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Ch. 6 Religion

Ch. 6 Religion. Where are Religions Distributed?. Intro. For many people, religion is the most important cultural trait that defines who they are & how they understand the world around them Helps us understand many aspects of human culture (population, int’l policies etc.).

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Ch. 6 Religion

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  1. Ch. 6 Religion Where are Religions Distributed?

  2. Intro • For many people, religion is the most important cultural trait that defines who they are & how they understand the world around them • Helps us understand many aspects of human culture (population, int’l policies etc.)

  3. Religious affiliation is on the decline in some parts of the world’s core regions • 14% of the world have “no religion” • indifference or rejection of organized religious affiliations • Not necessarily atheist (2-3%) • Agnostic? Secular?

  4. Commonalities • All share some set of teachings that imply a value system • All include some notion of the sacred • a person, set of texts, symbol etc. • All include some ideas about the place of human beings in the universe • Many also have a creation story to explain origins of humans & the universe

  5. Source Areas (Hearth) Major contemporary religions originated in a relatively small area Judaism & Christianity -- Israel & Jordan Islam – Mecca, Saudi Arabia Hindu – Indus region of Pakistan Buddhism – northern India

  6. How do Universalizing & Ethnic Religions Differ? Universalizing Ethnic • Appeal to people everywhere • Individual founder (prophet) • Message diffused widely (missionaries) • Followers distributed widely. • Holidays based on events in founder’s life. • Has meaning in particular place only. • Unknown source. • Content focused on place and landscape of origin. • Followers highly clustered. • Holidays based on local climate and agricultural practice.

  7. Distributions • Why have some religions spread so far & others have remained primarily local? • Some religions seek to unite people from diverse backgrounds while others seek to ground people in local traditions & landscapes • Religions that seek to unite = universalizing • More bound to one place = local/ethnic religions

  8. World Distribution of Religions

  9. Universalizing (Global) Religions • About 62% of world adheres to a universalizing religion • 3 main ones; Christianity, Islam & Buddhism • Branches of Universalizing Religions • Three principal universalizing religions divided into branches, denominations, and sects. • A branchis a large and fundamental division within a religion. • A denomination is a division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations in a single legal and administrative body. • A sect is a relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination

  10. Christianity • 2 billion ppl & most widespread distribution • *N.A., *S.A., Europe, Australia • Three major branches include… • Roman Catholic (51 percent of the world’s Christians) • Protestant (24 percent of the world’s Christians) • Orthodox (11 percent of the world’s Christians) • Distributions • Roman Catholicism dominant branch in southwestern and eastern Europe. • Protestantism dominant branch in northwestern Europe. • Orthodoxy dominant branch in eastern and southeastern Europe.

  11. Christian Branches in Europe Fig. 6-2: Protestant denominations, Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodoxy are dominant in different regions of Europe—a result of many historic interactions.

  12. Cont’d… • Branches of Christianity in the Western Hemisphere • 93 percent of Christians in Latin America are Roman Catholic. • 40 percent in North America • Protestant churches have approximately 82 million members in the United States. • Baptist church has largest number of adherents (37 million).

  13. Islam • 1.3 billion ppl & most prominent in Middle East • Branches of Islam • Two major branches include… • Sunni • Largest branch in most Muslim countries in Southwest Asia and North Africa • 83 percent of all Muslims • Shiite • Greatly concentrated in the Middle Eastern countries of Iran, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Oman, and Bahrain • 16 percent of all Muslims

  14. Buddhism • Branches of Buddhism • Three major branches include… • Mahayana • 56 percent of Buddhists • Located primarily in China, Japan, and Korea • Theravada • 38 percent of Buddhists • Located primarily in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand • Vajrayana • 6 percent of Buddhists • Located primarily in Tibet and Mongolia. • Sikhism & Baha’i • 25 million vs 8 million

  15. Local/Ethnic Religions • About 24% of the world adheres to a local/ethnic religion • Often remain within the culture where they originated. • Much more clustered than universalizing religions

  16. Hinduism largest # of followers with 860 million • 3rd largest religion & oldest religion • 90% of Hindus are found in India • Confucianism, Daoism (Taoism), Shintoism • East Asia, co-existence vs. exclusive belief • Blending or combining of several traditions is known as syncretism. • Judaism • 2/5 in USA (large cities such as NYC), 2/5 in Israel • Christianity & Islam find their roots in Judaism • Animism • 100m Africans (12%) • Inanimate objects & spirits • declining

  17. Terminology • Evangelical – expand their membership by using missionaries to recruit new followers • Monotheistic – Teach the primacy of a single God • Polytheistic – Teaching that there are numerous Gods or spiritual powers

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