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Chapter 6: Religion
The Cultural Landscape:
An Introduction to Human Geography
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
The Great Mosque, Mali
The Geography of
Religion
• Origins and Distributions of the Major
The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem
Religions
• Key Terms
• Religious Ecology
Hindu Statue (Ganesh)
• Secularism, Fundamentalism, and Conflict
Buddhist Monks
Religion
• A set of beliefs
– existence of a higher power, spirits or
god
– an explanation of the origins and
purpose of humans and their role on
earth
– Which involves rituals, festivals, rites of
passage and space (religious
landscapes)
The Geography of Religion
Ethnic Religions
Universalizing Religions(proselytic)
Polytheism
Monotheism
The Roots of Religion
Animism (Shamanism) - the belief that
all objects, animals, and beings are
“animated” or possess a spirit and a
conscious life. Also called shamanism
because of the prominence of a Shaman.
• Such beliefs are common among hunter-
gatherers.
• 10% of Africans follow such traditional
ethnic religions.
• These beliefs are losing ground to
Christianity and Islam throughout Africa.
Nigerian Shaman
Native American Animism
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We
are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to
the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound
together. All things connect.
~ Chief Seattle
Bear Dance
Key Terms
• Monotheism: existence of only one god.
• Polytheism: existence of many gods.
• Cosmogony: A set of religious beliefs
concerning the origin of the universe.
Religious Divisions
• Branch: A large and fundamental
division within a religion.
• Denomination: A division within a
branch of a religion.
• Sect: A relatively small denominational
group that has broken away from an
established church.
Where Are Religions Distributed?
• Universalizing religions
– Seek to appeal to all people
• Ethnic religions
– Appeal to a smaller group of people living
in one place
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World Distribution of Religions
Figure 6-3
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Where Are Religions Distributed?
• 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
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How do Universalizing and
Ethnic Religions Differ?
Universalizing
Ethnic
•Appeal to people everywhere •Has meaning in particular place
only.
•Individual founder (prophet)
•Unknown source.
•Message diffused widely
•Content focused on place and
(missionaries)
landscape of origin.
•Followers distributed widely.
•Followers highly clustered.
•Holidays based on events in
•Holidays based on local climate
founder’s life.
and agricultural practice.
Major World Religions
• Universalizing Religions
– Christianity
– Islam
– Buddhism
• Traced to actions and teaching of a man
• Diffused from specific hearths by
followers / missionaries
• 2 billion adherents
make it most practiced
in the world.
•Originated in
Bethlehem (8-4 BC) and
Jerusalem (AD 30) with
Jesus Christ.
• Spread by missionaries
and the Roman Empire
(Constantine A.D. 313).
• It is the most
practiced religion in
Africa today.
Christianity
Diffusion of Christianity
Distribution of Christians in the
United States
Figure 6-2
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• 1 billion +
adherents
• Originated in Saudi
Arabia (Mecca and
Medina) around AD
600.
• Spread originally by
Muslim armies to N.
Africa, and the Near
East.
• Sunni (83%) throughout the
Muslim world.
• Shiite - Iran (40%),
Pakistan (15%), Iraq
(10%)
Islam
Where Are Religions Distributed?
• 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)
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Islam
Prophet: Muhammad
Holy Text: Koran
Five Pillars of Islam
Reading the Koran,
Brunei
•There is one God and Muhammad is
his messenger.
•Prayer five times daily, facing Mecca.
•The giving of alms(charity) to the
poor.
•Fasting during Ramadan for
purification and submission.
•If body and income allow, a Muslim
must make a pilgrimage (hajj) to
Mecca in his lifetime.
Islamic Calender
•Begins in AD 622 when
Muhammad was
commanded to Mecca
from Medina (Hijra).
•Lunar calendar makes
Ramadan move through
the seasons (30 year
cycle - 19 years with 354
days and 11 with 355).
Prophet: Muhammad
Holy Text: Koran
Islam
Diffusion of Islam
Islam is considered the fastest growing religion in America. Only a small
part of this growth is from black Muslims and the Nation of Islam.
Where Are Religions Distributed?
• 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)
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• 300 million + adherents
Buddhism
primarily in China and S.E.
Asia
• Originated near modern
Nepal around 530 BC by
prince Siddhartha
Guatama.
• Spread originally in India
and Sri Lanka by
Magadhan Empire (250
BC).
• Indian traders brought it
to China in 1st century AD.
• By 6th century it had lost
its hold on India, but was
now in Korea and Japan.
Four Noble Truths:
1. All living beings must endure
suffering.
2. Suffering, which is caused by
desires (for life), leads to
reincarnation.
3. The goal of existence is an escape
from suffering and the endless cycle of
reincarnation by means of Nirvana.
4. Nirvana is achieved by the Eightfold
Path, which includes rightness of
understanding, mindfulness, speech,
action, livelihood, effort, thought, and
concentration.
Karma - your past bad or good
actions determine your progress
toward Nirvana through
reincarnation. You are your own
God.
Buddhism
Theravada - the older, more
severe form which requires
the renouncing of all worldly
goods and desires.
Mahayana - focuses on
Buddha’s teachings and
compassion.
• 300 million + adherents
primarily in China and S.E.
Asia
• Originated near modern
Nepal around 530 BC by
prince Siddhartha
Guatama.
• Spread originally in India
and Sri Lanka by
Magadhan Empire (250
BC).
• Indian traders brought it
to China in 1st century AD.
• By 6th century it had lost
its hold on India, but was
now in Korea and Japan.
Buddhism
Major World Religions
• Ethnic Religions
– Hinduism
– Judaism
– all Animistic Religions
• No specific founder
• limited diffusion / no missionaries
Where Are Religions Distributed?
• 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
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Hinduism
• 900 million + adherents
primarily in India
• Hinduism is an ancient
term for the complex and
diverse set of religious
beliefs practiced around
the Indus River.
• Reincarnation - endless
cycles. Karma and Yoga.
• Coastlines and river
banks most sacred sites.
• Vishnu and Shiva most
common of hundreds of
deities.
Hinduism
Lord shiva
Dancing Shiva/Nataraj
Ganesh
Where Are Religions Distributed?
• Ethnic religions
– Other ethnic religions
•
•
•
•
Confucianism (China)
Daoism (China)
Shinto (Japan)
Judaism (today: the United States, Israel)
– The first monotheistic religion
• Ethnic African religions
– Animism
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Ethnic Religions
Buddhism
Hinduism
Figure 6-5
Figure 6-4
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Religions of the United States
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Why Do Religions Have Different
Distributions?
• Origin of religions
– Universalizing: precise origins, tied to a
specific founder
• Christianity
– Founder: Jesus
• Islam
– Prophet of Islam: Muhammad
• Buddhism
– Founder: Siddhartha Gautama
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Why Do Religions Have Different
Distributions?
• 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.
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Why Do Religions Have Different
Distributions?
• 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
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Diffusion of Universalizing Religions
Figure 6-6
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Why Do Religions Have Different
Distributions?
• 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
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Diffusion of Universalizing Religions
Figure 6-17
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Why Do Religions Have Different
Distributions?
• The calendar
– In ethnic religions = celebration of the
seasons
• The Jewish calendar
• The solstice
– In universalizing religions = celebration of
the founder’s life
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Why Do Religions Organize Space in
Distinctive Ways?
• Places of worship
– Many types:
Christian churches,
Muslim mosques,
Hindu temples,
Buddhist and Shinto
pagodas, Bahá’í
houses of worship
Figure 6-19
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Why Do Religions Organize Space in
Distinctive Ways?
• Sacred space
– Disposing of the dead
• Burial
• Other ways of disposing of the dead
– Religious settlements
– Religious place names
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Religious Toponyms
Figure 6-21
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Why Do Religions Organize Space in
Distinctive Ways?
• Administration of space
– Hierarchical religions
• Latter-day Saints
• Roman Catholics
– Locally autonomous religions
• Islam
• Protestant denominations
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Roman Catholic Hierarchy in the
United States
Figure 6-22
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Why Do Territorial Conflicts Arise?
• Religions versus government policies
– Religion versus social change
• Taliban and Western values
• Hinduism and social inequality
– Caste system
– Religion versus communism
• Eastern Orthodoxy and Islam in the Soviet
Union
• Buddhism in Southeast Asia
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Why Do Territorial Conflicts Arise?
• Religion versus religion
– Fundamentalism
– Religious wars in Ireland
– Religious wars in the Middle East
• Crusades (Christians in Muslim lands)
• Jews and Muslims in Palestine
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Distribution of Protestants in Ireland
Figure 6-23
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Two Perspectives on Palestine/Israel
Figure 6-26
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Israel’s “Separation Fence”
Figure 6-27
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The End.
Up next: Ethnicity
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