RELIGIONChapter 7

Bellringer Question (answer in your notebook):

•What religion do you/your family practice? •How important is religion to your identity?

New Policy to Take Note of

• Homework will not be accepted late

• Religion: “A system of beliefs and practices that attempts to order life in terms of culturally perceived ultimate priorities”

-- Stoddard and Prorak

• How people “should” behave

What Is Religion?

Types of Religion• Monotheistic religions: Worship a single

deity• Polytheistic religions: Worship more

than one deity, even thousands• Animistic religions: Belief that inanimate

objects posses spirits and should be revered

Types of Religions

• Universalizing religions• Ethnic religions

Religions of the World

Hearths of Religion and Philosophy

Diffusion of Religions

From the Hearth of South Asia

• Hinduism • Buddhism

Buddhist stupas in Indonesia

In Japan, Buddhism has mixedwith Shinto, which originated in Japan. A Shinto shrine inKyoto

Diffusion of Religions

From the Hearth of Huang He (Yellow) River Valley

• Taoism • Confucianism

From the Hearth of the Eastern Mediterranean

• Judaism– Zionism

• Christianity • 1054: Split into Eastern Orthodox &

Roman Catholic• 1400s–1500s: Protestants

• Islam – Divisions: Shortly after Muhammad’s death

• Sunni Muslims (great majority)• Shi’ite Muslims (concentrated in Iran)

Divisions in Christianity

First division (1054)Western Roman Empire: Roman CatholicEastern Roman Empire: Orthodox

Divisions in Christianity

Catholic and Protestant concentrations in Switzerland

The Diffusion of Islam

Indigenous Religions• Local in scope• Passed down in families• Under pressure from global religions

Secularism• Indifference to or

rejection of organized religious affiliations and ideas

• The case of the Soviet Union– Had an official policy

of atheism

Sacred Sites of JerusalemSacred to three major religions• Judaism• Christianity • Islam

Sacred Landscapes of Buddhism

Swedogon Pagodo in

Yangon, Myanmar

Sacred Landscapes of Christianity

Catholic churches are often located in the center of

European cities, with spires reaching far above other

buildings.

Sacred Landscapes of Christianity

Protestant Churches

Religious Distribution in the United States

Sacred Landscapes of Islam

Muslim Mosques

Interfaith Boundary in Africa

Israel and Palestine

• British mandate of Palestine

• Partition of Palestine by United Nations– Israeli state– Palestinian state

• 1967: Israeli control over West Bank, Gaza

• 2005: Withdrawal from Gaza

• Control over movement

• Multitude of interfaith boundaries

The Horn of Africa

• Amharic (Coptic) Christianity in central Ethiopia

•Islam in the Horn of Africa by diffusion

The Former Yugoslavia•Genocide •Ethnic Cleansing

The Former Yugoslavia

Northern Ireland

Religious Fundamentalism and Extremism

– A return to the basics of a faith• Protestantism

– Literal interpretation of the Bible– Opposition to abortion & gay marriage

• Islam– Shari’a Law– Taliban– Jihad

Gay Marriage