1. What is Religion? What Effect does it have of Culture?
1.1. Religion- a system of beliefs and practices that attempts to order life in terms of culturally perceived ultimate priorities
1.2. Religious Prohibitions- practices, goods or people that are disapproved or outlawed by a religion. i.e. pork and spirits by Muslims, beef by Hindus
1.3. Secularism- indifference to or rejection of formal religion
1.4. different areas of the world are more secular and/or more likely to be influenced by secularism
2. Where did Major World Religions Originate? Diffusion?
2.1. Monotheistic- belief in one god
2.2. Polytheistic- belief in multiple gods or dieties
2.3. Animistic- belief in reverence towards inanimate objects such as mountains and trees
2.4. Universalizing religions- religions that actively seek converts
2.5. Ethnic religions- religions that do not actively seek converts
2.6. Hinduism
2.6.1. dates back over 4000 years
2.6.2. Indus river valley
2.6.3. Ethinc
2.6.4. Poly and Monotheisic
2.6.5. caste system- social and religious class system that applies to the the reincarnation of Hinduism
2.6.6. found all over southeast Asia primarily India
2.7. Bhuddhism
2.7.1. splintered from Hinduism around 2500 years ago
2.7.2. founded by a Hindu prince who came to be known as Bhuddha
2.7.3. Questioned caste system
2.7.4. grew slowly until it was adopted by some monarchies as official religion
2.7.5. enlightenment came from knowledge, elimination of greed, craving, or desire, and complete honesty and pacifism
2.7.6. spread through east asia and mixed with other religions
2.8. Shintoism
2.8.1. nature and ancestral worship
2.8.2. mixed with Bhuddhism
2.8.3. Japanese
2.9. Confucianism
2.9.1. started by Confucius around the time of Bhuddhism
2.9.2. services to ones fellow humans should supersede worship of spirits
2.9.3. abilities and virtues should determine power not heritage
2.10. Taoism
2.10.1. most likely originated from Lao-Tsu's "The Book of the Way"
2.10.2. living in harmony with nature
2.10.3. Feng Shui- art and science of organizing living spaces to channel nature
2.11. Many chinese religions were tageted by communism but many resisted
2.12. Judaism
2.12.1. Abraham of Ur united his people, the Jews, to worship only one god
2.12.2. at 70 ad the Diaspora drove the Jews from their homeland and scattered across Eurasia
2.12.3. Zionism- prompted by the anti-Jew campaign of the Nazis, Jews decided that they needed a state of there own to be truly safe
2.12.4. after WWII the UN created the nation of Israel as a totally Jewish state
2.12.5. The land was on the arab country of Palestine
2.13. Christianity
2.13.1. Roman Catholic
2.13.2. Eastern Orthodox
2.13.2.1. split from catholic in roman collapse due to better living standards and weak relations with rome
2.13.3. Protestant
2.13.3.1. Split from Catholic because the pope had to much control in the 1500s
2.13.4. founder was jesus
2.13.5. he was revered as the massiah
2.13.6. he was crucified and claimed to have rose from the dead and acended into heaven
2.13.7. Missionaries are adherents who spread the tenets of religion through aid work
2.14. Islam
2.14.1. founded by the prophet Muhammad, PBUH
2.14.2. the truth was revealed directly to him by Allah in revelations that started when he was about 42
2.14.3. he received the Muslim holy book, the Quran, directly from Allah
2.14.4. he became the one true prophet of the muslims
2.14.5. five pillars of belief practices (basic creed, frequent prayer, a month of daytime fasting, alms giving, and, if possible, one pilgrimage to mecca
2.14.6. divided into sects Sunni, Shi'ite, Sufi, Wahhabi, Salafist, Alawite, Alevi, Yazeedi
2.14.7. in certain sects, Imams are spiritual and social leaders whose appointments are regarded as sanctioned by Allah
2.14.8. diffused to north Africa, south west Asia, southern Europe, and south east Asian islands and northern Oceania
2.15. Indigenous and Shamanist
2.15.1. Indigenous religions usually consist of animistic dieties
2.15.2. Shamanist religions consist of a tribe or group following a shaman as a religious or even political leader
2.15.3. These religions appear in Native america, Africa, Aboriginal Oceania, and South and east Asia
2.16. Secularism
2.16.1. Many who claim a religion have never set foot in a respective religious establishment. Many others are not active members of a religion
2.16.2. some secularism has been forced in places like Red China or The Soviet union or in milder cases France
2.16.3. Many people also become dissatisfied with the teachings of a church so instead of abandoning religion altogether or starting a new religion, they switch or become inactive.
3. How is Religion Seen in the Cultural Landscape
3.1. Sacred Site- a place of religious significance
3.1.1. Jerusalem is full of sacred sites of christianity, judaism, and islam
3.1.2. Hindus believe that construction of a temple will bestow merit upon the builder, this led to many temples being built in both urban and rural areas
3.1.3. Buddhist sacred sites include the alleged place of Bhuddha's enlightnment
3.2. Pilgrimage- a travel to a religious site
3.3. Landscape of Hinduism- many temples close to water
3.4. Landscape of Buddhism- Bodhi trees, pagodas
3.5. Landscape of Christianity- church w/ ornate architecture, plain for protestant
3.6. Landscape of Islam- elaborate mosques, some roman architecture, no human figures,
4. What Role Does Religion Play in Political Conflicts?
4.1. Interfaith boundaries- physical meeting points between two or more different religions i.e. North Africa Muslim and southern Africa Christian and Animist
4.2. Intrafaith boundaries- physical meeting points between two or more sects, denomination, or groups of the same religion i.e. Northern Ireland Protestant and Ireland Catholic
4.3. Fundamentalism- groups that hold religious beliefs nonnegotiable, uncompromising and, often abosolute
4.3.1. Christianity- many Catholic fundamentalists still have mass in Latin and extremely oppose birth control
4.3.2. Judaism- Orthodox Jews tend to be fundamentalist and have many views about Palestine
4.3.3. Islam- Islamic fundamentalists usually adhere strictly to the rules of the Quran and have anti-woman policies, they also may promote extremist Jihad or holy war