Do Now

1. Try and define the term “religion.”

2. How is the cultural landscape marked by religion?

Think of obvious and subtle ways.

Do Now

• The cultural landscape is marked by religion- most

obviously by churches and mosques, cemeteries

and shrines statues and symbols.

• There are other, more subtle markers too, such as

the presence or absence of stores selling alcohol

• Also, religion is proclaimed through modes of

dress, and personal habits.

• The Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1991

proclaimed that the growing of a beard would be a

sign of the appointment of judges.

Why let them collapse? Why not tear them down?

Religion and Language lie at the foundation

of culture.

Like languages, religions are constantly

changing

Interaction among people can cause one

language to become extinct and another to

thrive. The same is true for religions, where

interaction can sometimes lead to conversion.

Conversion, migration, missionary efforts and

conquest

Universalizing religions

• Seek to appeal to all people

Ethnic religions

• Appeal to a smaller group of people living

in one place

World Distribution of Religions

21.422 N, 39.826 E: Holy Mosque and the Kaaba, Mecca

(Makkah), Saudia Arabia

31.778 N, 35.231 E: Jerusalem, Church of Resurrection

41.903 N, 12.453 E: Vatican City

40.770 N, 111.893 W: Temple Square, Salt Lake City

55.752 N, 37.623 E: St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow

27.469 N, 83.275 E: Lumbini (Buddha’s birthplace), Nepal

Universalizing religions

• Christianity

The largest world religion (about 2 billion

adherents)

• Many adherents in Europe, the Americas

Three major branches

• Roman Catholicism (51 percent)

• Protestant Christianity (24 percent)

• Eastern Orthodox (11 percent)

Other, smaller branches of Christianity

comprise 14 percent of all Christians

Distribution of Christians in the

United States

Universalizing religions

• Islam

The second-largest world religion (about 1.3

billion adherents)

• Significant clusters in the Middle East, North

Africa, and South Asia

Core of Islamic belief = the five pillars

Two significant branches

• Sunnis (83 percent)

• Shias or Shiites (16 percent)

Universalizing religions

• Buddhism

About 400 million adherents (difficult to

quantify)

• Significant clusters in China, Southeast Asia

The Four Noble Truths

Three branches

• Mahayana (China, Japan, Korea)

• Theravada (Southeast Asia)

• Tantrayana (Tibet, Mongolia)

Holy places in Buddhism. Note how most are located in

northeastern India and southern Nepal because they

were sites of important events in Buddha’s life.

Ethnic religions

• Hinduism

The third-largest religion in the world

(900 million adherents)

97 percent of Hindus are found in India

Many paths to spirituality.

Caste System (based on reincarnation

principle)

Many followers tend to worship Vishnu

or Shiva or Krishna.

• Animist Religions

– Native American

• System based upon belief of in a supreme or Great Spirit that

oversees the universe. It is interpreted by shamans.

• Diffusion by migration diffusion north to south through the

Americas.

– Voodoun (Voodoo)

• West African, Afro-Brazilian, Afro Caribbean descendents

• Multiple deities that control different parts of the lived world.

• Diffusion by relocation diffusion as West Africans were forced

to migrate under European directed slavery.

Ethnic religions

• Other ethnic religions

Confucianism (China)

Daoism (China)

Shinto (Japan)

Judaism (today: the United States,

Israel)

• Considered first monotheistic religion

Ethnic African religions

• Animism

Figure 6-4

Figure 6-5

Buddhism Hinduism

Hindus bathe in the Ganges River

Locals meet with Monks and

present them with food.

Religions of the United States

How would having approx. 30 million citizens

who are atheist or nonreligious affect the

nation? How could you explain why such a

strong number exists in the United States?

Origin of religions

• Universalizing: precise origins, tied to

a specific founder

Christianity

• Founder: Jesus

Islam

• Prophet of Islam: Muhammad

Buddhism

• Founder: Siddhartha Gautama

Origin of religions

• Ethnic: unclear or unknown origins, not tied

to a specific founder

Hinduism

• No clear founder

• Earliest use of Hinduism = sixth century B.C.

• Archaeological evidence dating from 2500 B.C.

Diffusion of religions

• Universalizing religions

Christianity

• Diffuses via relocation and expansion diffusion

Islam

• Diffuses to North Africa, South and Southeast Asia

Buddhism

• Slow diffusion from the core

Diffusion of Universalizing Religions

Church of the Holy

Selpuchre, Jerusalem

Diffusion of Universalizing Religions

Hindu Temple Complex in

Cambodia.

• Limited diffusion of ethnic religions

– Universal religions usually compete with ethnic religions

– Examples of mingling: • Christianity with African ethnic religions

• Buddhism with Confucianism in China and with Shinto in Japan

– Ethnic religions can diffuse with migration

– Judaism = exception

• Holy places

– In universalizing religions

• Buddhist shrines

• Holy places in Islam = associated with the life

of Muhammad

– In ethnic religions

• Holy places in Hinduism = closely tied to the

physical geography of India

Read the key at the bottom.

Take a sampling of the sites

and note the main deity or

form of worship.

• The calendar

– In ethnic religions = celebration of the

seasons

• The Jewish calendar

• The solstice

– In universalizing religions = celebration of

the founder’s life

• Places of worship

– Many types:

Christian churches,

Muslim mosques,

Hindu temples,

Buddhist and Shinto

pagodas, Bahá’í

houses of worship

Figure 6-19

• Sacred space

– Disposing of the dead • Burial

• Other ways of disposing of the dead

– Religious settlements

– Religious place names

Religious Toponyms

Figure 6-21

• Compare religious toponyms

within Quebec’s boundaries

with that of Ontario’s, New

York’s, and Vermont’s.

• Quebec has a predominantly

Roman Catholic population

and a large number of

settlements are named after

saints.

• Administration of space

– Hierarchical religions

• Latter-day Saints

• Roman Catholics

– Locally autonomous religions

• Islam

• Protestant denominations

Roman Catholic Hierarchy in the

United States

Figure 6-22

• Hierarchy in religion.

• The Pope (Bishop of Diocese in Rome)

• Roman Catholic Church divides the U.S. into provinces.

•Provinces headed by Archbishop

•Provinces divided into dioceses

• Diocese that were headed by archbishops are archdioceses