Download Chapter 7 Geography of Religion Slideshow

The Human Mosaic
12th Edition
BY
MONA DOMOSH
RODERICK NEUMANN
PATRICIA L. PRICE
TERRY G. JORDAN-BYCHKOV
C. 2012 W.H. FREEMAN & CO.
Chapter 7
THE GEOGRAPHY
OF RELIGION
SPACES AND PLACES OF SACREDNESS
Religion
 A social system involving a set of beliefs and
practices through which people seek harmony with
the universe and attempt to influence the forces of
nature, life, and death.
Classifying Religions
 Proselytic religion (Universalizing religion)
A
religion that actively seeks new members and
aims to convert all humankind.
• Islam
• Christianity
• Can grow out of ethnic religions
• Christianity from Judaism
Classifying Religions
 Ethnic religion
 A religion identified with a particular ethnic or
tribal group
 Does not seek converts.
• Judaism, Shinto
 Strong territorial and cultural group ID
 Member by birth or adoption of complex life-style
 Cannot be part of the culture unless part of the
religion
Tribal (Traditional) Religions
 Small groups
 Local culture groups
 Not modern cultures
 Close ties to nature
Tribal Religions
 Animism
 Belief
that life exists in all objects
 Shamanism
 Community acceptance of a religious leader,
healer, and worker of magic
 Shaman
Secularism
 Indifference to or rejection of religion and
religious belief
 Increasing in modern societies
 Very prominent in former and current communist
societies
Usual patterns
 Universalizing
 Expansionary
 Ethnic
 Regionally
confined unless people are dispersed
(i.e. Jews)
 Tribal
 Contract as members become modern or are
converted
Classifying Religions
 Monotheism
 Belief
in a single deity (one god)
 Polytheism
 Belief
in many gods
Classifying Religions
 Syncretic religions
 Religions,
or strands within religions, that
combine elements of two or more belief systems.
 Orthodox religions
 Strands
within a major religion that emphasize
purity of faith.
Classifying Religions
 Fundamentalism
A
movement to return to the founding principles
of a religion
 Usually show intolerance to other religions or
even those within their own religion that do not
follow the “proper ways”
Region
JUDAISM
CHRISTIANITY
ISLAM
HINDUISM
BUDDHISM
TAOIC RELIGIONS
ANIMISM/SHAMANISM
World Distribution of Major Religions (Fig. 7.3)
Religious Groups in Lebanon (Fig. 7.4)
Judaism
Founded 4,000 years ago
Holy Book = Torah
Parent religion of Christianity
Subgroups (result of Diaspora):
• Ashkenazim: central/eastern Europe
• Mizrachim: Middle East/northern Africa
• Sephardim: Iberia (Spain/Portugal)
Christianity
Monotheistic and proselytic
Shares hearth in southwest Asia with Islam and
Judaism
Holy Book = Bible (including Torah)
Christian faiths:
• Roman Catholics
• Protestants
• Eastern Christians (includes Armenian and Coptic
Churches)
Leading Christian Denominations
in the United States (Fig. 7.7)
Islam






Proselytic and monotheistic
Over 1 billion adherents
Fastest growing world religion
Founded by Mohammad
Holy book = Qur’an or Koran
Sharia = Islamic law
FIVE PILLARS
 Islamic division:
• Sunnis (84%)
• Shiites (16%)
•Belief in Allah
•Zakat (almsgiving)
•Prayer 5 times daily
•Fast during Ramadan
•Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)
Muslims at Prayer in Mecca (Fig. 7.8)
Hinduism
 Polytheistic (supreme God = Brahman)
 Belief in reincarnation
 Dharma = harmonious and eternal truth
 Ahimsa = principle of nonviolence
 Varna (castes) based on occupation:
• Brahmins (priests)
• Kshatriyas (warriors)
• Vaishyas (merchants and artisans)
• Shudras (workers)
• “Untouchables”/outcasts have no caste
Outgrowths of Hinduism:
•Jainism
•Sikhism
Ganesha, Hindu God of Wisdom (Fig. 7.9)
Hindu Temple, Bali, Indonesia (Fig. 7.10)
Buddhism
• Parent religion is Hinduism
• Based on teachings of Siddharta Gautama
• Nirvana= state of enlightenment
• Most widespread in South and East Asia
• Tendency to merge with other religions
Four Noble Truths
•Life is full of suffering
•Desire is the cause of suffering
•Cessation of suffering comes
with the quelling of desire
•Eightfold path of personal
conduct and meditation helps
individual overcome desire
Buddhism in South Korea (Fig. 7.11)
Taoism and Animism
Taoic religions
• Confucianism (China)
• Shinto (animistic)
• Taoism: Three Jewels are humility,
compassion, moderation
•Animism/shamanism
•The idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans
but also in animals, plants, rocks, natural phenomena
(thunder, lightning), and geographic features (rivers,
mountains)
Mobility
CULTURE HEARTH
A FOCUSED GEOGRAPHIC AREA WHERE
IMPORTANT INNOVATIONS ARE BORN AND
FROM WHICH THEY SPREAD.
Religious hearths
 Major religions concentrated in three hearth areas:
 Semitic hearth
 Indus-Ganges hearth
 East Asian hearth
Origin and Diffusion of Five Major World Religions (Fig. 7.14)
Semitic Religious Hearth
 The 3 great monotheistic
religions

Judaism, Christianity, Islam
 Southwest Asia
 Only proselytic religions
spread by conversion
Semitic Religious Hearth
 Christianity
 Hierarchical Diffusion
 Convert the king -> convert the people
 Militaristic
 Contagious diffusion -> Contact conversion
 Islam
 Predominantly militaristic
 “do battle against them until there be no more seduction
from the truth and the only worship be that of Allah”
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/06/world/africa/mali-un-warning/index.html?iref=allsearch
Diffusion of
Christianity in
Europe, 1st11th Centuries
(Fig. 7.15)
Indus-Ganges Religious Hearth
 Hinduism and Buddhism
 Plains in northern India
 Hinduism was first and initially
spread overseas by missionaries
and trade
 Buddhism continues to diffuse
today

Relocation diffusion by Asian
immigrants
East Asian Religious Hearth
 Confucianism and Taoism
 Did not spread until hierarchical diffusion took hold
 Diffusion was hindered by the Chinese government
after 1949
 Diffusion in Asia through trade and military
conquest
Pilgrimages
 Journeys to places of religious
importance
 Travels create a connection with the
sacred spaces of their faith
 May be regarded as places of spatial
convergence
Pilgrimages
 Some religions mandate pilgrimages
 i.e.
Islam -> hajj
 Other religious meanings promote pilgrimages
 Forgiveness
 Connection with religion
 Attainment of a desired objective
Religious Pilgrimage
 Journeys to sacred spaces have strong impacts on local
economies.
Lourdes, France
Bangkok, Thailand
Great Mosque, Senegal
Religious Segregation (Fig. 7.18)
Globalization
RISE OF EVANGELICAL PROTESTANTISM IN
LATIN AMERICA
RELIGION ON THE INTERNET
RELIGION’S RELEVANCE IN A GLOBAL
WORLD
Globalization
 Religion must adapt to changes in order to thrive in
some locations
 Catholic Church and Latin America
 Disenfranchisement with the church

Protestant churches are growing rapidly
 Will the church change?
Religion on the Internet
 Religion now available anytime at home
 What does that mean in terms of place?
 Does it take away the meaning of religion?
 Does it create virtual communities that disregard location?
 Does it damage the community created by religious meeting
places? (churches)
Is Religion Relevant?
 913 million non-religious, secular people
today
 Secularization is on the rise especially in
industrialized nations
 Religions are failing to:
 Meet the needs of rural folk culture
 Adapt to contemporary urban scenes
Importance of Religion in the United States (Fig. 7.22)
Secularism in Europe (Fig. 7.23)
Nature-Culture
APPEASING THE FORCES OF NATURE:
RELIGION AS ADAPTIVE STRATEGY
SACRED SPACES IN WORLD
RELIGIONS:
•R I V E R S
•M O U N T A I N S
•T R E E S
•F O R E S T S
•R O C K S
Appeasing the Forces of Nature
 Religion and the adaptive strategy
 Physical
environment factors influence
religious development
 Animistic religions
 Ceremonies meant to manipulate
 Ganges River
 Jordan River
 Influence of physical environment is less
pronounced in the major Western religions
 Except for…
 Plagues sent by God
 Droughts, hurricanes, earthquakes sent
by God
Environmental Influence in Animism (Fig. 7.25)
Plant and Animal Impact
 Plants and animals play key roles in many
religions
 Plants or animals may diffuse with a religion
 Vineyards
became popular across Europe
as Christianity diffused through the
continent
Plants and Animals
 Religion may explain the absence of crops or
domestic animals in certain regions.
 Islam and Judaism prohibit pork
 Domestic pigs are rare in areas dominated
by Islam and Judaism
Impact of Belief Systems on Plants and Animals:
Pork Consumption (Fig. 7.27)
Diffusion barriers
 Religious taboos can prevent the spread of
cultural food trends
 Mormons and caffeine (absorbing)
 Pennsylvania Dutch and tobacco
(permeable)
Hindus and Beef (It’s NOT what’s for dinner)
 Almost no Hindu will
eat beef
 Cows
 Provide dairy
products
 Are used in farming
(labor and fertilizer)
 Have been
incorporated into
Hindu beliefs
Ecotheology
 The study of the influence of religious belief
on habitat modification.
 Human dominion over nature
 Religious impact on nature
 Clearing of forests
 Burial practices
Wood Gathered for Hindu Cremations (Fig. 7.28)
Religious Landscapes
RELIGIOUS STRUCTURES
FAITHFUL DETAILS
LANDSCAPES OF THE DEAD
SACRED SPACE
Visual imprint of religions
 Structures
 Church
spires
 Minarets and Mosques
 Temples
 Crosses on the side of
roads
 Cemeteries
 Statues or shrines
Structures
 Elaborate vs. simple or even non-existent
 Large religious structures represent the
authority of a particular religion over life
Religious Structures (Fig. 7.30)
Hindu Temple, India
St. Basil’s, Moscow
Protestant church,
Southern U.S.
Temples Dedicated to Ancestors in Bali, Indonesia (Fig. 7.31)
Stacked Stones at South Korean Pilgrimage Site (Fig. 7.32)
Muslim Mosque in Northern Nigeria (Fig. 7.35)
Landscapes of the Dead (Figs. 7.36 - 7.38)
Necropolis, Egypt
Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Taj Mahal, India
Sacred Spaces (Figs. 7.39, 7.40)
Western Wall, Jerusalem
Clearwater, Florida