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What is religion?
 Religion and language like at the foundation of
culture: both confer and reflect identity
 Religions change and evolve over time
 Religions are spread through interaction
Cultural Landscape
 The cultural landscape reflects religious preferences,
by houses of worship, cemeteries, shrines, and statues
 It is reflected in the sale of alcohol, dress, and personal
habits
 Ex: Pakistan requires judges to wear a beard
Religion
 A system of beliefs and practices that attempts to order
life in terms of culturally perceived ultimate priorities
 It determines how people “should” behave
 In some societies, religion determines behaviors during
waking hours, and even in sleep (some sleeping
positions can be sinful)
 Most religions have prayers and rituals
Rituals
 Rituals mark important events in people’s lives
 Births
 Death
 Coming of age
 Marriage
 Celebration of holidays
 Prayer
Secularism
 Some societies are predominantly secular, or non-
religious
 Even then, religion seeps into art, history, customs,
beliefs, and even the calendar
 Whether secular or not, it is important to have a basic
understanding of religion
 Religion is one of the most complex and controversial
aspects of culture
Early Religions
 Most religions can be classified into one of three broad
groups:
 Monotheistic
 Polytheistic
 Animistic
History
of
Religion
 Up until 3500 years ago, most religions were
polytheistic or animistic
 Zoroastrianism was the first monotheistic religion and
laid the foundation for Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam
 Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the
belief that there is a single all-powerful good god
(Zoroastro), and there is also an evil being trying to
destroy good
Diffusion
of
Monotheism
 Judaism was the second (or first) great monotheistic
religion
 However, it was not until Christianity and Islam
emerged that monotheism spread
 By 500 BCE, there were four hearths of religion:
 Greece (Greek Philosophy)
 India (Hinduism)
 Israel (Judaism)
 China (Chinese philosophies)
World Distribution of Religions
Fig. 6-1: World religions by continent.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Judaism
 Began in Southwest Asia 4000 years ago
 Abraham is founder who makes a covenant with God
 Jews will only worship one God, and in turn, they will be
chosen people
Incredibly brief history of Judaism
 Abraham had two sons: Ishmael and Isaac
 Isaac’s son, Jacob (Israel), will have 12 sons
 Eventually, the Jews will be enslaved by Egyptians and
Moses will lead them out
 They will break into two groups: Israel and Judah
 Israel will be defeated, Judah will survive only to be
conquered by Babylonians and Assyrians
Continued
 The Jews will come together and build Jerusalem, until
the Romans destroy it in 70 CE
 The Romans will spread the Jews to the furthest
corners of their empire (Diaspora)
 Only a few Jews will remain in Israel/Palestine until the
1948
 More info to come…
Diffusion of Judaism
 Judaism has diffused through forced migration and
relocation diffusion
 They do not actively seek converts, so there are
between 12-14 million people that practice Judaism
worldwide
 Most are in Israel, the United States, and Europe
Christianity
 Began after the death of Jesus (an actual historical
figure)
 The original Christians were Catholic
 Once the Roman Empire split into two, two branches
emerged: the western empire became Roman
Catholic, and the eastern empire became Eastern
Orthodox
 Protestantism emerged during the 15th and 16th
centuries
Diffusion of Christianity
 Christians actively seek converts, so some diffusion is
contagious (especially through Western Europe)
 Largest and most dispersed religion
 Today there are almost two billion Christians on every
continent
 Worldwide diffusion occurred during the Age of
Imperialism
 Today missionaries travel attempting to convert those
in other places to Christianity
 EU and Missionaries
Diffusion of Universalizing Religions
Fig. 6-4: Each of the three main universalizing religions diffused widely from its hearth
Islam
 Began when Muhammad was 42 years old and received
revelations from Allah
 He spoke the verses of the Qu’ran (Koran), which
contains many passages similar to the Jewish and
Christian holy books
 Due to religious turmoil (between Christians and
Polytheists) in Mecca, he fled to Medina and began
teachings
Divisions in Islam
 After Muhammad’s death in 632 CE, it was unclear
who would lead in his place
 His son-in-law, Ali, was the lawful heir
 However, some of Muhammad’s followers wanted a
different leader
 This began a series of wars, until the followers were
divided into Sunni Muslims and Shi’ite Muslims (the
followers of Ali)
Diffusion
of
Islam
 Before his death, Muhammad had converted kings on
the Arabian Peninsula
 They spread Islam across their empire through
invasion and conquest
 Islam spread across Northern Africa, Southern Europe,
and Southeast Asia very quickly
 Today in North and South America, it is the result of
relocation diffusion
 It is currently the fastest growing religion, and has 1.3
billion adherents
Diffusion of Universalizing Religions
Fig. 6-4: Each of the three main universalizing religions diffused widely from its hearth