religious culture regions do we humans possess religious “mental maps?”

RELIGIOUS CULTURE REGIONS

DO WE HUMANS POSSESS RELIGIOUS “MENTAL MAPS?”

CHRISTIANITY

World’s largest, both in area and in number of adherents, claiming 1/3 of humanitySingle greatest division is between Eastern and Western ChristianityEach of which is even further divided

Western Divisions

Initially id’ed with Rome & the Latin-speaking areaSplintered with the Protestant breakaway of the 1400’s and 1500’s.Roman Catholic church alone accounts for over 1/6th of humanity, has remained unified

Western Christianity

Protestanism tended to divide into a rich array of sects, with a total membership today of approx. 416 million.American frontier was a breeding ground for new religious groups.Today we find about 2000 different religious demoninations and cults in the USA alone

USA Christian regionsSouth – called the Bible Belt, Baptist and other conservative fundamentalist demoninations dominateUtah – Mormon realmLutheran Belt – stretches from Wisconsin westward thru Minnesota and the Dakotas.Roman Catholics – SO. LA, southwestern borderlands, and heavily industrialized areas of the NEMidwest – is a mixed zone with Methodists the largest single demonination

Eastern Christianity

Dominated the Greek world from Constantiople (Istanbul)Armenian Church – the oldest in the Christian faithCoptic Church – Egyptians, EthiopiaMaronites – LebanonNestorians- mtns of Middle East and India’s Kerala state

Eastern Christianity

Eastern Orthodoxy split into a variety of national churchesSuch as Russian, Greek, Ukrainian, SerbianAll with a collective membership of 214 million