Download the geography of religion

THE GEOGRAPHY OF
RELIGION
Geography 105, Week 10
Wednesday: The Walkabout
Geography is deeply intertwined with our
everyday lives. Geography is truly everywhere.
“Taken-for-granted landscapes of our daily lives
are full of meaning. Much of the most interesting
geography lies in decoding them.” Cosgrove
(1989:133)
  How are different cultures embedded in our
landscape near PCC?
 
Groups of 2-3
  40-50 minute ‘Walkabout’
  Photos to describe our landscape
 
  Residual
Cultures—historic cultures that have
disappeared or are in the process of fading away
  Emergent Culture—cultures that are just now appearing
  Excluded Cultures—those that are actively or passively
excluded by the dominant culture
Religion and Population
What is religion?
The structures set of beliefs and practices through
which people seek mental and physical harmony
with the powers of the universe
  Rituals provide milestones
 
  Birth
  Puberty
  Marriage
  Death
Religion vs. Cult
 
Cult—an
unconventional belief
system
  Often
used
perjoratively
  Rajneesh, Heaven’s
Gate
  While not true, cults
often considered
religion outside of the
mainstream
Types of Relgion
 
Proselytic religions
Religions that actively seek to recruit new members and convert
all of humankind—often grow out of ethnic religions
  Christianity and Islam
 
 
Universalizing religions
 
 
Also proselytic, seek to expand through active of new members
Ethnic religions
A religion identified with a particular ethnic/tribal group—do not
seek converts
  Judaism
 
 
Monotheism
The worship of only one god
  Islam, Christianity, Judaism
 
Types of religions, cont.
 
Polytheism
 
 
 
Syncretic religions
 
 
 
 
Strand within most major religions that emphasizes plurity of faith and is
not open to blending with others
Literally right (ortho) teaching (doxy)
Fundamentalism
 
 
Religions that combine elements of two or more belief systems
Brazilian Umbanda
Orthodox religions
 
 
Worship of many gods
Haitian Vodun, pre-colonial American religions
Movement which focuses on the return to founding principles, which often
includes literal interpretation of religious texts or prophet
Animism
 
Retaining indigenous religions or traditions
What kinds of areas are dominantly Animist? How does this
relate to patterns of language and the distribution of indigenous
peoples?
Religions of the world geographically
Religions of the world by population
Christianity and Islam
By the numbers
Christianity—1.9 billion
  Islam—1.1 billion
  Hinduism—781 million
  Buddhism—324 million
  Sikhism—19 million
  Judaism—14 million
 
Southwest Asia—A Cultural Hearth
 
The three major world religions have similar origins
  Judaism—2000
BCE
  Christianity—26-36 CE
  Islam—610 CE
Abrahamic religions
Judaism, Christianity, Islam
  Venerate patriarch Abraham
  Cultural hearth: southeast Asia
  Judaism as parent of Christianity—Judeo-Christian
 
  Torah
(Old Testament), prayer, clergy
Judaism
 
Monotheism
  One
all knowing and all powerful god; created humans
for bestowing kindness
 
Torah
  Holy
Book which comprises the first five books of the
Hebrew Bible
 
Covenant with Abraham—considered to be the
father of the Jewish people
Judaism, cont.
 
Diaspora
  Refers
to the forced dispersal of Jews from Palestine in
Roman times
  Dispersal and spread as minority group to Europe, North
Africa, Arabia
  Ashkenazim—Germany and France migrants
  Sephardim—Spain and Portugal migrants; expelled in
1492
 
Holocaust—systematic murder of Jewish people
  Killed
1/3 of world’s Jewish Population
  Migration: 6 million in N. America, 5 million in Israel
Symbol: The Star of David
 
 
 
Hexagram used since the 17th century
Originally used as architectural element to symbolize
synagogue
Used in WWII to identify Jews
Why does the snake figure in so many religious traditions?
Christianity
Heavily influenced by Judaism
  Monotheism—one all knowing and all powerful god
  Belief that Jesus Christ died for sins
  Salvation comes from the faith in God
  Book: Old Testament and New Testament of the
Bible
 
  First
four books of new testament written by Jesus
followers
Christianity, cont.
God is a Trinity, consisting of Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit
  Jesus as the incarnate son of God
  Branches
 
  Roman
 
Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Christians
Christians represent about 1/3 of the global
population; Roman Catholics 1/6
What does this pattern tell us about the U.S.? Does the
pattern in the Midwest and Great plains relate to the
presence of ethnic islands?
Islam
Proselytic faith
  Extent: desert belt of Asia, N. Africa; tropics of
Indonesia to Philippines
  Muslim—adherent of Islam
 
  Literal:
“those who submit to the will of god”
Allah—Muslim God
  Mecca—Muslim city where Muhammad was born
 
Islam, cont.
 
Founded by Muhammad, the last and most
important in a line of prophets
  Angel
Gabriel revealed name Allah to Muhammad in
610 CE.
  Qur’an, Islam’s holy book is text of revelations
  Serves as basis of Islamic Law, or Sharia
5 Pillars of Islam
Belief in Allah, the one God whose prophet was
Muhammad
  Pray 5 times daily at established times
  Give alms, or zakat, to the poor
  Fast from dawn until sunset during Ramadan
  Make at least one pilgrimage to Mecca
 
Islam Bifurcation
 
Shiite Muslims
  16
percent of Muslims
  Majority in Iran and Iraq
  Belief that Ali, son-in-law of Muhammad to have
succeeded Muhammad
 
Sunni Muslims
  Islamic
Orthodoxy
  Accept Abu Bakr as the first Caliph
  Majority worldwide
How would gatherings like this help to
spread ideas, as well as diseases?