes
The Semitic religious hearth
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Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all arose
among Semitic-speaking people
All three arose from the margins of the
southwestern Asian deserts
Judaism, the oldest, originated about
4,000 years ago probably along the
southern edge of the Fertile Crescent
Later, Judaism acquired dominion over
lands between the Mediterranean and the
Jordan River — territorial base of modern
Israel
The Semitic religious hearth
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Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all arose
among Semitic-speaking people
All three arose from the margins of the
southwestern Asian deserts
Judaism, the oldest, originated about
4,000 years ago probably along the
southern edge of the Fertile Crescent
Later, Judaism acquired dominion over
lands between the Mediterranean and the
Jordan River — territorial base of modern
Israel
The Semitic religious hearth
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Islamic faith spread in a militaristic
manner
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Followed the command in the Koran
Arabs exploded westward across North Africa
in a wave of religious and linguistic conquest
Turks, once converted, carried out similar
Islamic conquests
Muslim missionaries followed trade routes
eastward to implant Islam hierarchically in
the Philippines, Indonesia, and interior China
The Semitic religious hearth
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Tropical Africa is the current major
area of Islamic expansion
Diffusion successes in Sub-Saharan
Africa and high birthrates in the
older sphere of dominance has
made Islam the world’s fastestgrowing religion
The lndus-Ganges Hearth
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Second great religious hearth lies
on the plains fringing the northern
edge of the Indian subcontinent
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Lowland, drained by the Ganges and
Indus rivers
Gave birth to Hinduism and Buddhism
The lndus-Ganges Hearth
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Hinduism is at least 4,000 years old
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Originated in the Punjab, from where it
diffused to dominate the subcontinent
Missionaries later carried the faith in its
proselytic phase, to overseas areas
Most converted regions were
subsequently lost
The lndus-Ganges Hearth
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Buddhism began in the foothills bordering
the Ganges Plain about 500 B.C.
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For centuries remained confined to the Indian
subcontinent
Missionaries later carried it to other countries
and regions
 China — between 100 B.C. and A.D. 200
 Korea and Japan — between A.D. 300 and 500
 Southeast Asia — between A.D. 400 and 600
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Tibet — A.D. 700
Mongolia — A.D. 1500
Developed many regional forms and died out in
its area of origin
California
Diffusion of Buddhism
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Buddhism arrived with Asian migrants in
the early 19th century and has become
increasingly important with each
subsequent immigrant group.
This is the Fo Kuang Shan Hsi Lai Temple
in Hacienda Heights, an emerging Asian
Suburban area near Los Angeles.
Diffusion of Buddhism
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Hsi Lai means “coming to
the west.” Replicating a
Taiwan temple and
practicing Pure Land
Buddhism, this ten building
complex trains both monks
and nuns and offers an
array of programs for
Asians and non-Asians
alike. The foreground Field
of Merit represents rice
paddies, recalling hard
work and devotion.
Barriers and time-distance decay
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Religious ideas weaken with distance from
places of origin and time
Most religious barriers are permeable, but
weaken and retard religious spread
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Partial acceptance of Christianity by various
Indian groups in Latin America and the
western United States
Served as a camouflage under which many
aspects of tribal religions survived
Permeable barriers are normally present in
expansion diffusion
Barriers and time-distance decay
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Most religions become modified by
older local beliefs as they diffuse
spatially
Absorbing barriers — example of China
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Christian missionaries to China expected to
find fertile ground for conversion
Chinese had long settled the question of
what is basic human nature
Believed humans were inherently good and
evil desires represented merely a deviation
from that state
Barriers and time-distance decay
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Evil desires could be shrugged off and people
would return to the basic nature they shared
with heaven
Christian idea of original sin left the Chinese
baffled
Chinese could not understand the concept of
humankind being flawed or their impossibility
to return to godhood
Many concepts of Christianity fell on rocky soil
in China
In the early twentieth century some Chinese
became Christians in exchange for the rice
missionaries gave them
Barriers and time-distance decay
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Religion can act as a barrier to the spread
of nonreligious innovations
Religious taboos can function as
absorbing barriers
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Can prevent diffusion of foods and drinks
Mormons are forbidden to consume products
containing caffeine
Some Pennsylvania Dutch churches prohibit
cigarette smoking, but not the raising of
tobacco by member farmers for commercial
markets