Title: Religion
1Religion
- The International Geography of Religion
2Major Foci
- To describe the distribution of major religions
- To explain variations in diffusion of religions
- To discuss religious imprints on the physical
environment - To identify conflicts between followers of
different religions
3Distribution of Religions
- Universalizing religions
- Christianity
- Islam
- Buddhism
- Ethnic religions
- Hinduism
- Other ethnic religions
4Variations in Distribution of Religions (1)
- Origin of religions
- Origin of universalizing religions
- Origin of Hinduism
- Diffusion of religions
- Diffusion of universalizing religions
- Lack of diffusion of ethnic religions
5World Distribution of Religions
Fig. 6-1 World religions by continent.
6Geographical Distribution Of Major World
Religions
7World Population by Religion
Fig. 6-1a Over two thirds of the worlds
population adhere to Christianity, Islam,
Hinduism, or Buddhism. Christianity is the
single largest world religion.
8Major Religious Hearths
9Diffusion of Universalizing Religions
Fig. 6-4 Each of the three main universalizing
religions diffused widely from its hearth.
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11Diffusion of Christianity
Fig. 6-5 Christianity diffused from Palestine
through the Roman Empire and continued diffusing
through Europe after the fall of Rome. It was
later replaced by Islam in much of the Mideast
and North Africa.
12More Detail on the Diffusion of Christianity
13Christian 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.
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15The Religious Situation in Europe, 1560
16Population Loss in Germany During the Thirty
Years War
17Religious Wars Exhaust and Reshape the Geography
of Europe Treaty of Westphalia
- Resulted from exhaustion after the Thirty Years
War (1618-1648) - Attempted to assert the imperial authority of the
Pope and the Church of Rome. - Central Principle - He who rules a region
determines its religion.
- Ended the war and gave the key elements for a
modern nation-state a people, a territory in
which they lived, a bureaucracy, and the kings
authority over his people formed international
law
18Diffusion of Islam
- Origin Mecca 613 a.d.
- Prophets death in 1632
- Military expansion
- Combined with hierarchical diffusion (social)
- Created an Arab empire
- Trade as important as religion
- Culture, not just religion
19Diffusion of Islam
Fig. 6-6 Islam diffused rapidly and widely from
its area of origin in Arabia. It eventually
stretched from southeast Asia to West Africa.
20Distribution of Shia and Sunni Muslims
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22Major Religions of Asia
23Diffusion of Buddhism
Fig. 6-7 Buddhism diffused gradually from its
origin in northeastern India to Sri Lanka,
southeast Asia, and eventually China and Japan.
24Spread of Buddhism
25Buddhism
- Third major proselytizing religion
- No longer a major presence in the country of its
origin - Dissident offshoot of Hinduism
- Founded 6th century BC in northern India by
Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, or
Enlightened One - Born in southern Nepal
26Buddhism
- Beliefs originally spread through India
- Made state religion of India in 3rd century BC
- Carried elsewhere by missionaries, monks
merchants - While expanding elsewhere it declined at home
- 4th century AD Hinduism revived
- By 15th century had all but disappeared from
India - Spread throughout Asia outside India
- About 350 million adherents today worldwide
27Spread of Hinduism
28Oriental Folk Religions
- Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism in China
- Shintoism in Japan
- Confucianism
- Not a true religion (no worship of deity)
- Moral system, way of life
- Origins with Confucius (551-479? BC)
- Later challenged by Taoism and Buddhism
29Shinto
- Ancient native religion of Japan
- Practiced today as a set of rules and customs
involving reverence of ancestors, celebration of
popular festivals, and pilgrimages to shrines - Developed from other early Japanese religions
30Shintoism Buddhism in Japan
Fig. 6-8 Since Japanese can be both Shinto and
Buddhist, there are many areas in Japan where
over two-thirds of the population are both Shinto
and Buddhist.
31Traditional Religions - Animism
- Belief that a spirit or force resides in every
animate and inanimate object - Worship of nature
- Practiced in sub-Saharan Africa, among natives of
North and South America, Polynesia, native
peoples of Siberia, natives of Asia, Australian
Aborigines - As many different forms as there are people
practicing it
32Taoism
- Pronounced Dow
- Roughly translated into English as The Path or
The Way - Refers to a power which envelops, surrounds and
flows through all living and non-living things - Founder Lao-Tse (604-531 BC)
- Contemporary of Confucius, but historical
authenticity cannot be proven - Seeking a way to avoid constant warfare and other
conflicts that disrupted life
33Variations in Distribution of Religions (2)
- Holy places
- Holy places in universalizing religions
- Holy places in ethnic religions
- The calendar
- The calendar in ethnic religions
- The calendar in universalizing religions
34Holy Sites in Buddhism
Fig. 6-9 Most holy sites in Buddhism are
locations of important events in Buddhas life
and are clustered in northeastern India and
southern Nepal.
35Mecca, Islams Holiest City
Fig. 6-10 Makkah (Mecca) is the holiest city in
Islam and the site of pilgrimage for millions of
Muslims each year. There are numerous holy sites
in the city.
36Hindu Holy Places
Fig. 6-11 Hierarchy of Hindu holy places Some
sites are holy to Hindus throughout India others
have a regional or sectarian importance, or are
important only locally.
37Organization of Space
- Places of worship
- Christian worship
- Places of worship in other religions
- Sacred space
- Disposing of the dead
- Religious settlements
- Religious place names
- Administration of space
- Hierarchical religions
- Locally autonomous religions
38Place Names in Québec
Fig. 6-12 Place names in Québec show the impact
of religion on the landscape. Many cities and
towns are named after saints.
39Roman Catholic Hierarchy in U.S.
Fig. 6-13 The Catholic church divides the U.S.
into provinces headed by archbishops. Provinces
are divided into dioceses, headed by bishops.
40Hierarchical Religions
- A hierarchical religion has a well-defined
geographic structure and organizes territory into
local administrative units, i.e. Roman
Catholicism and Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) - Pope? Cardinal? Archbishop? Bishop? Priest
41Hierarchy of the Catholic Church
42Roman Provinces
43Roman Catholic Church Membership as a Percentage
of Each Country's Population
44Hierarchy of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints
45Religious Conflicts
- Religion vs. government policies
- Religion vs. social change
- Religion vs. Communism
- Religion vs. religion
- Religious wars in the Middle East
- Religious wars in Ireland
46Distribution of Protestants in Ireland, 1911
Fig 6-14 When Ireland became independent in
1937, 26 northern districts with large Protestant
populations chose to remain part of the United
Kingdom.
47Religious Organization
- Ecclesiae
- Religious organization claiming to include most
or all of the members of a society
- Recognized as the national or official religion
- Denominations
- Large, organized religion not officially linked
with the state or government
48Religious Organization
- Relatively small religious group that broke away
from some other religious organization to renew
the original vision of the faith
Sects are fundamentally at odds with society and
do not seek to become established national
religions.
49Religious Organization
- New Religious Movements or Cults
- New religious movement (NRM) small secretive
religious groups that represent either a new
religion or a major innovation of an existing
faith - Similar to sects
- Tend to be small
- Viewed as less respectable than more established
faiths
50Religious Organization
- Comparing Forms of Religious Organization
- Ecclesiae, denominations, sects, and new
religious movements have different relationships
to society - Electronic communication led to the electronic
church
51Topics of Discussion
- Religious culture regions, diffusion
distribution - Religious ecology, or the relationship between
religion and the physical environment - How do different people view and use their
environment? - What imprint do different religions leave on
their environment? - Relationship between religion and culture,
economic and political systems - Religious conflicts