Do Now
1. Try and define the term “religion.”
2. How is the cultural landscape marked by religion?
Think of obvious and subtle ways.
Do Now
• The cultural landscape is marked by religion- most
obviously by churches and mosques, cemeteries
and shrines statues and symbols.
• There are other, more subtle markers too, such as
the presence or absence of stores selling alcohol
• Also, religion is proclaimed through modes of
dress, and personal habits.
• The Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1991
proclaimed that the growing of a beard would be a
sign of the appointment of judges.
Why let them collapse? Why not tear them down?
Religion and Language lie at the foundation
of culture.
Like languages, religions are constantly
changing
Interaction among people can cause one
language to become extinct and another to
thrive. The same is true for religions, where
interaction can sometimes lead to conversion.
Conversion, migration, missionary efforts and
conquest
Universalizing religions
• Seek to appeal to all people
Ethnic religions
• Appeal to a smaller group of people living
in one place
World Distribution of Religions
21.422 N, 39.826 E: Holy Mosque and the Kaaba, Mecca
(Makkah), Saudia Arabia
31.778 N, 35.231 E: Jerusalem, Church of Resurrection
41.903 N, 12.453 E: Vatican City
40.770 N, 111.893 W: Temple Square, Salt Lake City
55.752 N, 37.623 E: St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow
27.469 N, 83.275 E: Lumbini (Buddha’s birthplace), Nepal
Universalizing religions
• Christianity
The largest world religion (about 2 billion
adherents)
• Many adherents in Europe, the Americas
Three major branches
• Roman Catholicism (51 percent)
• Protestant Christianity (24 percent)
• Eastern Orthodox (11 percent)
Other, smaller branches of Christianity
comprise 14 percent of all Christians
Distribution of Christians in the
United States
Universalizing religions
• Islam
The second-largest world religion (about 1.3
billion adherents)
• Significant clusters in the Middle East, North
Africa, and South Asia
Core of Islamic belief = the five pillars
Two significant branches
• Sunnis (83 percent)
• Shias or Shiites (16 percent)
Universalizing religions
• Buddhism
About 400 million adherents (difficult to
quantify)
• Significant clusters in China, Southeast Asia
The Four Noble Truths
Three branches
• Mahayana (China, Japan, Korea)
• Theravada (Southeast Asia)
• Tantrayana (Tibet, Mongolia)
Holy places in Buddhism. Note how most are located in
northeastern India and southern Nepal because they
were sites of important events in Buddha’s life.
Ethnic religions
• Hinduism
The third-largest religion in the world
(900 million adherents)
97 percent of Hindus are found in India
Many paths to spirituality.
Caste System (based on reincarnation
principle)
Many followers tend to worship Vishnu
or Shiva or Krishna.
• Animist Religions
– Native American
• System based upon belief of in a supreme or Great Spirit that
oversees the universe. It is interpreted by shamans.
• Diffusion by migration diffusion north to south through the
Americas.
– Voodoun (Voodoo)
• West African, Afro-Brazilian, Afro Caribbean descendents
• Multiple deities that control different parts of the lived world.
• Diffusion by relocation diffusion as West Africans were forced
to migrate under European directed slavery.
Ethnic religions
• Other ethnic religions
Confucianism (China)
Daoism (China)
Shinto (Japan)
Judaism (today: the United States,
Israel)
• Considered first monotheistic religion
Ethnic African religions
• Animism
Figure 6-4
Figure 6-5
Buddhism Hinduism
Hindus bathe in the Ganges River
Locals meet with Monks and
present them with food.
Religions of the United States
How would having approx. 30 million citizens
who are atheist or nonreligious affect the
nation? How could you explain why such a
strong number exists in the United States?
Origin of religions
• Universalizing: precise origins, tied to
a specific founder
Christianity
• Founder: Jesus
Islam
• Prophet of Islam: Muhammad
Buddhism
• Founder: Siddhartha Gautama
Origin of religions
• Ethnic: unclear or unknown origins, not tied
to a specific founder
Hinduism
• No clear founder
• Earliest use of Hinduism = sixth century B.C.
• Archaeological evidence dating from 2500 B.C.
Diffusion of religions
• Universalizing religions
Christianity
• Diffuses via relocation and expansion diffusion
Islam
• Diffuses to North Africa, South and Southeast Asia
Buddhism
• Slow diffusion from the core
Diffusion of Universalizing Religions
Church of the Holy
Selpuchre, Jerusalem
Diffusion of Universalizing Religions
Hindu Temple Complex in
Cambodia.
• Limited diffusion of ethnic religions
– Universal religions usually compete with ethnic religions
– Examples of mingling: • Christianity with African ethnic religions
• Buddhism with Confucianism in China and with Shinto in Japan
– Ethnic religions can diffuse with migration
– Judaism = exception
• Holy places
– In universalizing religions
• Buddhist shrines
• Holy places in Islam = associated with the life
of Muhammad
– In ethnic religions
• Holy places in Hinduism = closely tied to the
physical geography of India
Read the key at the bottom.
Take a sampling of the sites
and note the main deity or
form of worship.
• The calendar
– In ethnic religions = celebration of the
seasons
• The Jewish calendar
• The solstice
– In universalizing religions = celebration of
the founder’s life
• Places of worship
– Many types:
Christian churches,
Muslim mosques,
Hindu temples,
Buddhist and Shinto
pagodas, Bahá’í
houses of worship
Figure 6-19
• Sacred space
– Disposing of the dead • Burial
• Other ways of disposing of the dead
– Religious settlements
– Religious place names
Religious Toponyms
Figure 6-21
• Compare religious toponyms
within Quebec’s boundaries
with that of Ontario’s, New
York’s, and Vermont’s.
• Quebec has a predominantly
Roman Catholic population
and a large number of
settlements are named after
saints.
• Administration of space
– Hierarchical religions
• Latter-day Saints
• Roman Catholics
– Locally autonomous religions
• Islam
• Protestant denominations
Roman Catholic Hierarchy in the
United States
Figure 6-22
• Hierarchy in religion.
• The Pope (Bishop of Diocese in Rome)
• Roman Catholic Church divides the U.S. into provinces.
•Provinces headed by Archbishop
•Provinces divided into dioceses
• Diocese that were headed by archbishops are archdioceses