Download Universalizing religions

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Why do you think geographers are interested
in studying religion?
To understand the distribution of major religions.
Explain variations in diffusion of religions.
 Discuss distinctive religious imprints on physical
landscape/environment
 Identify conflicts between followers of different
religions.
 Understand that religion lies at the heart of many
global controversies
 Religion is an important part of many people’s
identity and connection to a certain place.
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Branch
 A large and fundamental division within a religion
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Denomination
 A division of a branch that unites a number of local
congregations.
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Sect
 A relatively small group that has broken away from an
established domination.
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Polytheism – belief in many gods
 Hinduism, animist religions
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Monotheism – belief in one god
 Christianity
 Islam
 Judaism
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Universalizing religions – seek followers all
over the world. They hope to appeal to all
people.
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60% of the world’s population
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Precise origins, tied to a specific founder
 Christianity - Founder: Jesus
 Islam - Prophet of Islam: Muhammad
 Buddhism - Founder: Siddhartha Gautama
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Holidays based on events in founder’s life.
Ethnic religions – focus on one ethnic group
and generally have not spread into other
cultures. They do not seek to convert people
to their beliefs.
 Ethnic group – human populations that share
a common culture or ancestry
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Adherents are born into the faith
25% of world’s population
Unclear or unknown origins, not tied to a
specific founder
Tend to be spatially concentrated
Holidays based on local climate and
agricultural calendar.
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Animist/tribal religions - People
believe in the presence of the spirits
and the forces of nature
 Common in many traditional societies
 likely were practiced long before more
modern types of religions became
common
BC – “before Christ”
AD – Latin “anno domini”, “in the year of our Lord”
BCE – before common era
CE – common era
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2000 BC: Hinduism
1500 BC: Judaism
600 BC: Buddhism, Confucianism
0 AD: Christianity
600 AD: Islam
http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html
animated
Each of the three main universalizing religions diffused widely from its
hearth.
Christianity diffused from Palestine through the Roman Empire and
continued diffusing through Europe after the fall of Rome. It was later
replaced by Islam in much of the Mideast and North Africa.
Islam diffused rapidly and widely from its area of origin in Arabia.
It eventually stretched from southeast Asia to West Africa.
Buddhism diffused gradually from its origin in northeastern India to
Sri Lanka, southeast Asia, and eventually China and Japan.
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While religion remains important around the
world, in some places it has declined.
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A growing number of people in these places
are secular, or non-religious.
 Example: Europe
Distribution of Christians in the U.S. Shaded areas are counties with more
than 50% of church membership concentrated in Roman Catholicism or
one of the Protestant denominations.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/gov
beat/wp/2013/12/12/religion-in-americasstates-and-counties-in-6-maps/
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Read through the information.
Create a Venn diagram comparing and
contrasting Hinduism and Buddhism.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCNTNq
kx1_U
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Yazidis – sacred
spacehttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/ne
ws/2014/09/140902-yazidis-iraq-kurdistanlalish-sheikh-adi-islamic-state/?sf4489245=1
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6dCxo
7t_aE
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Do one religion at a time
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Can scroll on each state for statistics:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/graphi
cs/pew-religion-08/flash.htm