Chapter 6-Key Issue 3Why Do Religions Organize

Space in Distinctive Patterns?Places of Worship

Christians-church (from Greek term for lord, master, power)

Church Architecture

• Early churches modeled after Roman buildings for public assembly-basilicas

• Rectangular building-• Raised alter • Eastern Orthodox

churches-architectural style Byzantine Empire (5th century)-highly ornate with prominent domes

• Muslim Mosques-viewed as a location for community assembly for worship

• Central courtyard; pulpit faces east-Makkah

• Minarets- towers that surround mosques-it is in these minarets that people are summoned to worship known as muzzan

Hindu Temples/Buddhist and Shintoist Pagodas

• Hindu temple-home or more than on god

• Appears as a shrine• Typically small, dimly lit

interior room• Contains a symbolic

artifact or image of the god

• Pagodas are indicative of Buddhist/Shinto religion

• Tall many-sided towers arranged in tiers, balconies, slanting roofs

• Contains relics believed to be portions of Buddha’s body or clothing

Baha’i Houses of Worship

• Built 7 Houses of Worship in Wilmette, IL; Frankfurt, Germany; Sydney, Australia; New Delhi, India; Apia, Western Samoa; Panama City, Panama; Ashkabad, Russia; & Kampala, Uganda

• These houses of worship dispersed to different continents to dramatize Baha’i as a universalizing religion with adherents all over the world

Sacred Space

• Burial practices vary in different religions

• Usually occurs in a cemetery for Christians, Mulims, Jews

• Ancient Rome-underground passages known as catacombs-early Christians buried here

• Some countries (China) need their land for agriculture rather than cemeteries, so cremation is encouraged

• Hindus use cremation rather than burial

• Hindus wash body first with water from Ganges River

• Cremation considered act of purification

Cremation (continued)

• Motivation for cremation comes from unwillingness of nomads to leave their dead behind for fear that body would be attacked from wild animals or evil spirits

• It was believed that cremation could free soul from body for departure to afterworld

• Zoroastrians expose dead to scavenging birds & animals

• Did not want body to contaminate sacred elements of fire, earth, or water

• Tibetan Buddhists practice this exposure with cremation reserved for the most exalted priests

Religious Settlements

• Salt Lake City-construction in 1848 by Mormons-prophet Joseph Smith-considered to be a utopian settlement

• Early New England settlers members of Puritan Protestant denomination

• Roman Catholic immigrants have given religious place names or toponyms to their settlements in New World particularly in Quebec and southwest U.S.

Hierarchial Religions

• Hierarchial religion has well-defined geographic structure & organizes territory in local administrative structure

• Roman Catholicism is a great example of this hierarchial religion

• Roman Catholics organized into an administrative structure accountable to Pope in Rome (Vatican City)

• Pope-bishop of the Diocese of Rome

• Archbishops report to Pope-each heads province which is a group of dioceses

Roman Catholic Hierarchy

• Archbishop is bishop of one diocese within province

• Some distinguished archbishops elevated to rank of cardinal

• Reporting to each archbishop are bishops-each administers a diocese

• Diocese-several thousand of these

• Diocese basic unit of geographic organization in Roman Catholic Church

• Bishop’s headquarters called “see”-largest city in diocese

• Diocese spatially divided into parishes, each headed by priest

Hierarchial Religions (continued)

• Latter-Day Saints-Mormons exercise strong organization of landscape

• Territory occupied by Mormons in Utah & portions of surrounding states organized into wards with a population of 750 each

• Autonomous religions• Islam has most autonomy• Strong unity within

Islamic world with high degree of communication & migration

• Protestant denomination selects leadership within various sects, such as Presbyterian

Protestant Denominations

• Presbyterian organized into presbytery which are governed by synod with general assembly as ultimate authority over all churches

• Each Presbyterian church governed by elected board of directors with lay members

• Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist churches have hierarchial structures

Ethnic Religions

• Judaism and Hinduism-no centralized structure of religious control

• In Judaism, in order to conduct full service, requires presence of 10 adult males

• Hinduism-autonomous-worship is done usually alone or with others in the household

• Share ideas through pilgrimages and reading traditional writings

Key Issue 4-Chapter 6

• Afghans welcomed Taliban (“religious students”) in 1996

• Once in control, Taliban imposed very strict laws (for example, men beaten for shaving their beards, stoned for committing adultery, homosexuals-buried alive, prostitutes hanged in front of large crowds, thieves had hands cut off, & women wearing nail polish had their fingers cut off)

• Islamic scholars criticized Taliban as poorly educated and misreading Koran

Taliban Versus Western Values

• Taliban believed they had been called by Allah to do these things

• Western (non-Islamic) ideas banned

• Converted soccer stadium into settings for executions and floggings

• Old Buddhist statues destroyed 2001 because they were worshipped as images in violation of Islam

Hinduism Versus Social Equality

• Hinduism maintains a rigid caste system (people are categorized according to their specific caste)

• Dates back to 1500 B.C. when Aryans invaded India

• Brahmans (priests & top administrators/scholars)

• Kshatriyas-warriors• Vaisyas-merchants• Sudras-agricultural

workers or artisans• Untouchables or outcasts

Eastern Orthodox Christianity

• 1721 Czar Peter the Great made Russian Orthodox Church part of the government

• Following Bolshevik revolution in 1917 (which overthrew czar or tsar) Communist government pursued nonreligious programs

• Marxism (Karl Marx) became official doctrine of Soviet Union

• End of communist rule in late 20th century brought a religious revival to region formerly called Soviet Union

Religion Versus Communism

• Buddhists were hurt by Vietnam War in late 60s early 70s

• U.S. raids in Laos & Cambodia destroyed many Buddhist shrines

• Others were vandalized by Vietnamese & Khmer Rouge Cambodian communists

• To protest these actions by the Communists Buddhists immolated (burned) themselves

• Current Communist governments in Southeast Asia have discouraged religious activities & permitted monuments to decay, specifically Angkor Wat in Cambodia which is considered one of the world’s most beautiful Buddhist structures

Religious Wars in Middle East

• Conflict in this region has existed for over 2000 years

• Christians & Muslims have fought over a small strip of land in Eastern Mediterranean

• Jews, Christians, and Muslims all trace their origins to Abraham in Old Testament

• 3 religions have found it difficult to peaceably share the same territory

• Judaism makes their claim to the territory it calls the Promised Land

• Romans controlled area which they called Palestine-dispersed Jews from Palestine-only a few were allowed to stay in region

Middle East (Southwest Asia)

• Islam replaced Christianity in Palestine after Muslim army conquered in 7th century A.D. Christians consider Palestine to be the Holy Land and Jerusalem the Holy City

• Muslims consnider Jerusalem as their 3rd holiest city (after Mecca-Makkah & Medina-Madinah) because this is the place from which Muhammad is thought to have ascended to heaven

Crusades

• 7th century, Muslims aka Arabs captured most of Middle East including Palestine & Jerusalem

• Arab army diffused Arabic language across Middle East & converted people from Christianity to Islam

• Also moved across North Africa and invaded Europe at Gibraltar

Crusades

• In East captured Eastern Orthodox Christianity’s most important city, Constaninople (present day Istanbul, Turkey)

• To recapture Holy Land from Muslim conquerors, European Christians set out on military campaigns known as Crusades over a 150 year period

Jews Versus Muslims-Palestine

• Muslim Ottoman Empire controlled Palestine for 2 centuries (1516-1917)

• Great Britain took over Palestine (League of Nations and later from United Nations)

• United Nations partitioned Palestine into 2 independent states, one Jewish, one Muslim

• Controversy over control of Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, West Bank continue to plague the region

Palestinian and Israeli Perspective

• Palestinian fight against Israel coordinated by PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) under leadership of Yassir Arafat (who is now deceased)

• Israel sees itself as a small country with Jewish majority surrounded by hostile Muslim Arabs

• Country’s major population centers close to international borders making them vulnerable to attacks

• Tel Aviv and Haifa very close to Palestinian controlled territory

Israelia Palestinain Conflict

• Local landforms create geographical problems

• Ultimate obstacle to peace in Middle East is status of Jerusalem

• All groups have difficulty coexisting with each other

• Constant violence in region, suicide bomber/car bombs, etc.

Religious Wars in Ireland• Ireland (island of Eire)-Republic of Ireland which

occupies five-sixths of island is 92% Roman Catholic

• Island’s northern one-sixth part of the UK rather than Ireland is 58% Protestant and 42% Roman Catholic

• Small number of Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland joined the Irish Republican Army (IRA)-a militant organization dedicated to achieving Irish national unity