Chapter 7: Religion

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Chapter 7 Religion

• Alex Matthews

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What is Religion?

• A system of beliefs and practices that attempts
  to order life in terms of culturally perceived
  ultimate priorities.
• Religion answers the question of how a person
  should behave on a day-to-day basis.

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The Purpose of Religion

• Religion normally projects the idea that a good
  life has rewards and that bad behaviors have
  punishments
• For many people, religion defines who they are
  and how they understand the world around them

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The Opposite of Religion

• 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.
• Basically stating that religion should be
  excluded from daily life and the main concern is
  to focus on life on the physical Earth.

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Categories of Religion

• Monotheistic a belief system in which one
  supreme deity is revered as creator and arbiter
  of all that exists.
• Key Phrase One deity
• Example Christianity
• Polytheistic a belief system in which multiple
  deities are revered as creators and arbiters of
  all that exists.
• Key Phrase Multiple deities
• Example Hinduism

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• Animistic a belief system in which inanimate
  objects and elements of the natural landscape
  possess souls and can help or hinder human
  efforts.
• Key Phrase Inanimate objects and nature
• Example Shamanism

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Hearths of Religion

• By 500 BCE there were four main hearths of
  religion and philosophy that were developed
• Greek Philosophy Shores of the Mediterranean Sea
• Hinduism South Asia, along the Indus River
  valley
• Judaism Eastern Mediterranean
• Chinese Philosophy Huang He River Valley in
  China
• These religions/philosophies influenced other
  religions that we know of today.

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Hearth Religious Influence on Other Religions

• Christianity has influence from both Judaism and
  Greek Philosophy.
• Islam has influence from Judaism, Greek
  Philosophy, and Christianity.
• The monotheistic beliefs that Christianity and
  Islam share are derived from the monotheistic
  beliefs that Judaism displays.

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Hearth of the Three Main Monotheistic Religions

• Around 3,500 years ago there was a monotheistic
  religion that developed in Southwest Asia called
  Zoroastrianism.
• Some believe that this religion is the original
  hearth of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
• However, some others believe that Judaism itself
  was the first monotheistic religion.

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Universalizing Religions

• A belief system that espouses the idea that
  there is one true religion that is universal in
  scope.
• Members of universalizing religions actively seek
  people to be a part of their religion.
  (Missionaries)
• Examples Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.

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Ethnic Religions

• A religion that is particular to one, culturally
  distinct group of people.
• Followers are normally born into the religion.
• Followers do not actively seek out converts like
  in universalizing religions.
• Ethnic religions tend to be spatially
  concentrated but not always.
• Examples Judaism, Shamanism, traditional
  religions in Africa

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Hearths of Different Religions

• Hinduism
• Originated 4,000 years ago in the Indus River
  Valley which is now part of Pakistan
• Does not have a single founder or single theology
• Based on ancient practices of the Indus River
  cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa

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• Buddhism
• Derived from Hinduism over 2,500 years ago
• Created as a reaction to Hinduisms strict social
  hierarchy
• Prince Siddhartha of what is now Nepal founded
  Buddhism and was known as the Buddha
• Shintoism
• Buddhism was mixed with a local religion in Japan
  creating Shintoism
• There is no official founder
• Taoism
• The exact beginnings are not known
• Can be traced back to an older contemporary of
  Confucius, Lao-Tsu
• Lao-Tsu published the Tao-te-ching, Book of the
  Way, which focused on the proper form of
  political rule and the oneness of humanity and
  nature

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• Confucianism
• Started by Confucius in China
• Confucius denied the divine ancestry of the
  aristocratic rulers, educated the landless and
  the weak, disliked supernatural mysticism, and
  argues that human virtues and abilities not
  heritage should determine a person's position and
  responsibility in society.
• Confucianism is a philosophy not really a
  religion.
• Judaism
• Grew out of the belief system of the Jews, one of
  the several nomadic Semitic tribes in Southwest
  Asia about 4,000 years ago.
• The teachings of Abraham are the roots of the
  Jewish religious beliefs
• Christianity
• Can be traced back to the same hearth as Judaism
  in the Mediterranean
• Jesus was the founder of Christianity

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• Islam
• Can be traced back to the founder Muhammad in
  Mecca
• Muhammad admired the monotheism of Judaism and
  Christianity
• Traditional/Shamanist
• Can be traced back to many different tribes
  scattered all around the world
• These faiths could be found in early African,
  Native American, Southeast and East Asian
  civilizations.

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Sacred Sites

• Place or space people infuse with religious
  meaning.
• The ancient city of Jerusalem is sacred to the
  Jewish people, Christians and Muslims.
• The Western Wall and The Temple Mount are other
  examples of sacred sites

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Sacred Landscapes

• How religion is prominent through an areas
  landscape
• Since the erection of a temple in the Hindu
  culture bestows merit on the builder, there are
  many temples within the Hindu cultural landscape.
• In a Christian landscape a church is always
  present and sometimes is the focus of the whole
  town.

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Interfaith Boundaries

• Boundaries between the worlds major religions
• Social division in a country based on religion
  can cause conflict and interfaith boundaries
• Examples
• The Christian and Muslim faith presences in
  Africa
• Israel/Palestine Conflict

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Intrafaith Boundaries

• Boundaries within a single faith
• Different sects of a religion could engage in
  conflict with each other based on diverging
  beliefs.
• Example
• The Protestant/Catholic conflict in Northern
  Ireland

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Israel and Palestine

• After World War I, the British, who controlled
  Palestine, wanted to create a national homeland
  for the Jewish people within Palestine.
• The British assured the world that the non-Jewish
  people of Palestine would have protected
  religious and civil rights
• A peaceful result was not achieved by the policy
  and by 1947-1948 Jews and Palestinians engaged in
  open warfare.

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Yugoslavia

• The Catholic and Eastern Orthodox divisions of
  Christianity existed in Yugoslavia divided by the
  Balkan Peninsula.
• The Slovenians and Croats in the west of the
  peninsula were Catholic.
• The Serbians and Montenegrans in the east and
  south of the Peninsula were Eastern Orthodox
• Also, the people in the west of the peninsula
  used the roman alphabet and the people in the
  east and south used the Cyrillic alphabet

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Yugoslavia (Continued)

• The already present religious and linguistic
  tension that existed in Yugoslavia followed by
  the forceful take over by the Muslim Ottomans
  caused more tension and conflict.

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Religious Fundamentalism

• Religious movement whose objectives are to
  return to the foundations of the faith and to
  influence state policy
• A fundamentalist group holds it religious beliefs
  as nonnegotiable and uncompromisable.

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Religious Extremism

• Religious fundamentalism carried to the point of
  violence
• Fundamentalists can be extremists but not the
  other way around.