Classifying Religion

• Religion
  • A cultural system of beliefs, traditions, and practices often centered around the worship of a deity or deities
• Each faith is unique, which creates diversity
• Universalizing Religion
  • AKA Proselytic
  • A religion that attempts to make itself more universal
  • Missionaries seeking converts
    • Ex. Islam, Christianity
• Ethnic Religions
  • Spread almost exclusively from an older generation to younger generations
  • Judaism
    • Very few converts
  • Traditional religion
    • Practiced by small groups of people who live in isolated or developing areas of the world
    • Tribal groups in parts of Africa or the Amazon
    • Native Americans in United States
• Monotheistic
  • Has one God
• Polytheistic
  • Has many gods
• Animism
  • Belief that souls and gods inhabit all or most objects
  • Natural objects such as trees, stones, and bodies of water
• Syncretic Religion
  • Involves aspects of many different religions
  • Many parts of Africa and Asia where colonization occurred
  • Shinto, the major religion of the Japanese

Major World Religions

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Hinduism

• 4,000 -5,000 years old, oldest of major world religions
• Connected to Indus River
• Ethnic religion
• Hinduism is a combination of Indus and Aryan mythology when Aryans invaded and assimilated to Indus River region
• Most live in India
• US has about 1 million Hindus
• Dharma
  • Duty
  • Each person has a place in society
• Caste system
  • India’s complex division of society into thousands of different economic classes
• Untouchables
  • People below the caste system
  • Jobs that are spiritually or physically unclean
  • Hindus are vegetarians
• Reincarnation
  • Samsara
  • Souls are immortal and have existed since beginning of time, passed from being to being in cycle of rebirth and redeath
  • Karma
    • Every action a person makes has some consequence in the future
  • Cycle of birth and death can be broken
    • Release known as moksha
• Hindu Worship
  • Polytheistic
  • There are millions of gods and goddesses
  • The trinity
    • Brahma - creator
    • Vishnu - preserver
    • Shiva - destroyer
  • Vedas
    • The holy Hindu books

Buddhism

• 400 million people worldwide
• Originated 2,500 years ago
  • Siddartha, a boy born in Himalayas (area that is now Nepal) to a wealthy privileged family
  • Searched for spiritual peace of mind after witnessing real human suffering
  • Awoke from meditation as Buddha (“One who is awake”)
  • Taught for 45 years in Ganges Valley
  • Died at 80 in 486 BC
• Believe in reincarnation and karma
• Four noble truths
  • Life is suffering
  • Suffering is caused by human desire or craving
  • Suffering can be ended
  • Desire is eliminated through the Eightfold Path
    • Right understanding, Right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration
    • Following this will lead to nirvana
• Pali Canon
  • Tripitaka
  • Buddha’s written teachings
• Theravada Buddhism
  • 100 million people
  • Spread by Indian ruler Ashoka in 3rd century BC after witnessing carnage of military
  • Moved to Sri Lanka - Burma - Thailand - Laos - Cambodia
  • More conservative; contains less interpretation and more teachings of Buddha
• Mahayana Buddhism
  • 200-300 million people
  • Buddhism moved north to Northern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia, far western China
    • Great Silk Road - a trade route that connected these areas
  • AD 500-1000 Buddhism thrived in China
  • Has more spiritual and mystical sects
  • Eventually spread to Korea, Japan, and southeast Asia
• Vajrayana Buddhism
  • 10 million
  • Buddhism did not enter Tibet until 8th century because of mountainous landscape
    • Later spread to Mongolia
  • Shares many elements with Mahayana Buddhism
  • Contains esoteric elements such as magic and mystical diagrams
• North America has about 1 million Buddhists
• Buddhist houses of worship known as temples

Judaism

• Smaller faith
• 14-15 million people
• 2,500 years old
• Ethnic religion
• Origin
  • Ancestors of Jews are Hebrews, who lived in middle east
  • 1900 BC, Abraham and family moved to Israel by God who told him the land would be his
• Exodus
  • Between 1500 - 1250 BC, Hebrews settled in ancient Egypt
  • Moses lead them out of Egypt and given 10 commandments by God
  • Settled in Canaan (between Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River)
• AD 70, expelled by Romans
  • Known as the Diaspora
• Jewish worship
  • Monotheistic
  • God is all powerful
  • Torah
    • First five books of Hebrew Bible (Old testament)
  • Holy days and festivals
    • Based on lunar calendar
    • Jewish Sabbath, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, Purim, and Chanukah
  • Kosher
    • Certain way food is prepared
    • Only animals with cloven hooves and dual digestive system can be eaten
    • Seafood must have scales and fins
  • Synagogue
    • Jewish place of worship
    • Contains an ark, a cupboard, and a copy of the Torah

Christianity

• Largest religion, 2 billion people
• Same history as Judaism
• Jesus
  • Messiah foretold in by Judaism, from descendants of David to end oppression and establish Kingdom of God
  • Born 4 BC
  • Christ is Greek for “anointed one”
  • Taught followers to love God and one another
  • Saved humanity from sin
• Many beliefs stem from Judaism
  • Monotheism
  • Obedience to God
  • Afterlife
  • God is all powerful and loves everyone unconditionally
  • Trinity
    • God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit
• Christian worship
  • Prayer
    • Way to communicate with God
  • Worship on Sundays or Christian Sabbath
    • Some sects have structured and ritualized services, others are quiet and simple (Quakers)
  • Holidays
    • Most important is Easter
    • Christmas, celebrates Jesus’ birth

The Spread and Distribution of Christianity

• Main area of converting was Mediterranean for the disciples
  • Safe compared to other areas of the world
• By end of 2nd century AD, Christianity spread as far as Spain, Britain, and India
• Coptic Christians
  • Of Egypt and Ethiopia
• 313 Edict of Milan
  • Called for religious tolerance of all faiths in Roman empire
  • After persecution of Christians by Constantine had ended
• Great Schism of 1054
  • Christianity split in 2
  • Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
• Protestant Reformation
  • 1517 Martin Luther wrote 95 thesis in Germany to oppose corruption in the Church
    • Church was selling indulgences
  • Broke away from Rome and the Catholic Church
• John Calvin
  • Calvinism
  • Origin of protestant denominations such as Presbyterians, Baptists, and Congregationalists

Islam

• Second largest religion on the planet
• Origin
  • 570 AD birth of Muhammed in Mecca (now Saudi Arabia)
  • Last and greatest prophet of God/ Allah
  • Raised by uncle Abu Talib
  • Married woman named Khadija in his twenties
    • 3 sons and 4 daughters
    • All sons died young
    • Daughter married man named Ali
  • Meditated in Cave of Hira
    • When he was 40, angel Gabriel visited him and told him to preach
    • Became a public minister
• Preached to poor and troubled, which upset authority
• Hijra
  • The move of Muhammed and his followers to Yathrib, or Medina
  • Start of the calendar
  • Built a mosque and community grew
• Mecca leaders wanted him destroyed
  • Muslims and Mecca forces battled several times between 2 and 8 AH
  • Muslims captured mecca and Muhammed died in Medina 10 AH, two years later
• Qur’an
  • Primary source of Islamic belief
  • Monotheistic themes of Judaism and Christianity
  • Direct word of god, must be read in Arabic
  • 114 sections called suras
• Islam means “to submit”, Muslim means “that which submits”
• After death of Muhammed
  • Sunnis wanted chosen leader
  • Shi’ites wanted a member of Muhammed’s family
    • Ali was the first choice, but was murdered in 661 along with his son in 680
• Spread through military conquest in 7th and 8th centuries
  • 8th century - Morocco, Spain, Persia, Central Asia
  • 12th century - Sahara Desert to East coast of Africa, Indus River to India, trade routes to SE Asia
  • 16th and 17th century - SW European areas of Balkans (Greece, Serbia, Coatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, parts of Hungary)
• Mosque
  • Muslim house of worship
• Sharia
  • Muslim law

Other Large Religious Groups

• Chinese Folk Religion
  • Combination of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism
  • Confucius
    • Lived 551-479 BC china
    • Importance of loyalty to parents and family
  • Taoism
    • Focuses on individual morality, self-restraint, and humility
  • Found wherever Chinese are found
  • 2nd largest areas are SE Asia and North America
• African Traditional Religion
  • Catch all term that refers to many individual religions in Africa that have some commonalities
  • Forms of animism
  • Improper faith can result in bad harvest or infertility
  • Ancestor veneration
  • Mostly located in Africa, but also found in North and South America
    • Voodoo or Santeria
    • Combine African with Catholic teachings
• Sikhism
  • Founded and centered in India
  • Monotheistic, against Hinduism
  • Rejected the caste system, accepted karma and reincarnation
  • Islamic tradition
  • Small amount of Sikhs compared to Hindus
  • Found in US and Canada
• Baha’I
  • Predominately found in Iran and Iraq
  • Probably is competing with Islam
  • Has some similar characteristics to Islam
    • Universalizing
    • Monotheistic
  • Islam is a male/wealthy-dominated society
    • Baha’I believes everyone is equal

• Jainism
  • Practiced in India
  • Developed as a reaction to Hinduism
  • 6th century BC
  • 4 million people worldwide
    • The only way to achieve total purity is by eliminating all bad karma
    • Most Jains are located in India
  • Extreme asceticism and roving monastic lifestyle
  • Monks and nuns do not own anything and wander on foot
    • Beg for food and necessities
• Shinto
  • Ancient, animistic religion of Japan
  • Kami
    • Gods
    • Present in all natural objects
    • Prayed to and honored to ensure good fortune
  • Worship
    • Shrines marked by presence of torii, a distinctively shaped gate
  • 4 million followers
    • Almost all people go to shrines daily for good fortune

Religious Landscapes

• Structures
  • Statues
  • Symbols
  • Buildings such as churches
• City organization
  • European cities
    • Organized in a central square with a church in the middle
  • Muslim parts of the world
    • Mosques are large centerpieces
• Home shrines
  • Hindus have small shrines inside or outside their homes
• Sacred and secular spaces
  • Profane space
    • Doesn’t mean morally corrupt but non-religious
    • Secular
  • Sacred spaces
    • Many places where we bury our dead
    • Connection between religious beliefs and the afterlife
    • Lordes, Mt. Sinai, Temples, Western Wall

Landscapes of Religion

Citation

Notes taken from: Malinowski, Jon C., and David H. Kaplan. Human Geography. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.