Religious Realms

Chapter 6
The Human Mosaic

Introduction
! Religion can be defined as a set of beliefs

and practices through which people seek

mental and physical harmony with the powers
of the universe, through which they attempt to
influence and accommodate the awesome
forces of nature, life, and death

Introduction
! Religion produces variations that can be

mapped as culture regions

! Spatial variations produced by cultural
diffusion
! The spatial pattern of religion is visibly
imprinted on the cultural landscape
! Religion very often lies at the root of conflict
between cultural groups

Mecca

Introduction
! People are less willing to tolerate or accommodate

differences in religious matters than any other aspect

of culture
! Proselytic religions
!
!

Actively seek new members

Their goal is the conversion of all humankind

! Ethnic religions
! Identified with some particular ethnic or tribal group
! Does not seek converts
! Proselytic religions sometimes grow out of ethnic

religionsChristianity from Judaism

Culture Regions
! Religious Regions
! Religious Diffusion
! Religious Ecology
! Cultural Integration in Religion
! Religious Landscapes

Religious culture regions

! Christianity

A proselytic faith
! Worlds largest in both area and number of
adherentsabout 1.9 billion
! Long fragmented into separate churches
! Greatest division is between Western and
Eastern Christianity
!

Religious culture regions

! Eastern church dominated the Greek world from Constantinople

(Istanbul)
! Coptic Churchoriginally the nationalistic religion of the
Egyptians, and today is the dominant church of the highland
people of Ethiopia
! Maronites Semitic descendants of seventh-century
heretics who retreated to a mountain refuge in Lebanon
! Nestorians live in the mountains of Kurdistan and Indias
Kerala State
! Eastern Orthodoxy originally centered in Greek-speaking
areas
!
!

Converted many Slavic groups

Later split in a variety of national churchesRussian, Greek,
Ukrainian, and Serbian

Religious culture regions

! Western Christianity initially identified with

Rome and Latin-speaking areas

!

Most notable split was the Protestant

breakaway of the 1400s and 1500s
!
!

Tended to divide into a rich array of sects

Denominational map of the United States and
Canada reflects fragmented nature and complex
pattern of religious culture regions

Religious culture regions

American frontier a breeding ground for new
religious groups
! Small communities may have churches
representing half a dozen religious groups
! Individual families may split along religious
lines
!

Religious culture regions

! United States displays less regionalization of

faiths
Bible Beltlies across the South, Baptist
and other conservative fundamentalist
denominations dominate
! Utah is core of Mormon realm
!

Religious culture regions

Lutheran belt stretches from Wisconsin
through Minnesota and the Dakotas
! Roman Catholicism dominates southern
Louisiana, the southwestern borderland, and
heavily industrialized areas of the Northeast
! The Midwest a thoroughly mixed zone
Methodism generally the largest single faith
!

! Some experts believe American culture is

becoming homogenized religiously, with

weakening regional contrasts

Religious culture regions

! Geographer Roger Stump points to a twentieth-

century trend toward religious regional divergence

!
!
!
!
!
!

Baptists in South
Lutherans in upper Midwest
Catholics in Southwest
Mormons in the West
Each dominate their respective regions more today
than at turn of century
Each has long-standing, strong infrastructure

Islam
! Monotheistic, proselytic faith claims 1.1 billion followers
! Located mostly in the desert belt of Asia and northern Africa,

extends as far east as Indonesia and the Philippines

! Biblical figures, such as Moses, Abraham, and Jesus are
venerated in Islam
! Most important prophet and founder is Muhammad lived
about 14 centuries ago
! The Koran Muslim holy book, contains a code of morals and
ethics, and promises an afterlife for the faithful

Islam
! The Five Pillars of Islam

Adherents are expected to pray five times

daily at established times
! Give alms to the poor
! Fast from dawn to sunset in the holy ninth
month
! Make at least one pilgrimage to the sacred city
of Mecca in Saudi Arabia
! Profess belief in Allah, the one god
!

Islam
! Two major sects prevail
! Shiite Muslims 11 percent of Islamic total in diverse
subgroups
! Form the majority in Iran and Iraq
! Major fundamentalist revival now occurring under
Iranian leadership to throw off Western influences, and
restore the purity of the faith
! Political tension with the potential for severe disruption
is spreading
! Strongest among Indo-European groups

Islam
! Two major sects prevail
!

Sunni Muslims represent Islamic orthodoxy

forming the large majority
!
!

Strength is greatest in the Arabic- speaking lands

Non
- Arabic Indonesia now contains worlds
largest concentration
Large clusters occur in western China, Indo
European Bangladesh, and Pakistan

Judaism
! Monotheistic faith
! Parent of Christianity, and closely related to

Islam
! Certain Hebrew prophets and leaders are
recognized by Christians and Muslims
! Does not actively seek converts and has
remained an ethnic religion
! Has split into a variety of subgroups, partly as
a result of forced dispersal

Judaism
! Forced from Israel in Roman times and lost contact with other
!
!
!
!

colonies
Jews who resided in Mediterranean lands were called the
Sephardim
Those residing in central and Eastern Europe were known as
the Ashkenozim
Large-scale migration of Ashkenazic from Europe to America
during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
During Nazi years, perhaps a third of the entire Jewish
population of the world was systematically murdered, mainly
Ashkenazim

Judaism
! Europe ceased to be primary homeland and

many survivors fled overseas to Israel and

America
! Has about 14 million adherents throughout
the world
! Nearly 7 million live in North America

Hinduism
! Closely tied to India and its ancient culture
! Claims about 750 million adherents
! Polytheistic religion involving the worship of a

myriad of deities
! Linked to the caste system rigid
segregation of people according to ancestry
and occupation

Hinduism
! Believe in ahimsa veneration of all forms of

life
! Belief in reincarnation
! No set standard of beliefs prevails, and the
faith takes many local forms
! Includes very diverse peoples
The faith straddles a major ethnic/linguistic
divide
! Includes both Indo-Europeans and Dravidians
!

Hinduism
! Once a proselytic religion, is today a regional,

biethnic faith
! Suggestive of its former missionary activity is
an outlier on the distant Indonesian island of
Bali

Hinduism
! Hinduism has splintered into diverse religious, some

regarded as separate religions

!

Jainism ancient outgrowth, claiming perhaps 5

million adherents
! Traces its roots back over twenty-five centuries
! Reject Hindu scriptures, rituals, and priesthood
! Share Hindu belief in ahinisa and reincarnation
! Adhere to a stern asceticism
Sikhism arose in the 1500s, in an attempt to unify
Hinduism and Islam
! Centered in the Punjab state of northwestern India
! Has about 19 million followers
! Sikhs practice monotheism and have their own holy
book, the Adi Granth

Buddhism
! Derived from Hinduism began 25 centuries ago
! Reform movement grounded in the teaching of Prince

Siddhartha the Buddha

! He promoted the four noble truths
!
!
!
!
!

Life is full of suffering

Desire is the cause of this suffering
Cessation of suffering comes with the quelling of desire
An eight-fold path of proper personal conduct and
meditation permits the individual to overcome desire
Nirvana reached when one has achieved a state of
escape and peace, which is attained by very few

Buddhism
! Today the most widespread religion in Asia
! Dominates a culture region from Sri Lanka to Japan

and from Mongolia to Vietnam

! Proselytic religion
!

!
!

Formed composite faiths as it fused with ethnic faiths

especially in China and Japan
Fused with Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism
Southern Buddhism dominant in Sri Lanka and
mainland Southeast Asia retains greatest similarity to
original form
Special variation known as Lamaism prevails in Tibet
and Mongolia

Buddhism
! Difficult to determine number of adherents

because of tendency to merge with native

religions estimates range from 334 million
to over 500 million people
! In China, has enmeshed with local faiths to
become part of an ethnic religion
! Outside China, remains one of the great
proselytic religions in the world

Animism
! Retained tribal ethnic religion of people around the

world
! Today, adherents number at least 100 million
! Animists believe certain inanimate objects possess
spirits or souls
!
!

Spirits live in rocks, rivers, mountain peaks, and

heavenly bodies
Each tribe has its own characteristic form of animism

! A Shaman tribal religious figure usually serves as

the intermediary between people and the spirits

Animism
! To some animists, objects do not actually possess

spirits, but are valued because they have a potency

to serve as a link between people and the
omnipresent god
! Animism can be a very complex belief system
! Sub-Saharan Africa is the greatest surviving
stronghold of animism
!
!

Along the north edge Islam is rapidly winning converts

Christian missionaries are very active throughout the
area

Animism
! Animism in the Western Hemisphere

Umbanda kept alive by descendants of

African slaves in Brazil has 30 million followers
! Santeria is found mainly in Cuba
! Survives beneath a facade of nominal Roman
Catholicism in Cuba
!

Secularism
! In much of Europe religion has declined
! Today, number of nonreligious and atheistic persons

worldwide is about 1 billion

! Typically displays vivid regionalization on a variety of
scales
! Areas of religious vitality lie alongside secularized
districts in a disorderly jumble
! Causes of retreat from religion
!
!

A governments active hostility toward a particular faith

or religion
Failure of religions oriented toward the need of rural
folk to adapt to the urban scene

Sacred space
! Includes areas and sites recognized as worthy of

devotion, loyalty, fear, or esteem

!
!
!

Notion occurs in many different cultures, past and

present the world over
B.C. Lane saysan ordinary place made
extraordinary through ritual
May be sought out by pilgrims or barred to members of
other religions

! Often contain the site of supposed supernatural

events or viewed as abode of gods

Jerusalem

Sacred Space
! Jerusalem is sacred space

to Christians, Jews, and

Muslims. It contains the Via
Dolorosa (Way of the Cross)
leading to the site of Christs
crucifixion.
! According to Jewish
tradition, the sealed Golden
Gate (far right) is where the
Messiah will enter the city
and bring redemption. Ruins
of the City of David are at the
southwest corner of the wall.

Sacred Space
! Muslims are buried at the

foot of the wall; Jews on the

Mount of Olives in the
foreground; and, Christians
in the valley between. The
golden Dome of the Rock
covers the site where
Abraham prepared to
sacrifice his son Isaac and
Mohammed ascended to
heaven.
! It also occupies the site of
the First and Second
Temples built by Kings
Solomon and Herod. All that
remains is the sacred
Wailing Wall.

Sacred space
! Conflict can result of two religions venerate

the same space

! Example of conflict in Jerusalem
Muslim Dome of the Rock site of
Muhammads ascent to heaven
! Wailing Wall remnant of greatest Jewish
temple
!

! Cemeteries also generally regarded as type

of sacred space

Sacred space
! Sacred space is receiving increased attention

in the world
!

An internationally funded Sacred Land Project

began in the middle 1990s
!
!

Goal to identify and protect such sites

In the United Kingdom alone, 5000 sites have
been cataloged
Includes ancient stone circles, pilgrim routes,
and holy springs

Sacred space
! Sacred space is receiving increased attention in the

world
!

Mystical places locations unconnected with

established religion where some people believe
extraordinary, supernatural things can happen
! Bermuda Triangle
! Some include the expanses of the American Great
Plains
Some ancient sacred spaces never lose or they regain
the functional status of mystical place example of
Stonehenge in England

Culture Regions
! Religious Regions
! Religious Diffusion
! Religious Ecology
! Cultural Integration in Religion
! Religious Landscapes

The Semitic religious hearth

! Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all arose among

Semitic-speaking people
! All three arose from the margins of the southwestern
Asian deserts
! Judaism, the oldest, originated about 4,000 years
ago probably along the southern edge of the Fertile
Crescent
! Later, Judaism acquired dominion over lands
between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River
territorial base of modern Israel

The Semitic religious hearth

! About 2,000 years later, Christianity arose as a child of

Judaism from this same area

! Islam arose about seven centuries later in western Arabia,
partly from Jewish and Christian roots
! Religions spread by both relocation and expansion diffusion
! Expansion diffusion can be divided into hierarchical and
contagious subtypes
! Hierarchical diffusion ideas are implanted at top of a
society, leapfrogging across the map taking root in cities
! Use of missionaries involves relocation diffusion

The Semitic religious hearth

! Christianity spread through the Roman

Empire using the existing splendid road

! system
Clearly reflected hierarchical expansion
diffusion
! Early congregations were established in cities
and towns
! Temporarily established a pattern of
Christianized urban centers and pagan rural
areas
!

The Semitic religious hearth

! Scattered urban clusters of early Christianity were

created by relocation diffusion

!
!
!

Missionaries moved from town to town bearing news of

the emerging faith
Missionaries often used the technique of converting
kings or tribal leaders
Some expansion was militaristic reconquest of
Iberia, invasion of Latin America

! Christianity spread farther by contagious diffusion,

also called contact conversion

Malaysia

Diffusion of Christianity
! This is St Marys

Anglican Cathedral in a
primarily Muslim nation.
Constructed under
British rule in 1894, it
catered to English
residents and
missionized among the
locals. Services are
also in Tamil, a
Dravdian language of
southern India

Diffusion of Christianity
! Tamils were brought to

Malaya as indentured
labor to work in mines
and plantations during
the colonial era. Many
Hindu Tamils were of a
low caste or even
untouchables in India.
Christianity, without
proclaimed social
divisions, was and
remains attractive to
downtrodden peoples.

The Semitic religious hearth

! Islamic faith spread in a militaristic manner

Followed the command in the Koran

! Arabs exploded westward across North Africa
in a wave of religious and linguistic conquest
! Turks, once converted, carried out similar
Islamic conquests
! Muslim missionaries followed trade routes
eastward to implant Islam hierarchically in the
Philippines, Indonesia, and interior China
!

The Semitic religious hearth

! Tropical Africa is the current major area of

Islamic expansion
! Diffusion successes in Sub-Saharan Africa
and high birthrates in the older sphere of
dominance has made Islam the worlds
fastest-growing religion

The lndus-Ganges Hearth

! Second great religious hearth lies on the

plains fringing the northern edge of the Indian

subcontinent
Lowland, drained by the Ganges and Indus
rivers
! Gave birth to Hinduism and Buddhism
!

The lndus-Ganges Hearth

! Hinduism is at least 4,000 years old

Originated in the Punjab, from where it

diffused to dominate the subcontinent
! Missionaries later carried the faith in its
proselytic phase, to overseas areas
! Most converted regions were subsequently
lost
!

The lndus-Ganges Hearth

! Buddhism began in the foothills bordering the

Ganges Plain about 500 B.C.

!
!

For centuries remained confined to the Indian

subcontinent
Missionaries later carried it to other countries and
regions
! China between 100 B.C. and A.D. 200
! Korea and Japan between A.D. 300 and 500
! Southeast Asia between A.D. 400 and 600
" Tibet A.D. 700
" Mongolia A.D. 1500

Developed many regional forms and died out in its

area of origin

California

Diffusion of Buddhism
! Buddhism arrived with

Asian migrants in the

early 19th century and
has become
increasingly important
with each subsequent
immigrant group.
! This is the Fo Kuang
Shan Hsi Lai Temple in
Hacienda Heights, an
emerging Asian
Suburban area near
Los Angeles.

Diffusion of Buddhism
! Hsi Lai means coming to

the west. Replicating a

Taiwan temple and
practicing Pure Land
Buddhism, this ten building
complex trains both monks
and nuns and offers an array
of programs for Asians and
non-Asians alike. The
foreground Field of Merit
represents rice paddies,
recalling hard work and
devotion.

Barriers and time-distance decay

! Religious ideas weaken with distance from places of

origin and time

! Most religious barriers are permeable, but weaken
and retard religious spread
!
!
!

Partial acceptance of Christianity by various Indian

groups in Latin America and the western United States
Served as a camouflage under which many aspects of
tribal religions survived
Permeable barriers are normally present in expansion
diffusion

Barriers and time-distance decay

! Most religions become modified by older local

beliefs as they diffuse spatially

! Absorbing barriers example of China
Christian missionaries to China expected to
find fertile ground for conversion
! Chinese had long settled the question of what
is basic human nature
! Believed humans were inherently good and
evil desires represented merely a deviation
from that state
!

Barriers and time-distance decay

!
!
!

!
!

Evil desires could be shrugged off and people would

return to the basic nature they shared with heaven
Christian idea of original sin left the Chinese baffled
Chinese could not understand the concept of
humankind being flawed or their impossibility to return
to godhood
Many concepts of Christianity fell on rocky soil in China
In the early twentieth century some Chinese became
Christians in exchange for the rice missionaries gave
them

Barriers and time-distance decay

! Religion can act as a barrier to the spread of

nonreligious innovations
! Religious taboos can function as absorbing barriers
!
!
!

Can prevent diffusion of foods and drinks

Mormons are forbidden to consume products
containing caffeine
Some Pennsylvania Dutch churches prohibit cigarette
smoking, but not the raising of tobacco by member
farmers for commercial markets