Religious Realms

1. Religious Realms Chapter 6 The Human Mosaic

2. Introduction • Religion can be defined as a set of beliefs and practices through which people seek mental and physical harmony with the powers of the universe, through which they attempt to influence and accommodate the awesome forces of nature, life, and death

3. Introduction • Religion produces variations that can be mapped as culture regions • Spatial variations produced by cultural diffusion • The spatial pattern of religion is visibly imprinted on the cultural landscape • Religion very often lies at the root of conflict between cultural groups

4. Mecca

5. Introduction • People are less willing to tolerate or accommodate differences in religious matters than any other aspect of culture • Proselytic religions • Actively seek new members • Their goal is the conversion of all humankind • Ethnic religions • Identified with some particular ethnic or tribal group • Does not seek converts • Proselytic religions sometimes grow out of ethnic religions—Christianity from Judaism

6. Culture Regions • Religious Regions • Religious Diffusion • Religious Ecology • Cultural Integration in Religion • Religious Landscapes

7. Religious culture regions • Christianity • A proselytic faith • World’s largest in both area and number of adherents—about 1.9 billion • Long fragmented into separate churches • Greatest division is between Western and Eastern Christianity

9. Religious culture regions • Eastern church dominated the Greek world from Constantinople (Istanbul) • Coptic Church—originally the nationalistic religion of the Egyptians, and today is the dominant church of the highland people of Ethiopia • Maronites — Semitic descendants of seventh-century heretics who retreated to a mountain refuge in Lebanon • Nestorians — live in the mountains of Kurdistan and India’s Kerala State • Eastern Orthodoxy — originally centered in Greek-speaking areas • Converted many Slavic groups • Later split in a variety of national churches—Russian, Greek, Ukrainian, and Serbian

11. Religious culture regions • Western Christianity initially identified with Rome and Latin-speaking areas • Most notable split was the Protestant breakaway of the 1400s and 1500s • Tended to divide into a rich array of sects • Denominational map of the United States and Canada reflects fragmented nature and complex pattern of religious culture regions

13. Religious culture regions • American frontier a breeding ground for new religious groups • Small communities may have churches representing half a dozen religious groups • Individual families may split along religious lines

14. Religious culture regions • United States displays less regionalization of faiths • “Bible Belt”—lies across the South, Baptist and other conservative fundamentalist denominations dominate • Utah is core of Mormon realm

15. Religious culture regions • Lutheran belt — stretches from Wisconsin through Minnesota and the Dakotas • Roman Catholicism — dominates southern Louisiana, the southwestern borderland, and heavily industrialized areas of the Northeast • The Midwest a thoroughly mixed zone —Methodism generally the largest single faith • Some experts believe American culture is becoming homogenized religiously, with weakening regional contrasts

16. Religious culture regions • Geographer Roger Stump points to a twentieth-century trend toward religious regional divergence • Baptists in South • Lutherans in upper Midwest • Catholics in Southwest • Mormons in the West • Each dominate their respective regions more today than at turn of century • Each has long-standing, strong infrastructure

17. Islam • Monotheistic, proselytic faith claims 1.1 billion followers • Located mostly in the desert belt of Asia and northern Africa, extends as far east as Indonesia and the Philippines • Biblical figures, such as Moses, Abraham, and Jesus are venerated in Islam • Most important prophet and founder is Muhammad —lived about 14 centuries ago • The Koran — Muslim holy book, contains a code of morals and ethics, and promises an afterlife for the faithful

19. Islam • The Five Pillars of Islam • Adherents are expected to pray five times daily at established times • Give alms to the poor • Fast from dawn to sunset in the holy ninth month • Make at least one pilgrimage to the sacred city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia • Profess belief in Allah, the one god

20. Islam • Two major sects prevail • Shiite Muslims — 11 percent of Islamic total in diverse subgroups • Form the majority in Iran and Iraq • Major fundamentalist revival now occurring under Iranian leadership to throw off Western influences, and restore the purity of the faith • Political tension with the potential for severe disruption is spreading • Strongest among Indo-European groups

22. Islam • Two major sects prevail • Sunni Muslims — represent Islamic orthodoxy forming the large majority • Strength is greatest in the Arabic-speaking lands • Non-Arabic Indonesia now contains world’s largest concentration • Large clusters occur in western China, Indo-European Bangladesh, and Pakistan

23. Judaism • Monotheistic faith • Parent of Christianity, and closely related to Islam • Certain Hebrew prophets and leaders are recognized by Christians and Muslims • Does not actively seek converts and has remained an ethnic religion • Has split into a variety of subgroups, partly as a result of forced dispersal

24. Judaism • Forced from Israel in Roman times and lost contact with other colonies • Jews who resided in Mediterranean lands were called the Sephardim • Those residing in central and Eastern Europe were known as the Ashkenozim • Large-scale migration of Ashkenazic from Europe to America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries • During Nazi years, perhaps a third of the entire Jewish population of the world was systematically murdered, mainly Ashkenazim

25. Judaism • Europe ceased to be primary homeland and many survivors fled overseas to Israel and America • Has about 14 million adherents throughout the world • Nearly 7 million live in North America

26. Hinduism • Closely tied to India and its ancient culture • Claims about 750 million adherents • Polytheistic religion involving the worship of a myriad of deities • Linked to the caste system — rigid segregation of people according to ancestry and occupation

28. Hinduism • Believe in ahimsa — veneration of all forms of life • Belief in reincarnation • No set standard of beliefs prevails, and the faith takes many local forms • Includes very diverse peoples • The faith straddles a major ethnic/linguistic divide • Includes both Indo-Europeans and Dravidians

30. Hinduism • Once a proselytic religion, is today a regional, biethnic faith • Suggestive of its former missionary activity is an outlier on the distant Indonesian island of Bali

31. Hinduism • Hinduism has splintered into diverse religious, some regarded as separate religions • Jainism — ancient outgrowth, claiming perhaps 5 million adherents • Traces its roots back over twenty-five centuries • Reject Hindu scriptures, rituals, and priesthood • Share Hindu belief in ahinisa and reincarnation • Adhere to a stern asceticism • Sikhism — arose in the 1500s, in an attempt to unify Hinduism and Islam • Centered in the Punjab state of northwestern India • Has about 19 million followers • Sikhs practice monotheism and have their own holy book, the Adi Granth

32. Buddhism • Derived from Hinduism began 25 centuries ago • Reform movement grounded in the teaching of Prince Siddhartha — the Buddha • He promoted the four “noble truths” • Life is full of suffering • Desire is the cause of this suffering • Cessation of suffering comes with the quelling of desire • An “eight-fold path” of proper personal conduct and meditation permits the individual to overcome desire • Nirvana — reached when one has achieved a state of escape and peace, which is attained by very few

33. Buddhism • Today the most widespread religion in Asia • Dominates a culture region from Sri Lanka to Japan and from Mongolia to Vietnam • Proselytic religion • Formed composite faiths as it fused with ethnic faiths especially in China and Japan • Fused with Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism • Southern Buddhism dominant in Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia retains greatest similarity to original form • Special variation known as Lamaism prevails in Tibet and Mongolia

34. Buddhism • Difficult to determine number of adherents because of tendency to merge with native religions — estimates range from 334 million to over 500 million people • In China, has enmeshed with local faiths to become part of an ethnic religion • Outside China, remains one of the great proselytic religions in the world

35. Animism • Retained tribal ethnic religion of people around the world • Today, adherents number at least 100 million • Animists believe certain inanimate objects possess spirits or souls • Spirits live in rocks, rivers, mountain peaks, and heavenly bodies • Each tribe has its own characteristic form of animism • A Shaman — tribal religious figure usually serves as the intermediary between people and the spirits

36. Animism • To some animists, objects do not actually possess spirits, but are valued because they have a potency to serve as a link between people and the omnipresent god • Animism can be a very complex belief system • Sub-Saharan Africa is the greatest surviving stronghold of animism • Along the north edge Islam is rapidly winning converts • Christian missionaries are very active throughout the area

38. Animism • Animism in the Western Hemisphere • Umbanda — kept alive by descendants of African slaves in Brazil has 30 million followers • Santeria — is found mainly in Cuba • Survives beneath a facade of nominal Roman Catholicism in Cuba

39. Secularism • In much of Europe religion has declined • Today, number of nonreligious and atheistic persons worldwide is about 1 billion • Typically displays vivid regionalization on a variety of scales • Areas of religious vitality lie alongside secularized districts in a disorderly jumble • Causes of retreat from religion • A government’s active hostility toward a particular faith or religion • Failure of religions oriented toward the need of rural folk to adapt to the urban scene

40. Sacred space • Includes areas and sites recognized as worthy of devotion, loyalty, fear, or esteem • Notion occurs in many different cultures, past and present the world over • B.C. Lane says—”an ordinary place made extraordinary through ritual” • May be sought out by pilgrims or barred to members of other religions • Often contain the site of supposed supernatural events or viewed as abode of gods

41. Jerusalem

42. Sacred Space • Jerusalem is sacred space to Christians, Jews, and Muslims. It contains the Via Dolorosa (Way of the Cross) leading to the site of Christ’s crucifixion. • According to Jewish tradition, the sealed Golden Gate (far right) is where the Messiah will enter the city and bring redemption. Ruins of the City of David are at the southwest corner of the wall.

43. Sacred Space • Muslims are buried at the foot of the wall; Jews on the Mount of Olives in the foreground; and, Christians in the valley between. The golden Dome of the Rock covers the site where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac and Mohammed ascended to heaven. • It also occupies the site of the First and Second Temples built by Kings Solomon and Herod. All that remains is the sacred Wailing Wall.

44. Sacred space • Conflict can result of two religions venerate the same space • Example of conflict in Jerusalem • Muslim Dome of the Rock — site of Muhammad’s ascent to heaven • Wailing Wall — remnant of greatest Jewish temple • Cemeteries also generally regarded as type of sacred space

46. Sacred space • Sacred space is receiving increased attention in the world • An internationally funded Sacred Land Project began in the middle 1990s • Goal — to identify and protect such sites • In the United Kingdom alone, 5000 sites have been cataloged • Includes — ancient stone circles, pilgrim routes, and holy springs

47. Sacred space • Sacred space is receiving increased attention in the world • Mystical places — locations unconnected with established religion where some people believe extraordinary, supernatural things can happen • “Bermuda Triangle” • Some include the expanses of the American Great Plains • Some ancient sacred spaces never lose or they regain the functional status of mystical place —example of Stonehenge in England

48. Culture Regions • Religious Regions • Religious Diffusion • Religious Ecology • Cultural Integration in Religion • Religious Landscapes

49. The Semitic religious hearth • Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all arose among Semitic-speaking people • All three arose from the margins of the southwestern Asian deserts • Judaism, the oldest, originated about 4,000 years ago probably along the southern edge of the Fertile Crescent • Later, Judaism acquired dominion over lands between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River — territorial base of modern Israel