AP Human Geography
Comparative Religions Project
This project asks students to produce a summary of evidence concerning six of the world’s major
belief systems. This project will help you develop a good study resource to review for both the
semester exam and the AP exam in the spring. You will receive two full days in the lab to work
on this.
1. Prepare an information sheet for all of the following religions: Judaism, Confucianism,
Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Include answers to the following questions
on each information sheet.
(40 points)
a. What are the basic beliefs of the religion/philosophy?
b. What is the point of origin?
c. How did the religion/philosophy spread/diffused?
d. Where is this tradition most influential today?
e. How many followers are there worldwide?
f. Is this a monotheistic or polytheistic tradition?
g. Is this a universalizing religion or an ethnic religion?
h. Who is/are the main/major deity(ies)?
i. Who founded this faith? When?
j. What do the followers call their scriptures or holy book(s)?
k. How is the religious leadership organized?
l. What are the holy places of the religion?
m. What are the sacred spaces of the religion?
n. Where does this religion worship and are there certain times or days?
o. Does this religion have its own calendar or way of marking important days?
p. What sects of the religion/philosophy have developed over time?
2. Short Essay - Choose three conflicts that have happened as a result of religious tension.
They could be in the past, or in the present. Briefly explain each conflict and what the
points of contention were, what the outcome was, and what the present situation is in the
area.
(12 points)
3. Create a works cited page (MLA or APA is fine) and attach it to the back of this packet.
Your textbook should be your number one resource, so make sure to list it. But you also
can find a lot of other great resources on the internet. (one I recommend is the BBC
religion site)
(3 points)
Bonus Points:
Complete part 1 for one of the following belief systems:
Taoism, Jainism, Shinto, Sikhism, Baha’i, Zoroastrianism