1 / 22

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.).

craigscott
Télécharger la présentation

Ch. 6 Religion

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  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

More Related