People care deeply about their religion.Some religions are designed to appeal to
people throughout the world, some in a particular area.
Religious values are important to understanding people.
Most religions require exclusive adherence.Migrants take their religion with them.
Religion
Large Global Appeal-60% of people Three main: Christianity, Islam and
Buddhism
Branch-large basic division within a religion. Denomination-division of a branch that
unites local congregations into a single legal/administrative body.
Sect-small group that has broken away from an established denomination.
Universalizing Relgions
24% of the world. Appeal primarily to one group living in one
place.
Example: Hindu
Ethnic Religions
Branches:◦ Roman Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox
◦ Protestant includes-Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian
Smaller branches-Ethiopian Church and Coptic Church of Egypt.
Christanity
Sunni-83% of all Muslims.
Largest Branch in the Middle East and Asia.
Shiites-16% of all Muslims.
Located in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Turkey
Branches of Islam
400 million followers
Mostly found in China and SE Asia.
Buddhism is also split into branches
Buddhism
1. All living beings must endure suffering.2. Suffering which is caused by the desire to live,
leads to reincarnation (repeated rebirth in new bodies or forms of life.).
3. The goal of all existence is to escape suffering and the endless cycle of reincarnation into Nirvana (a state of complete redemption), which is achieved through mental and moral self-purification.
4. Nirvana is attained through an Eight-fold Path, which includes rightness of belief, resolve, speech, action, livelihood, effort, thought and meditation.
Four Noble Truths
Sikhism Guru Nanak Only god is perfect
and people have the capacity for continuous improvement.
Other universalizing religions
Baha’IHe taught that there
is only one God, that there is only one human race, and that all the world’s religions represent stages in the revelation of God’s will and purpose for humanity.
Other Universalizing Religions
Christanity-missionaries-individuals who help to transmit a religion through relocation diffusion.
Islam-missionaries and Arab traders.
Buddhism-Emperor Asoka
Most ethnic religions have limited if any diffusion.
Diffusion of Religions
Most religions share some common characteristics:
Holy placesThe calendarPlaces of worshipDisposing of the deadReligious settlements
Religion
Hierarchical Religions-have a well-defined geographic structure and organize territory into local administrative units.
Examples:◦ Roman Catholic◦ Mormon
Administration of Space
Self-sufficient and interaction among communities is confined to little more than loose cooperation and shared ideas.
Islam Baptists Church of Christ Judaism Hindu
Autonomous Religions
A literal interpretation of a strict and intense adherence to basic principles of a religion.
Fundamentalism
Religious principles have become increasingly important in the political organization of countries.
Taliban in Afghanistan-laws related to strict Islamic values◦ Men were beaten for shaving beards◦ Thieves had hands cut off.
Religion vs. Government Policy
Eastern Orthodox and Islam vs. Soviet Government.
1918-Soviet government eliminated the state church.
Communist government discourage religious activity worldwide.
Religion vs. Communism
Protestants vs. Catholics
Catholics have been discriminated against and denied higher paying jobs and better schools.
Ireland
2,000 years of conflict over the area near the Mediterranean.
All three major religions trace their origins to this area.
Jerusalem is a holy city to the three major religions.
Middle East
The West Bank is located within Israel, but is claimed by Palestinians who are predominantly Muslim.
The end of WWII created Israel as an independent state.
Middle East
A cargo cult is a religious practice that has appeared in many traditional tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced cultures. The cults focus on obtaining the material wealth (the "cargo") of the advanced culture through magic and religious rituals and practices.
Cargo Cult
Ethnicity is an identity with a group of people who chare the cultural traditions of a particular homeland or hearth.
Ethnicity comes from the Greek “ethnikos” which means national.
Regions of distinct ethnic identity remain in the world and USA.
Ethnicity
African American and Hispanic are the two largest ethnic groups in the USA.
Ethnic groups may live within particular regions of the USA, or within particular neighborhoods in cities.
Ethnicities in the USA
Ethnicity is the identity with a group of people that share distinct physical and mental traits as a product of common heredity and cultural traditions.
Race is the identity with a group of people who share the same biological ancestor. ◦ Race comes from the middle French word for
Generation.
Differentiating Race and Ethnicity
Biological descendant Race is inherited.
Example: Caucasian, Asian, African
Developed in the 1800’s by anthropologists based on skin color, bone structure and hair.
Cultural heritage
Ethnicity is learned
Example: hispanic, african-american
Race Ethnicity
1. Immigration from Africa to the colonies in the 1700’s.
forced migration, triangular trade
African American Migration Patterns
Migration from Mexico and Latin America.
Early colonists and Westward settlement.
Clashes with the Native Americans.
Ethnicty
Racism-racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
A racist is person who subscribes to the beliefs of racism.
Racism
Physical separation of the races into different geographic areas.
In 1991, Apartheid laws were repealed.
Apartheid
Nationality is identity with a group of people who share legal attachment and personal allegiance to a country.
Every person in the USA is American in Nationality.
Every American is also a member of a race.
Nationalies
Self-determination-ethnicities have the right to govern themselves.
Nation-state is a state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality.
Best example in Europe
Danes (Danish ethnicity) corresponds to state of Denmark.
Nearly all speak Danish.
Denmark
Loyalty and devotion to a nationality Promoted through flags and songs. An example of a centripedal (directed to
the center) force which is an attitude that tends to unify people and enhance the support for a state.
Nationalism
Multi-ethnic states share more than one ethnicity◦ Example: Belgium
Multi-national states contain two or more ethnic groups with traditions of self-determination who agree to peacefully co-exist.
Example: the UK
Multi-ethnic/national states
Ethnic conflict has returned since the fall of Communism.
Each group has longstanding grievances against the other groups.
Ethnic Conflicts
Africa-control of Horn of Africa.
Ethnic groups what to be dominant within the various countries.
Ethnic Clashes
Christian Blacks and animist rebels and Arab-government forces in North, involved in a Civil War.
Ethnic cleansing in black controlled Darfur.
Darfur
India-forced migration for religious regions.
Creation of Pakistan for Muslims in the region.
Divided states
Tamil-North Sinhalese-
South
Fighting has gone on for more than 2,000 years.
A ceasefire was declared in 2002
Sri Lanka
The process in which a more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogenous region.
The goal is to rid an entire are of an ethnicity so that the surviving ethnic group can be the sole inhabitants.
Ethnic Cleansing
6 republics 5 named for the main nationalities 3 major religions-Catholic, Orthodox, Islam 4 official languages
Balkanization-the process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among it’s ethnicities.
Yugoslavia
Ethnic cleansing between the Hutus (farmers) an Tutsis (cattle herders).
Hutu’s killed most of the Tutsis out of fear the Tutsis would gain control of an independent nation.
Rwanda