Religion

Josh

Define religion in three words

• Worship

• Gods

• Meaning

• Praying

• Believing

• Books/testaments/torah

What is religion

• Religion: formally defined as a system of beliefs and practices that attempts to order life in terms of culturally perceived ultimate priorities.

Who believes in religion

• Anyone or everyone can believe in religion

• Some people don’t have a religion

• Others have beliefs but do not consider it a religion

What is secularism

• The idea that ethical and moral standards should be formulated and adhered to for life on Earth not to accommodate the prescriptions of a deity and promises of a comfortable afterlife.

• Really means to basically ignore religious context

• Secular state opposite of theocracy

Impact of secularism

• Religion is less significant

• Still practiced, just not how it used to be

• Religion still influences art, history, customs, and beliefs

What does religion do to society?

• Major impact on social skills, helping others, and educating ones who can’t educated themselves.

• Also blocked out aspects that are deemed not important

• Very controversial

Hearths of Religions

Primary Culture Hearths of the World:

Fertile Crescent (8000 BCE)India (7000 BCE)Huang Ho (5000 BCE)West Africa (2000 BCE)Mesoamerica & S. America (8000-3000 BCE)

Categories of divinity

• Monotheistic- Believing in only god

• Polytheistic- Believing in 2+ gods

• Animistic- Believing inanimate objects possess spirits and should be prayed too

s

Universalizing Religion

• Want to spread the religion throughout the world

• Believe they offer a belief system that should appeal to everyone

Ethnic religions

• Adherents are born into the faith

• Do not look to convert

• Spatially concentrated

• Many found in Africa and South America

• Judaism is exception, because they were forced to scatter

How is religion seen in cultural landscapes

• Sacred Sites– Places people infuse with religious meaning– Religions often define places as sacred out of

reverence or fear– If made out of reverence pilgrimages often

made

Sacred Landscapes

• The visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape.

Religion in political conflicts

• Interfaith boundaries- Boundaries between the world’s major faiths

• Intrafaith boundaries-

Boundaries within a

single major faith

Conflict

• Israel and Palestine– Conflict over land territory– Each thinks Jerusalem belongs to them– Bombing was going on in the Gaza strip– Wall built dividing the two

Former Yugoslavia

• Dividing line for two Christian sects runs right through Balkan Peninsula

• Also divides language (Roman/Cyrillic alphabets)• Under control of Josip Broz Tito• Serbia tried forcing republics to stay in

Yugoslavia• Serbs and Croats tried to ethnic cleanse each other• Two territories needed to be created

More definitions!!!

• Religious Fundamentalism- Religious movement whose objectives are to return to the foundations of the faith and to influence state policy.

• Religious extremism- Religious fundamentalism carried to violence.

THE END

BY

JOSH

SEGAL