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Religion
Ch. 7
EQ 7.1-7.2
WHAT IS RELIGION AND WHAT ROLE DOES
IT PLAY IN CULTURE?
WHERE DID THE WORLDS MAJOR
RELIGIONS ORIGINATE AND DIFFUSE?
Distribution of Religions
• Universalizing religions
– Christianity
– Islam
– Buddhism
• Ethnic religions
– Hinduism
– Judaism
How do the two types 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.
World Distribution of Religions
Fig. 6-1: World religions by continent.
World Population by Religion
Fig. 6-1a: Over two thirds of the world’s population adhere to Christianity, Islam,
Hinduism, or Buddhism. Christianity is the single largest world
religion.
Christian Branches in the U.S.
Fig. 6-3: 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.
Statue of
Buddha
Hong Kong,
China
Hierarchy of Religious Groups
 Branch
large and fundamental division within a religion
 Denomination –
a division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations in
a single legal and administrative board.
 Sect –
a relatively small group that has broken away from an established
denomination.
Hierarchy of Religious Groups
Religion
(Christianity)
Branch
Branch
(Roman Catholic)
(Protestantism)
Branch (Eastern
Orthodox)
Denomination
Denomination
(Baptist)
(Lutheran)
Sect
(Southern Baptist)
Variations in Distribution of
Religions
• Origin of religions
– Origin of universalizing religions
– Origin of Hinduism
• Diffusion of religions
– Diffusion of universalizing religions
– Lack of diffusion of ethnic religions
• Judaism and the Diaspora (now signifies spatial
dispersion of members of any ethnic group)
Diffusion of Islam
Fig. 6-6: Islam diffused rapidly and widely from its area of origin in Arabia. It
eventually stretched from southeast Asia to West Africa.
Diffusion of Buddhism
Fig. 6-7: Buddhism diffused gradually from its origin in northeastern India to Sri
Lanka, southeast Asia, and eventually China and Japan.
Shintoism & Buddhism in Japan
Fig. 6-8: Since Japanese can be both Shinto and Buddhist, there are many areas in
Japan where over two-thirds of the population are both Shinto and
Buddhist.
EQ 7.3
HOW IS RELIGION SEEN IN THE
CULTURAL LANDSCAPE?
Variations in Distribution of
Religions
• Holy places
– Holy places in universalizing religions
– Holy places in ethnic religions
• Sacred sights
• Pilgrimages
Holy Sites in Buddhism
Fig. 6-9: Most holy sites in Buddhism are locations of important events in Buddha’s
life and are clustered in northeastern India and southern Nepal.
Mecca, Islam’s
Holiest City
Fig. 6-10: Makkah (Mecca) is the holiest
city in Islam and the site of
pilgrimage for millions of
Muslims each year. There are
numerous holy sites in the
city.
Makkah during the Haj Pilgrimage
The Ka’ba stands at the center of the Great Mosque (al-Haran al Sharif) in Makkah.
Ritual Bathing in the Ganges River
Hindu pilgrims achieve purification by bathing in the Ganges.
The Golden Temple in Amritsar
The Golden Temple (Darbar Sahib) in Amritsar, India is the holiest structure for Sikhism.
EQ 7.4
WHAT ROLE DOES RELIGION
PLAY IN ETHNIC CONFLICT?
Conflicts along religious borders
• Interfaith boundaries
– Boundaries between the world’s major faiths
• Intrafaith boundaries
– Boundaries within a single major faith
Religious Conflicts
• Religion vs. government policies
– Religion vs. social change
• Taliban
• Caste system
• Religion vs. religion
– Religious wars in Ireland
– Religious wars in the Middle East
• Crusades
• Palestine/Israel
Distribution of
Protestants in
Ireland, 1911
Fig 6-14: When Ireland became
independent in 1937, 26
northern districts with large
Protestant populations chose
to remain part of the United
Kingdom.
Jerusalem
Fig. 6-15: The Old City of Jerusalem contains holy sites for Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam.