Transcript Why Do Religions Have Different Distributions?

Why do Religions have
Different Distributions?
CORE DIVISION:
•UNIVERSALIZING
religions can be traced to a
specific founder and place
of origin; the faith is
generally based on the
teachings of this
individual.
CORE DIVISION:
•ETHNIC religions have
more ambiguous places of
specific origin (or several
are acknowledged), and are
NOT tied to the teachings
of a founding individual.
ORIGINS OF THE
UNIVERSALIZING
RELIGIONS
Christianity
Founded: Approx. 0 ce
Founder: Based on life &
teachings of Jesus
Hearth: ‘Holy land,’
present-day Israel/Palestine
Jesus was born and raised Jewish but began a
divine mission at age 29. He collected a group
of followers, known as his disciples.
After two years, Jesus was betrayed by a
disciple, Judas. He was crucified by the
Romans in Jerusalem. Christians view Jesus’
death on the cross – and rebirth 3 days lateras central events in their faith.
THEN
NOW
ORIGINS OF
CHRISTIANITY’S
3 BRANCHES
(in one bullet point
each!)
• ROMAN CATHOLICISM
is
the
ST. PETER’S BASILICA
oldest branch,VATICAN
and traces
its(ROME)
roots to
CITY
the time of the Roman Empire.
Catholics follow a hierarchical order
with the Pope on top, following the
Bible and the Seven Sacraments.
• EASTERN ORTHODOXY broke
away from Catholicism in the 6th
century ce. The Orthodox follow the
Seven Sacraments, but reject changes
Catholicism has made since.
• PROTESTANTISM traces its roots
to the Reformation and Martin
Luther’ 95 Theses. They believe
salvation is achieved through true
faith rather than through religious
displays.
Origin of Islam
Founded: 610 ce
Founder: Prophet
Muhammad
Hearth: Mecca and Medina,
located in present-day
Saudi Arabia
Mohammad received visions from God (Allah)
through the angel Gabriel at age 40. He began
to articulate his visions in the Quran, gathering
followers from pagan tribes.
Mohammad and the first Muslims were kicked
out of Mecca to Medina by its pagan rulers, but
eventually they triumphantly returned to
Mecca. Mohammad’s believers spread quickly,
uniting the many peoples they conquered
under the single banner of Islam.
Masjid al-Haram (The Great Mosque)
Mecca, Saudi Arabia
The Ka’aba – the House of God
Object toward which all Muslims pray
Dome of the Rock
Jerusalem, Israel
After Mohammad died, his followers
became divided over who should lead the
faith.
Some wanted his followers to elect a
leader- these became the Sunnis. Others
wanted leadership to stay with
Mohammad’s family, supporting his
cousin Ali; these were the Shia.
BUDDHISM
• FOUNDED: approx. 550 bce
• FOUNDER: Siddhartha
Gautama (the Buddha)
• HEARTH: Northeastern
India/Nepal
Siddhartha was a wealthy prince who wanted
to learn more about the suffering he
witnessed in the world. At 29, he left his
privileged life behind and entered a forest
where he remained for the next 6 years,
emerging as the ‘Buddha,’ or ‘enlightened
one.’ Siddhartha then spent the next 45 years
spreading his message.
Buddhists believe that suffering is prolonged
through reincarnation, and that this can only
be avoided by reaching a state of virtue and
enlightenment called ‘nirvana.’
Eightfold Path to Nirvana
SIKHISM
FOUNDED: 1469 ce
FOUNDER: Guru Nanak
HEARTH: Punjab, India
SIKH MEN DO
NOT CUT
THEIR HAIR; IT
IS KEPT
WRAPPED IN A
TURBAN
BAHA’I
FOUNDED: 1844
FOUNDER: the Ba’b
HEARTH: Shiraz, Iran
A man called the B’ab in Iran foresaw
the arrival of a new Prophet, and found
him in Baha’u’llah. Iran’s Shiites reacted
violently, killing the B’ab and 50,000
Baha’i in 1850.
Baha’u’llah was exiled to Baghdad, from
where the Baha’i faith spread to form
small communities worldwide.
Baha’i temple & gardens
Haifa, Israel
ORIGINS OF HINDUISM
• Unlike the Universalizing religions,
Hinduism’s origin is less clear. The
earliest Hindu documents date to 2,500
bce, making it the oldest continuously
practiced religion in the world.
• The original Hindu culture was altered
greatly when the Aryan people arrived
along with their Indo-European
language around 1,400 bce.
ORIGINS OF JUDAISM
ABRAHAM, the Patriarch of
the Jewish faith, lived in Ur,
Balylonia (Iraq) in about 1,800
BCE. On a promise of bounty
from God, he migrated to what
is today Israel and founded the
Jewish faith.
Both Jews AND Muslims trace
their earliest ancestry back to the
sons of Abraham- Isaac (Jews)
and Ishmael (Muslims).
DIFFUSION
OF
RELIGIONS
Diffusion of Religions
 Christianity,
Islam, and
Buddhism all emerged from
parts of Asia.
 Followers transmitted the
messages elsewhere (relocation).
 Each of the three main
universalizing religions has a
distinct diffusion pattern.
Diffusion of Christianity
• HEIRARCHICAL: When the Roman
Emperor Constantine embraced
Christianity in the 4th century ce, the
faith secured its dominant place in
Europe.
• RELOCATION: Christianity, like other
universalizing religions, has been spread
through MISSIONARIES & EMPIRE.
These factors have spread the faith to
nearly all corners of the world.
DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY
HEIRARCHICAL
DIFFUSION OF
CHRISTIANITY IN THE
ROMAN EMPIRE
DIFFUSION OF ISLAM
• Muhammad’s successors
organized followers into armies
and conquered much of the
Middle East, North Africa, and
even Spain (the Moors).
• Relocation diffusion of
missionaries & merchants
transmitted Islam as far as
Indonesia and western Africa.
DIFFUSION OF BUDDHISM
 Expanded slowly until the
rise of the Maghadan
Empire; its leader,
ASHOKA, dispatched
Buddhist missionaries
around Southeastern Asia.
 Buddhist missionaries
followed major trade routes.
DIFFUSION OF ETHNIC RELIGIONS
• Most Ethnic religions have very
limited, if any diffusion. They remain
limited to their hearths, and their
messages are often tailored to a local
rather than global audience.
Ethnic religions find their way to new
places through relocation diffusionwhen their members move abroad and
establish communities together.
Adherents of ethnic religions often
relocate for ECONOMIC reasons.
Most Hindu migrants in the United
States immigrated in search of better
economic prospects, for example.
Ethnic religions have also been diffused
through the works of EMPIRE.
Britain used Indian labor throughout its
empire, and today many former British
colonies have sizeable Hindu
communities. Trinidad and Tobago, for
example, is 35% Hindu.
Unlike most other ethnic religions,
Judaism can be found far from its
hearth.
The Jews were forcibly evicted
from ancient Israel by the Romans
around 70 ce. For 2,000 years, this
globally dispersed Jewish
community was called the
DIASPORA.
When the state of
Israel was created
in 1948, millions
of Jews in the
Diaspora
‘returned’ to the
Jewish state- a
journey called
ALIYAH.
ALIYAH