The Cultural Landscape Chapter 6: Religion

Baptist churches

have the largest number of adherents in the United States, about 37 million combined over age 5.

Gobind Singh

Only God is perfect, but people have the capacity for continual improvement and movement toward perfection by taking individual responsibility for their deeds and actions on Earth, such as heartfelt, adoration, devotion, and surrender to the one God Sikhisms most important ceremony, introduced by the tenth guru, (1666- 1708), is the Amrit (or Baptism), in which Sikhs declare they will uphold the principles of the faith.

Baptist churches

have the largest number of adherents in the United States, about 37 million combined over age 5.

Gobind Singh

Only God is perfect, but people have the capacity for continual improvement and movement toward perfection by taking individual responsibility for their deeds and actions on Earth, such as heartfelt, adoration, devotion, and surrender to the one God Sikhisms most important ceremony, introduced by the tenth guru, (1666- 1708), is the Amrit (or Baptism), in which Sikhs declare they will uphold the principles of the faith.

Jesus

was born a Jew, and Muhammad traced his ancestry to Abraham.

Confucianism

prescribed a series of ethical principles for the orderly conduct of daily life in China, such as following traditions, fulfilling obligations, and treating others with sympathy and respect.

Southeast Asia

In , Buddhists were hurt by the long Vietnam War- waged between the French and later by the Americans, on one side, and Communist groups on the other.

Hindus

believe that it is up to the individual to decide the best way to worship God.

Eastern Europe

The end of Communist rule in the late twentieth century brought a religious revival in , especially where Roman Catholicism is the most prevalent branch of Christianity, including Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

India

In theory, the untouchables were descended from the indigenous people who dwelled in prior to the Aryan conquest.

Judaism

is classified as an ethnic, rather than a universalizing, religion in part because its major holidays are based on events in the agricultural calendar of the religion's homeland in present- day Israel.

fundamental division

A branch is a large and within a religion.

Cambodia

Therapists comprise about 38 percent of Buddhists esp* ecially in , Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

Cremation

is considered an act of purification, although it tends to strain Indias wood supply.

Baha

'i also spread rapidly during the late twentieth century, when a temple was constructed on every continent.

Marxism

became the official doctrine of the Soviet Union, so religious doctrine was a potential threat to the success of the revolution.

government administrator

Although a(n) by profession, Lao- Zis writings emphasized the mystical and magical aspects of life rather than the importance of public service which Confucius had emphasized.

ancient Rome

In , underground passages known as catacombs were used to bury early Christians (and to protect the faithful when the religion was still illegal)

agricultural cycle

Christians may relate Easter to the , but that relationship differs depending on where they live.

Indian army

In 1984, the attacked the Golden Temple at Amritsar and killed approximately a thousand Sikhs defending the temple.

virtuous person

A(n) draws power (de or le) from being absorbed in dao.

Iran

Shiites compromise nearly 90 percent of the population in and more than half of the population in Azerbaijan, Iraq, and the less populous countries of Oman and Bahrain.

mosque

A(n) is a place for public ceremony, and a leader calls the faithful to prayer, but everyone is expected to participate equally in the rituals and is encouraged to pray privately.

Conflict

in the Middle East is among the world's longest- standing and most intractable.

Christianity

The origins of , Islam, and Buddhism are recorded in the relatively recent past, but Hinduism existed prior to recorded history.

Siddhartha Gautama

The founder of Buddhism, , was born about 563 B.C.

Islam

teaches that as he began to preach the truth that God had revealed to him, Muhammad suffered persecution, and in 622 he was commanded by God to emigrate.

Uthman

was a member of a powerful Makkah clan that had initially opposed Muhammad before the clan's conversion to Islam.

Roman Catholic immigrants

have frequently given religious place names, or toponyms, to their settlements in the New World, particularly in Quebec and the U.S. Southwest.

Last Supper

After sharing the (the Jewish Passover seder) with his disciples in Jerusalem, Jesus was arrested and put to death as an agitator.

Africa

is now 46 percent Christian- split about evenly among Roman, Catholic, Protestant, and other- and another 40 percent are Muslims.

Encyclopaedia Britannica

According to , Roman Catholics comprise 51 percent of the worlds Christians, Protestants 24 percent, and Orthodox 11 percent.

3 million

All but Sikhs are clustered in the Punjab region of India; Bahais are dispersed among many countries, primarily in Africa and Asia.

Sarnath

The Dhamek pagoda at , built in the third century B.C., is probably the oldest surviving structure in India.

Canada

(except Quebec) and the United States have Protestant majorities because their early colonists came primarily from Protestant England.

Old City

The of Jerusalem, which contained the famous religious shrines, became part of the Muslim country of Jordan.

Eastern Mediterranean

Most Jews have not lived in the since A.D. 70, when the Romans forced them to disperse throughout the world, an action known as the diaspora, from the Greek word for "dispersion ..

North America

Within , Roman Catholics are clustered in the southwestern and northeastern United States and the Canadian province of Quebec.

Hinduism

does not have a central authority or a single holy book, so each individual selects suitable rituals.

Mediterranean Sea

The northern half of Israel is a strip of land 80 kilometers (50 miles) wide between the and the Jordan River.

Burial

is reserved for children, ascetics, and people with certain diseases.

Rituals

are performed to pray for favorable environmental conditions or to give thanks for past success.

Tibetan

Buddhists also practice exposure for some dead, with cremation reserved for the most exalted priests.

Indian Ocean

A 2 040- square- kilometer (788- square- mile) island located in the 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of Madagascar, Mauritius was uninhabited until 1638, so it had no traditional ethnic religion.

distinctive cultural identity

In a world increasingly dominated by a global culture and economy, religious fundamentalism is one of the most important ways in which a group can maintain a(n) .

Sukkot

derived from the Hebrew word for the booths, or temporary shelters, occupied by Jews during their wandering in the wilderness for 40 years after fleeing Egypt.

Orthodoxy

comprises the faith and practices of a collection of churches that arose in the eastern part of the Roman Empire.

Shintoism

Since ancient times, has been the distinctive ethnic religion of Japan.

fifth century

The split between the Roman and Eastern churches dates to the , as a result of rivalry between the Pope of Rome and the Patriarchy of Constantinople, which was especially intense after the collapse of the Roman Empire.

Sikhism

and Bahai are the two universalizing religions other than Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism with the largest number of adherents.

Mahayanists

claim that their approach to Buddhism can help more people because it is less demanding and all- encompassing.

Although these and other deities and approaches are supported throughout India, some geographic concentration exists

Siva and Shakti are concentrated in the north Shakti and Vishnu in the east Vishnu in the west; and Siva, along with some Vishnu, in the south

universalizing religion

attempts to be global, to appeal to all people, wherever they may live in the world, not just to those of one culture or location

ethnic religion

appeals primarily to one group of people living in one place

branch

a large and 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

set

a relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination

monotheism

the belief that there is only one God

polytheism

practiced by neighboring people, who worshipped a collection of gods

animism

traditional ethnic religions

missionaries

individuals who help to transmit a universalizing religion through relocation diffusion

pagan

follower of a polytheistic religion in ancient times

ghettos

city neighborhoods set up by law to be inhabited only by Jews

pilgrimage

a journey for religious purposes to a place considered sacred

cosmogony

a set of religious beliefs concerning the origin of the universe

solstice

has special significance in some ethnic religions

hierarchical religion

a well-defined geographic structure and organizes territory into local administrative units

autonomous religions

self-sufficient, and interaction among communities is confined to little more than loose cooperation and shared ideas

caste

the class or distinct hereditary order into which a Hindu was assigned according to religious law

fundamentalism

a literal interpretation and a strict and intense adherence to basic principles of a religion (or a religious branch, denomination, or sect)