Ethnic Religions

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Ethnic Religions
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Hinduism

• Largest Ethnic religion
• 900 million adherents
• 3rd largest religion worldwide
• Localized in India and Nepal
• Polytheistic
• Contributed to Buddhism and Sikhism

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Doctrine

• Up to individual to decide the best way to
  worship God
• There are various paths to reach God including
  path of knowledge, path of renunciation, path of
  devotion, or path of action
• You can pursue your own path and follow your own
  convictions as long as they are in harmony with
  your true nature
• Hindus see the divine in everything and are
  tolerant of all doctrines
• You are responsible for your own actions and you
  alone suffer the consequences

• No central authority or a single holy book

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Beliefs

• Law of Karma all actions produce effects in the
  future
• Dharma ones duty of station in this life,
  strive for harmonious and eternal truth within
• Reincarnation previous acts determine the
  condition into which a being is reborn in one
  form or another
• Must attain atman to break cycle of reincarnation
• Liberation of the soul (moksha)
• Nonviolence, veneration of all forms of life
  (Ahimsa)

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Gods

• Believe in a supreme being who has unlimited
  forms
• Brahman
• His manifestations are worshipped
• The manifestation of God with the largest of
  adherents is Vaishnavism (70)
• Worships the God Vishnu
• A loving god incarnated as Krishna
• Sivaism is dedicated to Siva (26)
• Often presented in narratives
• Ramayana Havana kidnaps Sita.
• Rama rescues Sita and kills Havana
• but the lovers are forced to separate.
• Represents the tragedy in life in the
• real world where love of the soul for
• god is constantly being tested

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Origins

• No specific founder, no single theology, no
  agreement on origins
• Word Hinduism sixth century B.C. to refer to
  people living in the area
• Hinduism existed long before recorded history
• Earliest surviving documents written in 1500 B.C.
• Objects related to Hinduism date back to 2500
  B.C.
• Aryan tribes from Central Asia invaded India
  around 1400 B.C. brought Indo-European language
  and religion

• Aryans first settled in Punjab (Northern India)
• Migrated later to Ganges River Valley
• Centuries of intermingling with the Dravidians
  already living in the area modified their
  religious beliefs

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Writings

• Hindus prefer term Vedic
• Veda are Vedic text that provide the only written
  source for understanding religious life in
  ancient India
• Vedas compromised of 1,000 hymns followed by
  chants and prose works
• Over time only highly-trained priest could
  perform the complicated Vedic rituals

• Upanishads
• Record wisdom of Hindu teachers and sages as far
  back at 1000 B.C.E.
• Nature of morality and eternal life
• Transmigration of souls
• Causality in creation
• Bhagavad-Gita
• Part of the Mahabharata- one of the longest books
  in the world
• Dialogue between Arjuna (hero) and Krishna
• Incredibly important cultural text

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Holy Places of Hinduism

• Hinduism closely tied to geography of India
• Natural features rank among holiest shrines
  (riverbanks ad coastlines)
• Pilgrimage (tirtha) an act of purification
• Act of receiving redemption
• Holy Places organized into a hierarchy
• Importance of shrines are established through
  tradition

• Example Mount Kailash
• Base of Himalayas
• Holy because Siva lives there
• Many travel despite long distance
• Purification can be attained by bathing in holy
  rivers.
• Ganges is holiest river in India
• Sprung forth from the hair of Siva
• Hardwar the most popular site for purification
• Recent improvements in transportation have
  increased accessibility to shrines

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Ganges River
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Places of Worship

• Hindu Temples
• Serves as home to one or more gods
• Not for congregational worship
• important religious functions take place in the
  home
• Wealthy individuals or groups maintain temple
• Size and frequency determined by locals
• Usually contains symbolic artifact or image of
  the god
• Contains pool for ritual baths

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Worship and Practices

• Worship called Puja
• Worship often takes place in home
• No particular day or time
• No religious hierarchy
• Rituals
• Marriage match must be approved by both parents,
  usually arranged, horoscopes drawn up, brides
  family pays dowry
• Death body cremated, body not required after
  death due to reincarnation

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Conflict

• Hinduism vs. Social Equality
• Strongly challenged since 1800 since British
  colonialism
• Hinduism has rigid caste system
• The class or distinct hereditary order into which
  a Hindu is assigned according to religious law.
• Each individual should belong to a caste in the
  social order
• Caste system originated around 1500 B.C.
• Brought by Aryan invaders

• Four Castes
• Brahmans priests
• Kshatriyas warriors
• Vaisyas merchants
• Shudras agricultural
• workers or artisans
• Distinctively lower caste
• Untouchables were the outcastes, lowest of all.
• did work considered too dirty for other
• descended from indigenous peoples
• Castes split into thousands of subcastes
  throughout centuries
• Type of Hinduism practiced, depends on caste

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Gandhi

• British pointed out problems with system
• Neglect of the health of untouchables
• Economic problems
• System has relaxed in recent years
• Indian government has legally abolished the
  untouchable caste
• Now have equal rights
• Quota system to give untouchables places in
  universities

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Judaism

• Some believe its the first monotheistic religion
• 14 million Jews today
• - Considered parent religion of Christianity
  and related to Islam
• Unique ethnic religion because its not clustered
  geographically

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Judaism

• An ethnic religion based in the lands bordering
  the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea
• -Called Canaan in the Bible Palestine by the
  Romans
• Israel since 1948
• 4,000 years ago Abraham, the patriarch or
  Judaism, migrated from present-day Iraq to
  Canaan.
• Abraham and God have a covenant in which the Jews
  agree to worship one God and God agrees to
  protect his chosen people, the Jews
• Name Judaism derives from Judah, one of Abrahams
  sons. Israel is another biblical name for Jacob

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History continued.

• Moses led the Jews from Egypt, where they had
  been enslaved, to Canaan, where an internal
  conflict split the nation into two branches,
  Israel and Judah.
• Israels tribes were lost to the conquerors
• Judah survived longer, but were also conquered by
  Babylonians and Assyrians.
• Jews regrouped and rebuilt Jerusalem
• Romans conquered in 70 CE and drove the Jews out
• A resurgence movement in 19th century divided
  Jews into Orthodox Jews and Conservative Jews

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Doctrine

• Fundamental to Judaism is the belief in one
  powerful God
• Called themselves the chosen people, because
  God had selected them to live according to his
  ethical and moral principles
• Believe in one God who created humankind for the
  purpose of bestowing kindness upon them
• People are rewarded for faith and are punished
  for sins, but they can atone
• 10 commandments

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Holy book

• The Torah is comprised on the first five chapters
  of the Hebrew Bible
• Contains Old Testament and the Talmud
• Collection of rabbinical and historical teachings
  passed down from one generation to the next

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Sacred Places and symbols

• Most prominent feature of the Jewish-influenced
  cultural landscape is the synagogue
• House of Jewish worship
• Architecturally varied
• All have an ark housing the Torah, written in
  Hebrew
• The six-pointed star is an important symbol

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Sacred Sites

• Most important site is Wailing Wall
• It is at the edge of the Temple Mount
• Temple Mount was once the site of two great
  Jewish Temples
• Abraham almost sacrificed his son Isaac
• Dome of the Rock
• The western wall is all that is left of the
  temples
• Jews gather there to remember the destruction of
  the temples and to offer prayers
• called Wailing Wall to depict the suffering of
  the Jews over time

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Diffusion

• Different from other ethnic religions
• it is practiced in places other than just the
  place of origin
• Most Jews do not live in Israel due to the forced
  Diaspora of the Jews by the Romans in A.D. 70
• Most migrated to Europe
• Into Iberian peninsula

• Often Jews were persecuted by other nationalities
• Example Holocaust
• Forced to live in Ghettos
• Most Jews now live in Israel
• Largest population of Jews live in the U.S.
• Northeast, NY
• Prominent in major cities in Western Europe

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Primary Branches of Judaism

• Orthodox Judaism
• Seeks to retain the original teachings of the
  faith
• Reform Judaism
• Developed in the 1800s as a branch attempting to
  adjust the religion to fit more modern times
• Conservative Judaism
• Most recent branch and is most moderate branch

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Subgroups

• Because of Diaspora, Jews were separated into
  Subgroups
• Ashkenazim Jews that lived in Germany and France
  before migrating to Eastern Europe
• Mizrachim Jews that never left North Africa or
  Middle East
• Sephardim Jews from Spain or Portugal

• Large scale migration of Ashkenazim from Europe
  to America in 19th century
• Today 13 million Jews in the world
• 6 million live in North America
• 5 million live in Israel

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Jewish Calendar

• classified as an ethnic religion because its
  major holidays are based on events in the
  agricultural calendar
• Examples Fall is a time of hope- Rosh Hashanah
  (New Year) and Yom Kippur (Atonement) are in the
  fall
• Other important holidays Pesach (Passover),
  Sukkot, and Shavnot (Feast of Weeks)
• Today, Israel follows the lunar calendar rather
  than the solar calendar

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Hierarchy

• no centralized structure of religious control.
• To conduct a full service, 10 adult males must be
  present

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Other Ethnic Religions
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East Asian Ethnic Religions

• Taoism (Daoism)
• Linked to philosopher Laozi, lived around 6th
  century C.E.
• Laozi taught that people should live in harmony
  with nature and all aspects of their lives
• Seek the way
• Yin and yang
• Created feng shui
• Confucianism
• Linked to Confucius, lived around 6th century
  C.E.
• Built system of morals and a way of life for the
  Chinese
• Focuses more on the worldly life than rather the
  ideas of heaven and hell

• Shintoism
• Syncretic, ethnic religion
• Blends principles of Buddhism with a local
  religion of Japan
• Forces of nature considered divine
• Emperors become deities
• From the 1800s until after WWII, Shintoism was
  the state religion of Japan
• Emperor forced to renounce his divinity

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Shamanism

• Term given to any ethnic religion in which a
  community follows its shaman
• religious leader, healer, or truth knower
• Strongest presence in Africa
• but has historically existed in North America,
  Southeast Asia, and East Asia
• Still important in parts of Mexico and Guatemala

• Shamans teach animism
• A belief that objects such as trees, mountains,
  and rivers have divine spirits in them
• They are animated
• Native American religious beliefs often have
  animistic traits, finding spiritual and religious
  significance in features of the landscape
• 100 million people in Africa follow animistic
  religions

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Issues with Ethnic Religions

• Universalizing religions often supplant ethnic
  religions
• East Asia
• Buddhism can mingle with other religions
• Embraced by Shintoists in Japan
• Mauritius
• Unihabited until 1638
• Dutch settlers arrived
• Brought Christianity
• Controlled by French in 1721 who brought in
  African slaves
• Brought Islam
• Later Indian workers brought in by British
• Brought Hinduism
• Became independent in 1992
• All religions diffused by migration

• Africa
• Less animists due to increase in Christians and
  Muslims
• 46 of Africa is Christian
• Can create merged religions
• Led to creation of Christian churches not
  formally recognized