AP HuG: Unit 3 Chapter 6: Religion

The Cultural Landscape: An introduction to Human Geography - study for Religion exam

Two Types of Religions

Two Types of Religions

• Geographers distinguish two types of religions

  1. Universalizing Religions - attempts to be global by appealing to all people, not just those in a particular location

     • 58% of the world’s population practices a universalizing religion

  2. Ethnic Religion - appeal primarily to one group of people living in one place

     • 26% of the world’s population practices an ethnic religion

Universalizing Religions

• Appeals to people everywhere

• Individual founder (prophet)

• Message diffused widely

• Followers are widely distributed

• Holidays based on events in founder’s life

• The 3 Largest Universalizing Religions

  1. Christianity - 2.2 billion adherents

  2. Islam - 1.8 billion adherents

  3. Buddhism - 500 million adherents

Ethnic Religions

• Has meaning in one particular place

• Unknown source/founder

• Followers are highly clustered

• Holidays based on local climate and farming practices

• The Largest Ethnic Religions

  1. Hinduism - 900 million adherents

  2. Confucianism/Daoism (Chinese Traditional) - 394 million

  3. Asian Primal-Indigenous - 300 million

  4. Animism (African Traditional) - 100 million

Non-Religious

• 16% of the Earth’s population is nonreligious, either rejecting religion or not taking art in it

  1. Atheists reject the existence of God altogether

  2. Agnostics reject that anything can truly be known

Taxonomy of Universalizing Religions

• Universalizing religions tend to be internally divided into

  1. Branches

  2. Denominations

  3. Sects

Branch

• A branch is a large & fundamental division within a religion

• Examples include:

  • Christianity

    • Catholic

    • Protestant

    • Greek Orthodox

  • Islam

    • Sunni

    • Shiite

Denomination

Division of a branch that unites congregations into one legal/administrative body

1. Protestant

   • Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, Pentecostal, etc.

2. Baptist

   • Southern Baptist, National Missionary Baptist, Progressive National, etc.

Sect

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

• Sect is usually applied to a denomination

  • often “sect” refers to a smaller or newer group, or a group which is less socially accepted in a given community

Branches of Christianity

• Roman Catholic - 51% of the world’s Christians

• Protestant - 24% of the world’s Christians

• Orthodox - 11% of the world’s Christians

Geographic Distribution of Religions

• Christianity dominates the Western Hemisphere

  • 77.4% of North Americans

    • 40% Catholic

  • 91.9% of South Americans

    • 85.5% Catholic

Christianity in Europe

• Roman Catholicism

  • Southwestern & Eastern Europe

• Protestantism

  • Northwestern Europe

• Orthodoxy

  • Eastern & Southeastern Europe

Christianity in the United States

• Protestant churches have roughly 82 million U.S. members

• Baptist churches have the largest number of U.S. adherents (37 million), mostly in the southern U.S.

• Other Christian denominations such as Lutherans, Mormons, & Methodists also have significant geographic concentration

Latter-Day Saints (Utah)

Mormonism began in the eastern U.S., but believers were persecuted and migrated west to escape this abuse

Baptist (Southeast)

Indigenous religion with origins in small towns and rural area of the southeastern United States

Lutherans (upper Midwest)

Original migration from northern and western Europe and they brought their religion

All 3 religions (Latter-day saints, Baptist, Lutherans)

saw a lack of in-migration from other regions due to a lack of urban areas/economic pull factors and arid climate (LDS only)

Two Main Branches of Islam

1. Sunni - 83% of Muslims

2. Shi’a (Shi’ite) - 17% of Muslims

   • Sunnis are evenly dispersed across the Islamic world

   • Shia are highly concentrated in Iran & southern Iraq

1) Mahayana Buddhism

• 56% of Buddhists

• Focuses on bodhisattva, an enlightened being that postpones his own salvation to help others

2) Theravada Buddhism

• 38% of Buddhists

• The oldest of the surviving Buddhist canons

• Focuses on the Buddha as a historical figure

3) Vajrayana Buddhism

• 6% of Buddhists

• often seen as offering a shortcut to enlightenment, as some of its practices subvert more mainstream Buddhist ideas & teaching

• Created new spiritual techniques to enhance psycho-physical energy. Claimed to allow one to achieve Buddhahood in as little as three years.

Ethnic Religion Characteristics

1. Traditions and rituals are tied to a particular geographic location

2. Often remain within the culture where they originated

3. Have more clustered distributions than universalizing religions

4. Often do not widely attract adherents from other cultures

5. Ethnic religions are not proselytizing religions, meaning their adherents do not actively promote the conversion of others

Hinduism (Ethnic Religion)

• Hinduism is the ethnic religion with largest number of followers

  • 900 million adherents

  • Nearly all concentrated in India & Nepal

Religions of Asia

• All three universalizing religions form the majority in some Asian countries

  • Christianity: the Philippines

  • Islam: Indonesia & Malaysia

  • Buddhism: many continental countries (including Japan)

Ethnic Religions in Asia

• Nearly 400 million Chinese practice either Confucianism or Daoism

• 300 million people throughout Asia practice ‘primal-indigenous’ religions

  • Most of these lack literary tradition and are most often transmitted orally

Religion in Africa

• Like in Asia, universalizing religions dominate in more countries, though ethnic religions continue to exist in remote places

Animism

• Before the introduction of Islam and Christianity, Africa had a very developed system of religion known today as Animism (Totemism/Shamanism)

• Animists believe that inanimate objects or natural events have spirits and conscious life

• Animism cannot be reduced to a specific set of beliefs

  • 100 million Africans adhere to Animism

Religion and Globalization

As Universalizing religions have expanded, Ethnic religions have begun to disappear in Africa

Judaism (Ethnic Outlier)

• though it has deeply influenced both Islam and Christianity, Judaism is a decidedly ethnic religion

• The world’s first monotheistic religion

• The world’s 12 million Jews are highly clustered, and almost exclusively found in Israel & the U.S.

Origins of Hinduism

• Unlike the Universalizing religions, Hinduism’s origin is less clear

• The earliest Hindu documents date to 2,500 B.C.E., making it the oldest continuously practiced religion

• The original Hindu culture was altered greatly when the Aryan people arrived along with their Indo-European language around 1,400 B.C.E.

Origins of Judaism - Roots of Islam & Christianity

• Abraham, the Patriarch of the Jewish faith, lived in Ur, Babylonia (Iraq) in about 1,800 B.C.E.

  • On a promise from God, he migrated to present-day Israel & founded the Jewish faith

• Both Christians & Muslims trace their earliest ancestry back to the sons of Abraham

  • Isaac (Jews) & Ishmael (Muslims)

Origins of Christianity

• Founded - Roughy 2,000 years ago

• Founding - Based on teachings of Jesus

• Hearth - Present-day Israel/Palestine

• Followers - 22 billion Christians in the world

• Jesus was Jewish & began a divine mission at age 29

  • He collected a group of followers, known as his disciples

• After two years, Jesus was crucified by the Romans in Jerusalem. Christians view Jesus’ death on the cross as a central event in their faith

Christianity’s Three Branches - Roman Catholicism

• oldest branch

• traces its roots back to the Roman Empire

• Catholics follow a hierarchical order with the Pope on top, following the Bible and the Seven Sacraments

Christianity’s Three Branches - Eastern Orthodoxy

• Broke away from Catholics in 1054 C.E. during the Great Schism

• Major Differences

  1. Catholics believe the Pope is infallible while Orthodox believe the Patriarch is ‘first among equals’

  2. Catholics believe doctrine can ‘evolve’

  3. Language: Catholics = Latin, while Orthodox = Greek

Christianity’s Three Branches - Eastern Orthodoxy

• Traces its roots to the Reformation in 1517 and Martin Luther’s 95 Theses

• They believe salvation is achieved only through faith rather than through religious sacraments (procedures)

Origins of Islam

• Founded - 623 C.E. or 1,500 years ago

• Founder - Prophet Muhammad

• Hearth - Mecca and Medina, located in present-day Saudi Arabia

• Followers - 1.8 billion Muslims in the world

• Mohammad received visions from God (Allah) through the angel Gabriel at age 40

  • He began to articulate his visions in the Qur’an

• Mohammad’s believers spread quickly through the Middle East and North Africa, uniting the many peoples they conquered under the banner of Islam

Origins of Buddhism

• Founded - roughly 2,500 years ago

• Founder - Siddharta Gautama (Buddha)

• Hearth - Northeastern India/Bangladesh

• Followers - 500 million Buddhists in the world

• Buddhism is based upon The Four Noble Truths

Siddhartha Gautama

• He was a wealthy prince who wanted to learn more about the suffering he witnessed in the world

• At 29, he left his privileged life behind in search of spiritual knowledge, emerging as the ‘Buddha’ or ‘enlightened one’

• He then spent the next 45 years teaching and spreading his message throughout northern India

The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism

1. All of life is suffering & sorrow

2. Suffering & sorrow are caused by the desire for worldly things

3. The way to end all suffering and sorrow is to end all desire

4. To overcome desire & attain enlightenment one must follow the eight-fold path

Enlightenment & The Eight Fold path

To reach Nirvana, one must follow the Eightfold path

• Right Understanding

• Right Speech

• Right Livelihood

• Right Concentration

• Right Mindfulness

• Right Effort

• Right Action

• Right Intention

Origins of Sikhism

• Founded - Roughly 500 years ago

• Founder - Guru Nanak

• Hearth - Near present-day Lahore, Pakistan

• Followers - 20 million Sikhs in the world

• Ten Gurus (spiritual masters) led the faith from 1469 to 1708

• Guru Granth Sahib (holy text) is considered an eternal guru, just like a living guru

• Sikhism is monotheistic

• Believe that humans are in a cycle of birth, life, and rebirth

  • They share this belief with other Indian religions such as Hinduism & Buddhism

• Sikhism stresses the importance of doing good actions rather than merely carrying out rituals

Sikhs believe one should:

• Keep God in heart & mind

• Live honestly & work hard

• Treat everyone equally

• Serve others

Origins of Bahá'í

• Founded - Early 19th Century

• Founder - Siyyid Ali Muhammad (The Ba’b)

• Hearth - Modern-day Iran

• Followers - 6 million Bahá'ís in the world

• Bahá'í teaches that religion has been revealed slowly across time by the one God

• Revealed by Manifestations of God, who were the founders of major world religions throughout history

• Sees the major religions as unified in purpose

• Goal: create a unified world order that ensures prosperity for all nations, races, creeds, and classes

• The number nine is associated with perfection, unity & Bahá'

Syncretism

the mixing of two or more religions that creates unique rituals, artwork, and beliefs

Examples of Syncretism

• Caribbean Voodoo or Santería (Haiti & Louisiana)

  • Mixed elements of Catholicism & African lingual, religious, & cultural traditions were brought to the Americas during the African Slave Trade

• Rastafari (Jamaica) is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s

  • Mixes elements of the Bible, Pan-Africanism, European grimoire, Hinduism, & Caribbean culture

• Catholicism in South Korea has been syncretized with Mahayana Buddhist & Confucian customs

  • As a result, South Korean Catholics continue to practice ancestral rites alongside Christian beliefs

Diffusion of Universalizing Religions

• Christianity, Islam, & Buddhism all emerged from Asia

• Followers transmitted the messages to people throughout the world

• Each of the three main universalizing religions has a distinct diffusion pattern

Diffusion of Christianity

1. Hierarchical - When the Roman Emperor Constantine embraced Christianity in the 4th century, the faith secured its dominant place in Europe

2. Relocation - Christianity, like other universalizing religions, has been spread through missionaries

   • These individuals have spread the faith to nearly all corners of the world

3. Trade Routes - Safe, stable routes allow for the rapid movement of people & ideas

Diffusion of Islam

• Muhammad’s successors & their followers conquered the Middle East, North Africa, & Spain

• Relocation diffusion of missionaries & merchants transmitted Islam to Indonesia & sub-Saharan Africa

Diffusion of Buddhism

• Diffusing slowly until the rise of the Maghadan Empire & its King Ashoka, who dispatched Buddhist missionaries throughout Southeastern Asia

• Missionaries followed major trade routes (Silk Roads)

Diffusion of Ethnic Religions

• Most Ethnic religions have very limited, if any diffusion

• They remain limited to their hearths

  • Their messages are often tailored to a local rather than global audience

• While they do not relocate to find coverts, adherents to ethnic religions do move for economic reasons

• Most Hindus in the United States emigrated in search of better economic prospects, for example

• Ethnic religions have also been diffused through the works of empire

• Great Britain used Indian labor across its empire, & today many former British colonies have sizeable Hindu communities

  • Trinidad & Tobago, for example, is 35% Hindu

Diaspora

• scattered population whose origin lies within a small geographic locale

  • Also refers to the movement of the population from its original homeland

  • a diaspora can be forced or unforced

Examples of Diaspora

• Unlike most other ethnic religions, Judaism can be found far from its hearth

  1. The momevent of Indians (South Asians) throughout the British Empire

  2. The forced migration of West Africans to the Americas during the Atlantic Slave Trade

  3. The migration of Jews out of Israel

Jewish Diaspora & The Roman Empire

Jews were forcibly evicted from their homeland by the Romans

20th Century Jewish Diaspora

• Persecution in Nazi Germany & the Holocaust led to a mass migration of Jews to Israel during the 20th century

• Today, Jews are divided between those living in Israel & the diaspora (Mainly in the U.S.)

Religious Political Administration

• Hierarchical Religions

  • Organize territory into administrative units; rigidly ordered

  • Leaders are accountable to a higher-up

    • Roman Catholic Church is the best example

    • Some Protestant denominations are hierarchical, like Episcopalians, Methodists, Latter-day Saints

    • Bahá'ís annually elect local, regional, and national Spiritual Assemblies & every five years those groups elect the Universal House of Justice

Latter-Day Saints’ Hierarchical Administration

• The President & two counselors form the First Presidency

• These men, & other male members (including the first two Quorums of Seventy & the Presiding Bishopric) are called general authorities

• They exercise both ecclesiastical & administrative leadership over the church & direct regional leaders at the local level

Autonomous Religions

• Locally Autonomous Religions

  • No religious hierarchy

  • No formal territorial organization

  • Examples:

    • Islam

    • Hinduism

    • Judaism

    • Daoism

    • Animist Religions

Ethnic Religion Holidays

• Holidays closely aligned with natural events & physical geography of the homeland

• Celebration of seasons in common

Universalizing Religion Holidays

• Major holidays relate to events in the life of the founder

Ethnic Religion Calendar

• Universalizing and ethnic religions approach the calendar differently

• Holidays are closely aligned with natural events associated with the physical geography of the homeland

• Prominent feature is celebration of the seasons are closely tied to local agriculture

Universalizing Religion Calender

• Universalizing and ethnic religions approach the calendar differently

• Major holidays relate to events in the life of the founder rather than season in a certain place

  • Ramadan (Islam): Islamic month of fasting

  • Easter (Christian): Resurrection of Jesus

Disposing of the Dead

• Christians, Muslims, & Jews typically bury the deceased in designated areas called cemeteries

  • Each has their own rites for preparing a body for burial

• Cremation

  • Hindus wash the bodies of the deceased with water from the Ganges, then burn them slowly on a funeral pyre

Organizing Religious Space

• Every religion organizes space in its own way, from distinctive houses of worship to varying methods of disposing of the dead

  • How each religion distributes these elements depends on its belief system

• Most important among these are places of worship

  • These are sacred structures that work to physically anchor religion to the landscape

• In many cases, houses of worship are the largest & most elaborate structures in a community

Christian Religious Spaces

• Christian Churches

  • Christians’ houses of worship are important because they are seen as sacred spaces, an environment imbued with the spirit of God

  • Attendance at a collective service is considered very important to Christians

  • No single architectural style dominates in Christianity; each denomination has its own style, which vary by region

Catholic Religious Spaces

• Roman Catholic houses of worship are often very elaborate, representing the power and wealth of the Church

• Divided between churches & cathedrals

• Cathedrals are the central building of a diocese and are administered by a bishop

Protestant Religious Spaces

• In general, because they largely rely on the goodwill of their congregation, the design of most Baptist churches reflects the economic status/size of the community they serve

Islamic Religious Spaces

• Muslim Mosques

  • Space for community assembly, not specifically viewed as a sanctified place (sometimes in strip malls)

  • Congregants are sacred, not objects

  • Distinctive feature is a minaret, a tower where a man known as a muezzin summons people to worship

Buddhist Religious Spaces

• Buddhist Pagodas

  • Contain relics believed to be a portion of Buddha’s body or clothing

  • Not just one building; usually includes tall, many-tiered towers & gardens

  • Not designed for congregational worship; prayer is an individual act in Buddhism

Universalizing Religions & Place

• Cities and places associated with the founder’s life are endowed with holiness

• Some universalizing faiths often call upon adherents to complete pilgrimages, or trips to holy destinations

• This is important in both Islam & Buddhism

Buddhist Religious Places

• Buddhist pilgrimage is focused on tracing the path of the Buddha

  • It involves visiting eight holy sites in India & Nepal

Islamic Religious Places

• Islamic pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, called the Hajj, is a requirement for all able Muslims to complete in their lifetime

Religious Toponyms

• Roman Catholic immigrants have frequently given religious place names to settlements primarily in the U.S. Southwest & Quebec

Ethnic Religions & Place

• Ethnic religions are closely tied to the physical geography of their hearth, often focused on resources like water & the harvest

• These forces are often associated with gods or spirits

Ethnic Religions & The Solstice

• Special significance in some ethnic religions

• Stonehedge is a prominent remnant of a pagan structure dedicated to the Solstice

Hinduism and Place

• Hinduism is closely tied to the physical geography of India; the holiest places are riverbanks and coastlines

• Hindus believe that they achieve purification by bathing in holy water, like the Ganges

Judaism and Place

• Judaism is closely tied to the geography of modern-day Israel

• Jerusalem is home to many of the religion’s holiest sites including the Temple Mount & the Western Wall

• The Temple Mount is the site of many of the most important in the religion

The Origins of Religious Conflicts

• As the 20th century drew to a close, the end of the Cold War meant that the world was no longer on the brink of thermonuclear war

  • Conflict has not disappeared, however, its nature has simply changed

• The threat of global conflict between states has decreased, however, conflict in areas with high diversity has increased

  • One element of cultural diversity which has become a central node of conflict in the 21st century has been religion

• Conflicts are most likely to occur at a boundary between two religious groups

Communism Vs. Religion

• The father of Communism, Karl Marx, once famously stated that religion was the opiate of the masses, a source of false hope that kept the working class enslaved

• Soviet campaigns sought to eradicate religion & to replace it with Communist fervor

• Though not as antagonistic as the Soviet Union, modern communist countries have a difficult relationship with religious adherents within their borders

• In Laos, Cambodia, & Vietnam, all nominally Communist, observant Buddhists are persecuted and their religious sites are neglected, even as they form the majority in all three countries

Fundamentalism

a literal interpretation of a religion coupled with intense adherence to a set of tenets or rules

Religious Fundamentalism

• Fundamentalist expression is the driving force behind many of the world’s current religious conflicts

• Religious groups may oppose policies seen as contradicting their religious values

Taliban & Fundamentalism in Afghanistan

• In the 1990s, the Soviet Union was mired in a bloody conflict in Afghanistan

  • Fought to quell Islamic resistance to the communist Afghan government

• The U.S. supplied billions of dollars worth of weaponry to the Afghan government

  • After the Soviets pulled out in 1989, Afghanistan fell into disarray

• In 1996, the Taliban used their American-made weapons to take control

Taliban, Religion, & Globalization

• Once in power, the Taliban attacked all that they regarded as immoral & contrary to their fundamentalism vision of Islam

  • Western symbols were banned including TV, Music, clothing, and even kites

  • Most sports were banned

  • Men were beaten or imprisoned for shaving

  • Gays buried alive, adulterers stoned to death

  • Thieves had hands cut off; women wearing nail polish lost fingers

Religion Vs. Western Values

• Symbols of all religions were desecrated by the Taliban

• Through a US-led coalition forced the Taliban from power in 2001, they have remained a potent part of Afghan tribal life, poised to return to power

Religion Vs. Social Change

• Participation in the global economy & culture can expose residents of LDCs to the values & beliefs originating in MDCs

• In India, the hereditary Hindu caste system is a source of conflict

• Hinduism has been challenged since the 1800s with the introduction of British social & moral concepts

Hinduism Vs. Social Change

• Despite efforts by the government to create a more equal society, the caste system persists

  • Discrimination against lower castes is illegal in India under Article 15 of its constitution

• Some Indian ‘dating’ ads, still publish the caste of the advertiser & the castes they will marry

Religious Conflict In Ireland

• England became a center of Protestantism in Europe, while most of Ireland remained staunchly Catholic

• Because England conquered & controlled Ireland for hundreds of years, religion there has become intertwined with the struggle for freedom

• In 1937, Ireland won its independence, however Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom

  • 40% Catholic

  • 46% Protestant

• Roman Catholics have been victimized by discriminatory practices, such as exclusion from higher-paying jobs and better schools

  • Belfast, the capital city, is highly segregated

• Each side formed armed factions

  • Catholic rebels were known as the IRA or Irish Republican Army

  • Protestant loyalists were represented by the UDF, Ulster Defense Forces

• Suicide bombing & urban pacification campaigns marked this dark era when thousands were killed

• For decades, Belfast became the site of intense fighting between the IRA, UDC, and British forces

  • Neighborhoods are strictly segregated by religion

Religious Conflict in South Asia

• After gaining independance from the British, India was partitioned into two nations:

  • Hindu India in the center

  • Muslim Pakistan to the west & east

• Largest migration in human history

• 12.5 million people were displaced

• 500,000 killed or injured in riots and religious attacks

• Disagreements rooted in religious differences have led India & Pakistan to the brink of nuclear war & several open military conflicts since 1947

Religious Wars in the Middle East

• The Middle East is home to the world’s longest-standing religious conflicts

  • Jews, Christians, & Muslims have fought nearly 2,000 years to control the same small strip of land

• Judaism: Special claim to the territory it calls the Promised Land where major events in the development in the religion occurred

• Islam: Jerusalem is the third holiest city to Muslims, because it is believed to be where Muhammad ascended into heaven

  • Muslim army conquered this land in 637 C.E.

• Christianity: Considers it the Holy Land & Jerusalem the Holy City, because the major events in Jesus’s life, death, & resurrection occurred there

Palestine: Arabs & Jewish Conflict

• Palistine and Jewish Migration

  • Jew began streaming into Palestine especially in the 1930s to flee Hitler

    • By WWII, nearly 500,000 Jews had emigrated to Palistine

• Aften WWII, all parties wanted an end to the Mandate System in Palistine

  • However, Jews & Palestinians could not agree on a division of territory

• An international committee was created to settle the issue in 1947

• Attempts to resolve the issue have been complicated by the building of Jewish settlements in pre-1967 Palestinian lands, as well as a vast network of security walls separating Jewish and Palestinian populations

Palestine: The Two State Solution

• In 1948, UN established two seperte Palestines

  • Jewish State

  • Palestine state

Creation of the State of Israel

• U.N. partition plan was not acceptable to Arabs in and outside of Palestine, sparking a civil war

• May 1948: Jews declare independence of state of Israel while fighting Arabs and as British withdraw

• Sparks series of conflicts spanning five decades

  • Arab-Israeli Wars in 1948-49, 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982

  • Israel greatly expands territory beyond U.N. partition during wars

Intifada

A Palestinian mass movement against the Israeli presence in Gaza and other occupied territories was sparked in 1987

Conflicting Perspectives of the Holy Land

• Biggest obstacle to peace in the Middle East is the status of Jerusalem

• Peace is likely not possible, if one religion has total control over Jeruslaem