Transcript Religion - Damonte Ranch AP Human Geography

RELIGION
WHY STUDY RELIGION

Geographers study religion because it is an
essential part of how people live and interact
with each other and their environment
RELIGION CLASSIFICATION

Religion (Ex. Christianity)


Branch (Ex. Protestant)


Branch – A large and fundamental division within a religion.
Denomination (Ex. Baptist)


Religion – Defined by geographers Robert Stoddard and
Carolyn Prorak in the book Geography in America as “a
system of beliefs and practices that attempts to order life in
terms of culturally perceived ultimate priorities.”
Denomination – A division of a branch that unites a number
of local congregations into a single legal and administrative
body.
Sect

Sect – A relatively small group that has broken away from an
established denomination.
UNIVERSALIZING



Universalizing religion – A
religion that attempts to
appeal to all people, not just
those living in a particular
location.
58% of the world
Main Universalizing



Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
ETHNIC



Ethnic religion – A religion with a
relatively concentrated spatial
distribution whose principles are
likely to be based on physical
characteristics of the particular
location in which its adherents are
concentrated.
26% of the world
Main Ethnic






Hinduism
Judaism
Confucianism
Daoism (Taoism)
Shintoism
Animism (Traditional African Religions)
UNIVERSALIZING VS. ETHNIC RELIGIONS
SACRED SITES

Serve as a geographic intersection between the
divine and the mortal
 Preserve
the space
 Pilgrimages
 Tension/conflict

Universalizing
 Cities

& places associated with founder’s life
Ethnic
 Distinctive
physical environment of its hearth
UNIVERSALIZING

Buddhism



Christianity



Buddha’s birthplace in S. Nepal
7 other holy sites associated
with important events in
Buddha’s life
Jerusalem
Bethlehem
Islam


Muhammad’s birthplace
(Makkah/Mecca)
Tomb (Madinah/Medina)
SACRED SITES
ETHNIC

Hinduism


Ganges River, Mt. Kailās,
Benares in India
Judaism


Jerusalem
Western Wall
HOLY DAYS

Universalizing

Commemorate events in the founder’s life
 Islam:
Lunar calendar, Ramadan (holy month) varies,
commemorates the Archangel Jibril (Gabriel) first visiting
Muhammad
 Christianity: Christmas: birth of Jesus, Easter: resurrection of
Jesus
 Buddhists: holy days on Buddha’s birth, Enlightenment &
death

Ethnic

Celebration of the seasons
 Judaism:
Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur in autumn (planting),
Passover (Pesach) in spring (harvest)
METHODS OF DIFFUSION

Universalizing Religions
 Relocation
 Christian
diffusion
missionaries
 Contagious
 Muslims
Diffusion
marrying non-Arabs
 Hierarchical
 Emperor

Diffusion
Asoka converting to Buddhism
Ethnic Religions
 Most
lack diffusion
 Judaism is an exception
DIFFUSION OF UNIVERSALIZING RELIGIONS
BURIAL PRACTICES

Religious practices promote the development of
places or activities to treat or preserve the
dead
 Impose
conformity on the landscape of a region
 Affect local land use (land allocated to burial
practices)
 Make the landscape distinctive compared to other
religious areas
UNIVERSALIZING

Buddhism





Cremation
Christianity

ETHNIC
Park-like Cemeteries
Catacombs





Exposure
Burial at sea
Other practices

BURIAL PRACTICES
Park-like Cemeteries
Animism

Park-like Cemeteries
Cremation
Judaism

Islam

Hinduism
Burial mounds
RELIGIONS AFFECTING THE
ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCING RELIGION

Holy Places


Especially in Ethnic religions
Cosmogony


Architecture
Function affects landscape
RELIGION & THE ENVIRONMENT
ARCHITECTURE
Special buildings used for
worship/mediation/spiritual function
 Represents a religious history



Christian churches: place to gather and worship,
representation of God
Restricts/encourages the use of land
Muslim mosques: place for the community to gather,
worship = center of town
 Asian universalizing & ethnic more likely to house
shrines to particular gods


Attracts tourists
MUSLIM MOSQUE (MEDINA)
BUDDHIST PAGODA (CHINA)
HINDU TEMPLE (INDIA)
JEWISH SYNAGOGUE (BUDAPEST)
JEWISH SYNAGOGUE (BERLIN)
ROMAN CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL (IRELAND)
ORTHODOX CHURCH (RUSSIA)
HEARTHS
3 Major Hearths
 Middle East Hearth

 Judaism,
Christianity,
Islam

Northern India
Hearth
 Hinduism,

Buddhism
East Asia Hearth
 Confucianism,
Taoism, Shintoism
MAJOR UNIVERSALIZING RELIGIONS
Buddhism
 Christianity
 Islam

BUDDHISM

Origins
 Siddhartha
Gautama, 563 BCE, son of a lord
 Age 29, left his sheltered life & for 6 years
meditated in a forest in India
 Emerged Buddha “enlightened one”
 Spent 45 years preaching across India
BUDDHIST HOLY SITES
BUDDHISM

Major Branches
 Theravada
= “the way of the elders”
 Believe
they are closer to Buddha’s original ways
 Must renounce possessions & become a monk
 Cite Buddha’s wisdom & stress meditation
 Mahayana
= “the bigger raft”
 Less
demanding, all encompassing
 Can help more people
 Cite Buddha’s compassion & stress helping others
 Tantrayana
 Smallest
branch
FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
1.
The truth of suffering (Dukkha)
1.
2.
All living beings must endure suffering
The truth of the origin of suffering (Sumudaya)
1.
Three fires (origins of suffering):
1.
2.
3.
3.
The truth of the cessation of suffering (Nirodha)
1.
4.
Greed & desire
Ignorance & delusion
Hatred & destructive urges
Escape from suffering & reincarnation by achieving Nirvana (reaching
enlightenment)
The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)
1.
Way to achieve Nirvana = Eightfold Path
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Right Understanding
Right Intention
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood
Right Effort
Right Mindfulness
Right Concentration
BUDDHISM

Current Distribution = 400 million followers
 Mahayanist
= 56%
 Theravadists = 38%
 Tantrayanists = 6%

Locations
M
= China, Japan & Korea
 Th = Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka &
Thailand
 Ta = Tibet & Mongolia
HEARTH &
DIFFUSION
OF
BUDDHISM
CHRISTIANITY

Origin
 Founded
on teachings of Jesus
 Born in Bethlehem between 8 & 4 BCE
 Died in Jerusalem in 30 CE
 Christians believe the Jesus died for human sins
and was resurrected by God
CHRISTIANITY

Major Branches

Roman Catholic:
 teachings
of Bible & Church Hierarchy (Pope)
 Seven sacraments

Orthodoxy
 Split
with Roman Catholicism beginning in the 5 c., finalized in
1054


Agree with RC on Sacraments, not on doctrines added after 8th c.
Protestantism
 Reformation
in 16th c.
 Martin Luther
 Personal salvation through faith rather than sacraments
SEVEN SACRAMENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Baptism
Confirmation: confirm faith
Penance (reconciliation): reconciling with God
Anointing the sick (Last Rites): recovery of health
& spiritual strength
Matrimony
Holy Orders: lead others by bringing them
sacraments
Eucharist: representative of Last Supper,
becomes the body & blood of Jesus
CHRISTIANITY

Current Distribution = 2 billion followers
 51%
R.C.
 24% Protestant
 11% Orthodox
 14% other Christian churches

Locations
 R.C.:
S & W Europe, Latin America
 Protestant: N. America, N. Europe, Oceania
 Orthodox: E. Europe
HEARTH & DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY
DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIANITY IN U.S.
RELIGIOUS ADHERENTS
DISTRIBUTION

South/Southeast


Midwest/Great Plains/Rust Belt/Corn Belt


Lutheran
West (Utah, Idaho, Nevada)


Methodist
Northern Border States


Baptist
Mormon or Latter-Day Saints (LDS)
Everywhere else

Catholic
FACTORS FOR BAPTIST DISTRIBUTION

Indigenous religion
 Origins
in small towns & rural areas
 Based on Calvinism brought from Europe
 Appealed to African-Americans excluded by other
protestant denominations

Lack of in-migration
 Agricultural
migrants
region did not attract a lot of European
FACTORS FOR LUTHERAN DISTRIBUTION

Original migration from N & W Europe
 Germans
& Scandinavians
 Chain migration as area began to thrive

Lack of in-migration
 Lacked
pull factor of big cities
FACTORS FOR LDS DISTRIBUTION

Original migration
 Began

in Eastern U.S. & migrated to Utah
Later migrations
 Migrated

to farm new areas of the West
Lack of in-migration
 Lacked
pull factor of big cities
ISLAM

Origin
 Muhammad
was born in 570 in Mecca
 At 40, he received his first message from Allah
through the Archangel Gabriel
 Quran is a record of God’s words as relayed to
Muhammad from the angel Gabriel
 In 622, after much persecution Muhammad was
commanded to move to Yathrib (renamed Medina
or “the City of the Prophet”)
ISLAM

Major Branches
 Sunni
(“People of the tradition of Muhammad and
the consensus”)
 After
Muhammad, came Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman & Ali
who were leaders or “caliphs” (successor of the prophet)
 Sunnis recognize all four as legitimate religious leaders
 Shi’ites
(Shia) (“Followers of Ali”)
 Shi’ites
believe the only Ali (who was Muhammad’s sonin-law) is the only legitimate caliph as he was
Muhammad’s closest male heir
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
1.
Shahadah
1.
2.
2.
Salat
1.
3.
Charity to help the needy, act of purification & growth
Sawm
1.
5.
Prayer, 5 times daily, facing the city of Mecca
Zakat
1.
4.
Profession of faith, “There is no god worthy of worship except the one
God, the source of all creation, and Muhammad is the messenger of
God.”
Interpretations vary, “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His
messenger”
Fast during the month of Ramadan, self-purification
Hajj
1.
Pilgrimage to Mecca (if physically and financially able)
ISLAM

Current Distribution – 1.3 Billion people
Sunni = 83%
 Shi’ites = 16%


Locations

Middle East
 North

Africa to Central Asia
Outside the Middle East = 50% of Muslims
 Indonesia
 Pakistan
 Bangladesh
 India
“MUSLIM” ≠ “ARAB”
Arab = ethnicity
 Muslim =
follower of
Islam
 90% of all
Arabs are
Muslims
 But 80% of all
Muslims are
not Arabs

HEARTH & DIFFUSION OF ISLAM
HINDUISM

Origin


2500-1500 BCE, no single founder
Mingling of Aryan & Dravidian beliefs


Holy Sites


Ganges & Mt. Kailās (Siva)
Practices

Up to the individual to determine the best path to God







Knowledge
Renunciation
Devotion
Action
Branches

Vaishnavism (Vishnu) = est. 70%
Sivaism (Siva) = 26%
Autonomous religion


Syncretism – The blending of traits from two different cultures to form a new trait.
Autonomous religion – A religion that does not have a central authority but shares ideas
and cooperates informally.
Distribution

97% clustered in India
JUDAISM

Origin



Holy Sites


Abraham moved to Canaan
Monotheistic, differed from polytheistic groups surrounding
Land in Eastern Mediterranean
 Canaan (Bible), Palestine (Romans), Israel
Distribution = 13-15 million





1/3 in U.S.
1/3 in Israel
1/3 elsewhere
Diaspora
 Forced from Eastern Mediterranean by Romans during 70 CE
Zionism
 Set up the state of Israel
RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS
Religion vs. Politics
 Religion vs. Religion

 Interfaith
 Intrafaith
RELIGION VS. POLITICS

Taliban “Religious Students” vs. Western
Values
 Opposed
leisure activities, instituted
fundamentalist policies (as they interpreted them)

Religion vs. Communism
 Communists
removed religious institutions from
government in 1917. Limited the role of Orthodox
Christianity in Russia
 Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, there
was a religious revival
 Including
Christianity in the Eastern Europe & Islam in
Central Asia
RELIGION VS. RELIGION

Interfaith Conflict
 Conflicts

BETWEEN two religions
Middle East
 Muslims,
Jews & Christians battling for sacred land
in the Eastern Mediterranean
 Crusades:
Christians vs. Muslims
 Palestine: Muslims vs. Jews
RELIGION VS. RELIGION

Intrafaith Conflicts
 Conflicts

WITHIN a religion
Ireland
 Ireland
= 87% Roman Catholic
 N. Ireland = Part of U.K. & 46% Protestant
 Discrimination
against Catholics in N. Ireland
 Irish Republican Army (IRA): goal of achieving Irish
national unity by whatever means necessary

Islam
 Sunni
vs. Shia (Shiite)
NON-RELIGIOUS


About 1 Billion people are considered “non-religious”
Atheists


Agnostic


Do not believe in any god(s)
God(s) may exist, but it is uncertain
Secular


“Not related to religion;” belief system
Secularism – The idea that ethical and moral standards
should be formulated and adhered to for life on Earth, not to
accommodate the prescriptions of a deity and promises of a
comfortable afterlife. A secular state is the opposite of a
theocracy.