Religions in the USA
What We Believe – or Not
Demographic maps are from American Ethnic Geography:
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/geo/courses/geo200/religion.html
“No Religion” Identification
 Agnostic: 0.5%
 Atheist: 0.4%
 “No religion”: 13.2%
So – secularists aside for the moment, we are
a religious country. But how do we believe,
area by area?
World Religions Distribution
Most Unified to Most Diverse
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Baha'i
Zoroastrianism
Sikhism
Islam
Jainism
Judaism
Taoism
Shinto
Christianity
Buddhism
Hinduism
How Are Religions Counted?
In order to rank religions by size, two
parameters must be defined:
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How is "size" determined?
What constitutes a "religion"?
Source: http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html
Meaning and End of Religion
 Faith – the substance of religious life
The subjective experience or transformation of
our relation to reality
For the philosopher, the important thing is to
understand “what it is like” to live as a believer (p.
27)
For Smith, the universal goal of religion is to
introduce a person to “that which is without limits.”
(p. 29)
Meaning and End of Religion, 2
 Cumulative Religious Traditions – the
external embodiment of religions
There is no “essence” of either Religion or
religions (p. 30, 31)
What is called religion is really religious
history – an “…evolving context of
observable actualities…” (p. 33)
The Seven Dimensions
 The abstract or non-physical dimensions
• Practical/ritual – practices through which a community
shares its religious life
• Experiential/emotional – the numinous something, mystical
experience, conversions, etc
• Narrative/mythical – unifying stories of beginnings (universe,
the religion itself), founding or emulative figures, defining
events, etc
• Doctrinal/philosophical – formalized or rationalized
theology/doctrine validating and clarifying the significance of
myth
• Ethical/legal – principles, laws and values of a religion
The Seven Dimensions, 2
 The embodied or material dimensions
•Social/institutional – the ways interpersonal
relations are organized within a religion; how
religions relate to the rest of society
•Material – the physical forms of a religion
(buildings, art)
Comparing the Definitions
Both question the idea that there is an “essence” of
religion – a trait or set of traits that all religions must
have to count as a religion
This suggests that there is not just diversity,
but a diversity that is irreducible to some
common ground.
Both minimize the propositional content of religion
Smart: this is only one of 6 other dimensions
Smith: all Gods are idols
Contrasting the Definitions
 Smart focuses more on the
observable or describable
aspects of organized
religion
 Smart eschews reference
to the transcendent,
studying religion as a way
in which humans conceive
of themselves and act in
the world
 Smith focuses more on
pairing the phenomenal
experience of religious
persons with an historical
study of the “externals” of
religious traditions
 Smith includes reference
to the transcendent,
suggesting a purpose of
religion
Assessing the Definitions
A good definition will:
Focus only on what is essential to the
definens (the concept being defined)
Help us distinguish between things which are,
and things which are not, members of the class
named by the definiens.
Applying the Definitions
How do either or both of these approaches to religion
help you better understand:
The true richness and diversity of human
religions?
The problem(s) we can encounter in trying to
find an “essence” of religion?
The aspects of religion that are most
important to you – and why?