UNIT 3 LESSON 9
THE STUDENT WILL BE ABLE TO….
Identify major world religions and their context within the
cultural complex and culture system.
WHY WE CARE….
 Religion: “A cultural system of beliefs, traditions, and practices often
centered around the worship of a deity or deities” (Malinowski, 2012).
 A huge driving force of history; both peaceful and violent
 Influenced cultural landscape; monuments to deities or artifacts on
landscape
 Significant influence on our daily lives (holidays, weekends, politics, and
expectations)
 Spatial distribution; some religious are some places, some are not.
BIG CONCEPTS
 Two classifications of religion (we focus on)
 Universalizing: “seek to convert nonbelievers to their ranks and are open
to anyone who is willing to do what is required for acceptance into the
religion.” have missionaries & seek out others
 Christianity (2 billion followers), Islam (1.3), and Buddhism (350 million)
 Ethnic: “associated with a particular ethnic group” and “to be a member
you must be born into the religion.” not seeking new members
 Hinduism, Shinto, and Judaism
 Traditional Religions: type of ethnic religion because they are fairly
isolated to a region; typically tribal groups, tend to coincide with
regions of the world that are less accessible (Rain Forest)
DIFFUSION & RELIGION
 Hearth: The place where something begins
 Diffusion: Movement of people, ideas, or things over time.
 Relocation diffusion: Spread through physical movement of people
 Expansion diffusion: Spread in an adaptive process
 Hierarchical diffusion/Contagious diffusion/Stimulus diffusion
 If a religion is “ethic” people are typically born into it, so in most cases
for it to move it is relocation diffusion. (Hinduism/Judaism)
 If a religion is “universalizing,” people convert, it is typically contagious
diffusion. If the religion relocates, it then turns into contagious
RELIGION AND ITS DIVISIONS (UNIVERSALIZING)
 Religion: (Example) Christianity
 Branch: Large and fundamental division within a religion
 Example: Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestants, Latter-day Saints
(Mormons)
 Example: Sunni Islam and Shiite Islam
 Denomination: Division of a branch that unites a number of local
congregations in a single legal and administrative body
 Example: Galveston-Houston Parish, Southern Baptist
 Sect: Relatively small group that has broken away from an establish
denomination
OTHER CLASSIFICATIONS OF RELIGION
 Monotheistic: belief/worship in one god.
 Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam are some examples
 Polytheistic: belief/worship multiple gods
 Hinduism (Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and Norse)
 Animism: belief that souls and gods inhabit all or most objectsespecially natural objects such as trees, stones, and water
 Shinto, Aboriginal groups, and many Native American groups
 Atheism and Agnosticism (Non-religions, but belief systems)
 Atheism: god does not exist
Agnosticism: nothing can be known
RELIGION AND MODERNISM
 Modernism: “refers to an intellectual movement that encourages
scientific thought.”
 Secularization: “reducing the scope or influence of religion”
 Resistance to change is usually in the form of religious
fundamentalism, or “interpretation of the principles of one’s faith in
such a way that they come to shape all aspects of private and public
life.”
 Religious Extremism: Fundamentalism taken to violence
 Islamic traditionalism/Islamism (a type of religious fundamentalism):
Movement that favors a return to or preservation of traditional, premodern Islam and resists Westernization and globalization.