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Stonehenge, England, at winter solstice sunset. �
Religion K E Y I S S U E S
1. Where are religions distributed?
2. Why do religions have different distributions?
3. Why do religions organize space in distinctive patterns?
4. Why do territorial conflicts arise among religious groups?
And He shall judge between the nations, And shall decide for many peoples; And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, And their spears into pruning-hooks: Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah 2:4
CHAPTER 6
his passage from the Bible, the holiest book of Christianity and Judaism, is one of the most eloquent pleas for peace among the nations of the world. For many religious people, especially in the Western Hemisphere and Europe, Isaiah evokes a highly attractive image of the ideal future landscape.
Islam’s holiest book, the Quran (sometimes spelled Koran), also evokes powerful images of a peaceful landscape:
He it is who sends down water from the sky, whence ye have drink, and whence the trees grow whereby ye feed your flocks.
He makes the corn to grow, and the olives, and the palms, and the grapes, and some of every fruit; verily, in that is a sign unto a people who reflect.
Sûrah (Chapter) of the Bee XVI.9
Most religious people pray for peace, but religious groups may not share the same vision of how peace will be achieved. Geogra- phers see that the process by which one religion diffuses across the landscape may conflict with the distribution of others. Geographers are concerned with the regional distribution of different religions and the resulting potential for conflict.
Geographers also observe that religions are derived in part from elements of the physical environment, and that religions, in turn, modify the landscape. As evidence of this, note the rich agricultural images in the passages just quoted from the Bible and the Quran.
T
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182 Chapter 6 Religion
Religion interests geographers because it is essential for understanding how humans occupy Earth. As always, human geographers start by asking “where” and “why.” The predom- inant religion varies among regions of the world, as well as among regions within North America. Geographers docu- ment the places where various religions are located in the world and offer explanations for why some religions have widespread distributions, whereas others are highly clustered in particular places.
To understand why some religions occupy more space than others, geographers must look at differences among practices of various faiths. Geographers, though, are not theologians, so they stay focused on those elements of religions that are geo- graphically significant. Geographers study spatial connections in religion: the distinctive place of origin of religions, the extent of diffusion of religions from their places of origin, the processes by which religions diffused to other locations, and the religious practices and beliefs that lead some religions to have more widespread distributions.
Geographers find the tension in scale between globalization and local diversity especially acute in religion for a number of reasons:
• People care deeply about their religion and draw from reli- gion their core values and beliefs, an essential element of the definition of culture.
• Some religions are actually designed to appeal to people throughout the world, whereas other religions are designed to appeal primarily to people in geographically limited areas.
• Religious values are important in understanding not only how people identify themselves, as was the case with lan- guage, but also the meaningful ways that they organize the landscape.
• Most (though not all) religions require exclusive adherence, so adopting a global religion usually requires turning away from a traditional local religion, whereas people can learn a globally important language such as English and at the same time still speak the language of their local culture.
• Like language, migrants take their religion with them to new locations, but although migrants typically learn the lan- guage of the new location, they retain their religion.
This chapter starts by describing the distribution of major religions, then in the second section explains why some religions have diffused widely, whereas others have not. As a major facet of culture, religion leaves a strong imprint on the physical envi- ronment, discussed in the third section of the chapter. Religion, like other cultural characteristics, can be a source of pride and a means of identification with a distinct culture. Unfortunately, intense identification with one religion can lead adherents into conflict with followers of other religions, discussed in the fourth key issue of the chapter.
executed or imprisoned tens of thousands and forced another 100,000, including the Dalai Lama, to emigrate. Buddhist temples were closed and demolished, and religious artifacts and scriptures were destroyed.
Why did the Chinese try to dismantle the religious institutions of a poor, remote country? At issue was the fact that the presence of strong religious feelings among the Tibetan people conflicted with the aims of the Chinese government. The conflict between tra- ditional Buddhism and the Chinese government is one of many examples of the impact of religion. However, in the modern world of global economics and culture, local religious belief continues to play a strong role in people’s lives.
CASE STUDY
The Dalai Lama Versus the People’s Republic of China The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, is as important to that religion as the Pope is to Roman Catholics. Traditionally, the Dalai Lama— which translates as oceanic teacher—was not only the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism but also the head of the government of Tibet. The first photograph of this chapter shows the Dalai Lama’s former palace in Tibet’s capital Lhasa, situated in the Himalaya Mountains.
China, which had ruled Tibet from 1720 until its independence in 1911, invaded the rugged, isolated country in 1950, turned it into a province named Xizang in 1951, and installed a Communist government in Tibet in 1953. After crushing a rebellion in 1959, China
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K E Y I S S U E 1 Where Are Religions Distributed? • Universalizing religions
• Ethnic religions
Only a few religions can claim the adherence of large numbers of people. Each of these faiths has a distinctive distribution across Earth’s surface (Figure 6–1).
Geographers distinguish two types of religions: universalizing and ethnic. Universalizing religions attempt to be global, to appeal to all people, wherever they may live in the world, not just to those of one culture or loca- tion. An ethnic religion appeals primarily to one group of people living in one place. About 62 percent of the world’s population adhere to a universal- izing religion, 24 percent to an ethnic religion, and 14 percent to no religion. This section examines the world’s three main universalizing religions and some representative ethnic religions.
Universalizing Religions The three main universalizing religions are Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Each of the three is divided into branches, denominations, and sects. A branch is a large and fundamental division within a religion. A denomination is a division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations in a single legal and administrative body. A sect is a relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination.
Christianity Christianity has more than 2 billion adherents, far more than any other world religion, and has the most widespread distribu- tion. It is the predominant religion in North America, South America, Europe, and Australia, and countries with a Christian majority exist in Africa and Asia as well.
BRANCHES OF CHRISTIANITY. Christianity has three major branches—Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox. Roman Catholics comprise 52 percent of the world’s Christians, Protestants 21 percent, and Eastern Orthodox 10 percent. In addition, 22 percent of Christians belong to churches that do not consider themselves within one of the above three branches, and 5 percent of self-professed Christians are unaffiliated with any church. This list adds up to 110 percent, because 10 percent of Christians have been baptized in more than one church and have therefore been counted more than once.
Within Europe, Roman Catholicism is the dominant Christian branch in the southwest and east, Protestantism in the northwest, and Eastern Orthodoxy in the east and south- east (Figure 6–2). The regions of Roman Catholic and Protestant majorities frequently have sharp boundaries, even when they run through the middle of countries. For example, the Netherlands and Switzerland have approximately equal percentages of Roman Catholics and Protestants, but the
Roman Catholic populations are concentrated in the south of these countries and the Protestant populations in the north.
The Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity is a collection of 14 self-governing churches in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. More than 40 percent of all Eastern Orthodox Christians belong to one of these 14—the Russian Orthodox Church. Christianity came to Russia in the tenth century, and the Russian Orthodox Church was established in the sixteenth century.
Nine of the other 13 self-governing churches were estab- lished in the nineteenth or twentieth century. The largest of these nine, the Romanian Church, includes 20 percent of all Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Bulgarian, Greek, and Serbian Orthodox churches have approximately 10 percent each. The other five recently established Orthodox churches— Albania, Cyprus, Georgia, Poland, and Sinai—combined have about 2 percent of all Eastern Orthodox Christians.
The remaining four of the 14 Eastern Orthodox churches— Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem—trace their origins to the earliest days of Christianity. They have a combined membership of about 3 percent of all Eastern Orthodox Christians.
CHRISTIANITY IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. The over- whelming percentage of people living in the Western Hemi- sphere—nearly 90 percent—are Christian. About 5 percent belong to other religions, and the remaining 6 percent profess adherence to no religion.
A fairly sharp boundary exists within the Western Hemisphere in the predominant branches of Christianity. Roman Catholics comprise 93 percent of Christians in Latin America, compared with 29 percent in North America. Within North America, Roman Catholics are clustered in the southwestern and north- eastern United States and the Canadian province of Québec.
Protestant churches have approximately 83 million mem- bers, or about 28 percent of the U.S. population. Baptist churches have the largest number of adherents in the United States, about 35 million combined (Table 6–1). The next three largest Protestant denominations in the United States are Methodist, Pentecostal, and Lutheran.
Membership in some Protestant churches varies by region of the United States. Baptists, for example, are highly clustered in the southeast, and Lutherans in the upper midwest. Other Christian denominations are more evenly distributed around the country (Figure 6–3).
SMALLER BRANCHES OF CHRISTIANITY. Several other Christian churches developed independent of the three main branches. Many of these Christian communities were isolated from others at an early point in the development of Christianity, partly because of differences in doctrine and partly as a result of Islamic control of intervening territory in Southwest Asia and North Africa. Two small Christian churches survive in northeast Africa—the Coptic Church of Egypt and the Ethiopian Church. The Ethiopian Church, with perhaps 10 million adherents, split from the Egyptian Coptic Church in 1948, although it traces its roots to the fourth century, when two shipwrecked Christians, who were taken as slaves, ultimately converted the Ethiopian king to Christianity.
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ATLANTIC
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CHRISTIANITY ISLAM
UNIVERSALIZING RELIGIONS
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ETHNIC RELIGIONS
84% Catholic
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9% Protestant
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Christian
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LATIN AMERICA
ANGLO-AMERICA
FIGURE 6–1 World distribution of religions. More than two-thirds of Earth’s people adhere to one of four religions:
• Christianity: 33 percent, especially in Europe and the Western Hemisphere
• Islam: 20 percent, especially in northern Africa and Southwest and Southeast Asia
• Hinduism: 13 percent, virtually all in India • Buddhism: 6 percent, especially in East and South-
east Asia Eleven percent adhere to one of a number of ethnic religions based in Africa or Asia. Three percent belong to another universalizing religion. The remaining 14 percent are nonreligious or atheists. In China and sub- Saharan Africa, many people profess adherence to both an ethnic and a universalizing religion. The small pie charts on the map show the overall proportion of the world’s religions in each world region. The large pie chart below shows the worldwide percentage of people adhering to the various religions.
The Armenian Church originated in Antioch, Syria, and was important in diffusing Christianity to South and East Asia between the seventh and thirteenth centuries. The church’s few present- day adherents are concentrated in Lebanon and Armenia, as well as in northeastern Turkey and western Azerbaijan. Despite the small number of adherents, the Armenian Church, like other small sects, plays a significant role in regional conflicts. For example,
Armenian Christians have fought for the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, a portion of Azerbaijan, because Nagorno- Karabakh is predominantly Armenian, whereas the remainder of Azerbaijan is overwhelmingly Shiite Muslim (see Chapter 7).
The Maronites are another example of a small Christian sect that plays a disproportionately prominent role in political unrest. They are clustered in Lebanon, which has suffered through a long civil war fought among religious groups (see Chapter 7).
In the United States, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) regard their church as a branch of Christianity separate from other branches. About 3 percent of Americans are members of the Latter-Day Saints, a large percentage clustered in Utah and surrounding states.
Islam Islam, the religion of 1.3 billion people, is the predominant reli- gion of the Middle East from North Africa to Central Asia (Figure 6–1). However, half of the world’s Muslims live in four
Other universalizing
7
RELIGIONS (Percentage of people
practicing each) SNOIGILE
R G
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Roman Catholic 17
Protestant
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3 6
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7 6
Hindu 13
Sunni Muslim
17
Other ethnic
East Asian ethnicBuddhistShiite Muslim
Other Christian
Eastern Orthodox
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PACIFIC OCEAN
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Sunni Muslim
65% Hindu
24%69% Sunni
Muslim
26% Sunni
Muslim
21% Catholic
24% Protestant
16% Animist
6% Other Christian6%
Orthodox
6% Other religions
27% Shiite
Muslim
39% Protestant
26% Catholic 13%
Nonreligious
2% Orthodox
13% Other Christian
5% Other religions
2% Buddhist
1% Jewish 2%
Orthodox
1% Other religions 2%
Sikh 3%
Shiite Muslim
4% Other
religions 2% Christian
64% Non-
religious18% Chinese
folk
10% Buddhist
5% Shinto
2% Sunni Muslim
1% Other religions
EAST ASIA
SOUTHEAST ASIA
SOUTH ASIA
MIDDLE EAST
SOUTH PACIFIC
17% Catholic
31% Orthodox
3% Protestant
1% Other Religions
1% Other Christian
43% Nonreligious
3% Sunni Muslim
1% Jewish
53% Catholic 21%
Protestant
16% Orthodox
6% Sunni Muslim
4% Other Christian EASTERN
EUROPE
WESTERN EUROPE
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
51% Sunni
Muslim
13% Buddhist
4% Nonreligious
5% Protestant
5% other religions
22% Catholic
countries outside the Middle East—Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. The word Islam in Arabic means “submis- sion to the will of God,” and it has a similar root to the Arabic word for peace. An adherent of the religion of Islam is known as a Muslim, which in Arabic means “one who surrenders to God.”
The core of Islamic belief is represented by five pillars of faith:
1. There is no god worthy of worship except the one God, the source of all creation, and Muhammad is the messen- ger of God.
2. Five times daily, a Muslim prays, facing the city of Makkah (Mecca), as a direct link to God.
3. A Muslim gives generously to charity, as an act of purifica- tion and growth.
4. A Muslim fasts during the month of Ramadan, as an act of self-purification.
5. If physically and financially able, a Muslim makes a pilgrimage to Makkah.
BRANCHES OF ISLAM. Islam is divided into two important branches: Sunni (from the Arabic word for orthodox) and Shiite (from the Arabic word for sectarian, sometimes written Shia in English). Sunnis comprise 83 percent of Muslims and are the largest branch in most Muslim countries in the Middle East and Asia (see Figure 6–1).
Sixteen percent of Muslims are Shiites, clustered in a hand- ful of countries. Nearly 30 percent of all Shiites live in Iran, 15 percent in Pakistan, and 10 percent in Iraq. Shiites comprise nearly 90 percent of the population in Iran and more than half of the population in Azerbaijan, Iraq, and the less populous countries of Oman and Bahrain.
ISLAM IN NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE. The Muslim population of North America and Europe has increased rapidly in recent years. In Europe, Muslims account for 5 percent of the population. France has the largest Muslim population,
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Protestant majority
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FIGURE 6–2 Branches of Christianity in Europe. In the United Kingdom, Germany, and Scandinavia the majority adhere to a Protestant denomination. In Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Eastern Orthodoxy dominates. Roman Catholicism is dominant in Southern, Central, and Southwestern Europe.
TABLE 6–1 Religions of the United States
250 million Christians 67 million Roman Catholics 4 million Orthodox
12 million a church of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America 2 million another Orthodox church
83 million Protestants 35 million a Baptist church 16 million a Southern Baptist Convention church 5 million a National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., church 5 million a National Baptist Convention of America church 3 million a National Missionary Baptist Convention of America church 3 million a Progressive National Baptist Convention church 3 million another Baptist church
12 million a Methodist church 8 million a United Methodist church 4 million an African Methodist Episcopal or Episcopal Zion church
11 million a Pentecostal church 5 million a Church of God in Christ 3 million one of the Assemblies of God churches 2 million one of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the world churches 1 million another Pentacostal church 8 million a Lutheran church 5 million an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 2 million one of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod churches 1 million another Lutheran church 4 million a Presbyterian church
3 million a Presbyterian Church U.S.A. 1 million another Presbyterian church 2 million a Reformed church 1 million a United Church of Christ 1 million another Reformed church 2 million an Episcopal church 2 million a Church of the United Brethren in Christ 2 million one of the Churches of Christ 1 million a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 1 million a Seventh Day Adventist church 3 million another Protestant church
96 million other Christians 6 million a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 1 million a Jehovah’s Witness church
89 million marginal Christians, unaffiliated with a church, or affiliated with multiple churches
7 million Muslims 5 million Sunni and Shiite Muslims 2 million Black Muslims
6 million Jews 3 million Buddhists 1 million Bahá’ís 1 million Hindus 4 million other faiths
30 million nonreligious or atheist
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about 4 million, a legacy of immigration from predominantly Muslim former colonies in North Africa. Germany has about 3 million Muslims, also a legacy of immigration, in Germany’s case primarily from Turkey. In Southeast Europe, Albania, Bosnia, and Serbia each have about 2 million Muslims.
The United States and Canada are home to approximately 5 million Muslims, an increase from only a few hundred thou- sand in 1990. Islam also has a presence in the United States through the Nation of Islam, also known as Black Muslims, founded in Detroit in 1930 and led for more than 40 years by Elijah Muhammad, who called himself “the messenger of Allah.”
Black Muslims lived austerely and advocated a separate autonomous nation within the United States for their adherents. Tension between Muhammad and a Black Muslim minister, Malcolm X, divided the sect during the 1960s. After a pilgrim- age to Makkah in 1963, Malcolm X converted to orthodox Islam and founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity. He was assassinated in 1965.
Since Muhammad’s death, in 1975, his son Wallace D. Muhammad led the Black Muslims closer to the principles of orthodox Islam, and the organization’s name was changed to the American Muslim Mission. A splinter group adopted the ori- ginal name, Nation of Islam, and continues to follow the separatist teachings of Elijah Muhammad.
Buddhism Buddhism, the third of the world’s major universalizing reli- gions, has nearly 400 million adherents, who are mainly found in China and Southeast Asia (refer to Figure 6–1). The founda- tion of Buddhism is represented by these concepts, known as the Four Noble Truths:
1. All living beings must endure suffering. 2. Suffering, which is caused by a desire to live, leads to rein-
carnation (repeated rebirth in new bodies or forms of life). 3. The goal of all existence is to escape from suffering and
the endless cycle of reincarnation into Nirvana (a state of complete redemption), which is achieved through mental and moral self-purification.
4. Nirvana is attained through an Eightfold Path, which includes rightness of belief, resolve, speech, action, liveli- hood, effort, thought, and meditation.
Like the other two universalizing religions, Buddhism split into more than one branch, as followers disagreed on interpreting statements by the founder, Siddhartha Gautama. The three main branches are Mahayana, Theravada, and Tantrayana. Mahayanists account for about 56 percent of Buddhists, primarily in China, Japan, and Korea. Theravadists comprise about 38 percent of
ATLANTIC OCEANPACIFIC
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FIGURE 6–3 Distribution of Christians in the United States. The shaded areas are U.S. counties in which more than 50 percent of church membership is concentrated in either Roman Catholicism or one Protestant denomination. Baptists are concentrated in the Southeast, Lutherans in the Upper Midwest, Mormons in Utah and contiguous states, and Roman Catholics in the Northeast and Southwest. The distinctive distribution of religious groups within the United States results from patterns of migration, especially from Europe in the nineteenth century and from Latin America in recent years.
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Buddhists, especially in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. The remaining 6 percent are Tantrayanists, found primarily in Tibet and Mongolia.
An accurate count of Buddhists is especially difficult, because only a few people participate in Buddhist institutions. Religious functions are performed primarily by monks rather than by the general public. Also, the number of Buddhists is difficult to count because Buddhism, although a universalizing religion, differs in significant respects from the Western concept of a formal reli- gious system. Someone can be both a Buddhist and a believer in other Eastern religions, whereas Christianity and Islam both require exclusive adherence. Most Buddhists in China and Japan, in particular, believe at the same time in an ethnic religion.
Other Universalizing Religions Sikhism and Bahá’í are the two universalizing religions other than Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism with the largest num- bers of adherents. There are an estimated 25 million Sikhs and 8 million Bahá’ís. All but 3 million Sikhs are clustered in the Punjab region of India, whereas Bahá’ís are dispersed among many countries, primarily in Africa and Asia.
Sikhism’s first guru (religious teacher or enlightener) was Nanak (1469–1538), who lived in a village near the city of Lahore, in present-day Pakistan. God was revealed to Guru Nanak as The
One Supreme Being, or Creator, who rules the universe by divine will. Only God is perfect, but people have the capacity for contin- ual improvement and movement toward perfection by taking individual responsibility for their deeds and actions on Earth, such as heartfelt adoration, devotion, and surrender to the one God.
Sikhism’s most important ceremony, introduced by the tenth guru, Gobind Singh (1666–1708), is the Amrit (or Baptism), in which Sikhs declare they will uphold the principles of the faith. Gobind Singh also introduced the practice of men wearing tur- bans on their heads and never cutting their beards or hair. Wearing a uniform gave Sikhs a disciplined outlook and a sense of unity of purpose.
The Bahá’í religion is even more recent than Sikhism. It grew out of the Bábi faith, which was founded in Shíráz, Iran, in 1844 by Siyyid ‘Ali Muhammad, known as the Báb (Persian for “gateway”). Bahá’ís believe that one of the Báb’s disciples Husayn ‘Ali Nuri, known as Bahá’u’lláh (Arabic for “Glory of God”), was the prophet and messenger of God. Bahá’u’lláh’s function was to overcome the disunity of religions and establish a universal faith through abolition of racial, class, and religious prejudices.
Ethnic Religions The ethnic religion with by far the largest number of followers is Hinduism. With 860 million adherents, Hinduism is the world’s third-largest religion, behind Christianity and Islam. Ethnic religions in Asia and Africa comprise most of the remainder.
Hinduism Ethnic religions typically have much more clustered distribu- tions than do universalizing religions. Although Hinduism is the world’s third-largest religion, 97 percent of Hindus are con- centrated in one country, India, and most of the remainder can be found in India’s neighbor Nepal. Hindus comprise more than 80 percent of the population of these two countries, and a small minority in every other country.
Rigid approach to theological matters is not central to Hinduism. Hindus believe that it is up to the individual to decide the best way to worship God. Various paths to reach God include the path of knowledge, the path of renunciation, the path of devotion, and the path of action. You can pursue your own path and follow your own convictions, as long as they are in harmony with your true nature. You are responsible for your own actions and you alone suffer the consequences.
Because people start from different backgrounds and expe- riences, the appropriate form of worship for any two individu- als may not be the same. Hinduism does not have a central authority or a single holy book, so each individual selects suit- able rituals. If one person practices Hinduism in a particular way, other Hindus will not think that the individual has made a mistake or strayed from orthodox doctrine.
The average Hindu has allegiance to a particular god or con- cept within a broad range of possibilities. The manifestation of God with the largest number of adherents—an estimated 68 percent—is Vaishnavism, which worships the god Vishnu, a loving god incarnated as Krishna. An estimated 27 percent adhere to Sivaism, dedicated to Siva, a protective and destructive
A 34-meter (110-foot) statue of Buddha seated on a lotus flower stands at Po Lin Monastery on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island, in China.
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god. Shaktism is a form of worship dedicated to the female con- sorts of Vishnu and Siva. Although these and other deities and approaches are supported throughout India, some geographic concentration exists: Siva and Shakti are concentrated in the north; Shakti and Vishnu in the east; Vishnu in the west; and Siva, along with some Vishnu, in the south. However, holy places for Siva and Vishnu are dispersed throughout India.
Other Ethnic Religions Several hundred million people practice ethnic religions in East Asia, especially in China and Japan. The coexistence of Buddhism with these ethnic religions in East Asia differs from the Western concept of exclusive religious belief. Confucianism and Daoism (sometimes spelled Taoism) are often distinguished as separate ethnic religions in China, but many Chinese consider themselves both Buddhists and either Confucian, Daoist, or some other Chinese ethnic religion.
Buddhism does not compete for adherents with Confucianism, Daoism, and other ethnic religions in China, because many Chinese accept the teachings of both universalizing and ethnic religions. Such commingling of diverse philosophies is not totally foreign to Americans. The tenets of Christianity or Judaism, the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosophers, and the ideals of the Declaration of Independence can all be held dear without doing grave injustice to the others.
CONFUCIANISM. Confucius (551–479 B.C.) was a philosopher and teacher in the Chinese province of Lu. His sayings, which were recorded by his students, emphasized the importance of the ancient Chinese tradition of li, which can be translated roughly as “propriety” or “correct behavior.” Confucianism is an ethnic religion because of its especially strong rooting in tra- ditional values of special importance to Chinese people.
Confucianism prescribed a series of ethical principles for the orderly conduct of daily life in China, such as following traditions, fulfilling obligations, and treating others with sym- pathy and respect. These rules applied to China’s rulers, as well as to their subjects.
DAOISM (TAOISM). Lao-Zi (604–531? B.C., also spelled Lao Tse), a contemporary of Confucius, organized Daoism. Although a government administrator by profession, Lao-Zi’s writings emphasized the mystical and magical aspects of life rather than the importance of public service, which Confucius had emphasized.
Daoists seek dao (or tao), which means the “way” or “path.” A virtuous person draws power (de or te) from being absorbed in dao. Dao cannot be comprehended by reason and knowledge, because not everything is knowable. Because the universe is not ultimately subject to rational analysis, myths and legends develop to explain events. Only by avoidance of daily activities and introspection can a person live in harmony with the princi- ples that underlie and govern the universe.
Daoism split into many sects, some acting like secret soci- eties, and followers embraced elements of magic. The religion was officially banned by the Communists after they took control of China in 1949, but it is still practiced in China, and it is legal in Taiwan.
SHINTOISM. Since ancient times, Shintoism has been the dis- tinctive ethnic religion of Japan. Ancient Shintoists considered forces of nature to be divine, especially the Sun and Moon, as well as rivers, trees, rocks, mountains, and certain animals. The religion was transmitted from one generation to the next orally until the fifth century A.D., when the introduction of Chinese writing facilitated the recording of ancient rituals and prayers. Gradually, deceased emperors and other ancestors became more important deities for Shintoists than natural features.
Under the reign of the Emperor Meiji (1868–1912), Shintoism became the official state religion, and the emperor was regarded as divine. Shintoism therefore was as much a political cult as a reli- gion, and in a cultural sense all Japanese were Shintoists. After defeating Japan in World War II, the victorious Allies ordered Emperor Hirohito to renounce his divinity in a speech to the Japanese people, although he was allowed to retain ceremonial powers.
Shintoism still thrives in Japan, although no longer as the official state religion. Prayers are recited to show reverance for ancestors, and pilgrimages are made to shrines believed to house deities. More than 80,000 shrines serve as places for neighbors to meet or for children to play.
JUDAISM. About 6 million Jews live in the United States, 5 million in Israel, 2 million in Europe, and 1 million each in Asia and Latin America. Within the United States, Jews are heavily concentrated in the large cities, including one-fourth in the New York area alone. Jews constitute a majority in Israel, where for the first time since the biblical era an independent state has had a Jewish majority.
Judaism plays a more substantial role in Western civilization than its number of adherents would suggest, because two of the three main universalizing religions—Christianity and Islam— find some of their roots in Judaism. Jesus was born a Jew, and Muhammad traced his ancestry to Abraham.
Judaism is an ethnic religion based in the lands bordering the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, called Canaan in the Bible, Palestine by the Romans, and the state of Israel since 1948. About 4,000 years ago Abraham, considered the patriarch or father of Judaism, migrated from present-day Iraq to Canaan, along a route known as the Fertile Crescent (see dis- cussion of the Fertile Crescent in Chapter 8 and Figure 8–3). The Bible recounts the ancient history of the Jewish people.
Fundamental to Judaism was belief in one all-powerful God. It was the first recorded religion to espouse monotheism, belief that there is only one God. Judaism offered a sharp contrast to the polytheism practiced by neighboring people, who worshipped a collection of gods. Jews considered themselves the “chosen” people, because God had selected them to live according to His ethical and moral principles, such as the Ten Commandments.
The name Judaism derives from Judah, one of the patriarch Jacob’s 12 sons; Israel is another biblical name for Jacob. Descendants of ten of Jacob’s sons, plus two of his grandsons, constituted the 12 tribes of Hebrews who emigrated from Egypt in the Exodus narrative. Each received a portion of Canaan. Judah is one of the surviving tribes of Hebrews; ten of the tribes were considered lost after they were conquered and forced to migrate to Assyria in 721 B.C.
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ETHNIC AFRICAN RELIGIONS. Approximately 100 million Africans, 12 percent of the population, follow traditional ethnic religions, sometimes called animism. Animists believe that such inanimate objects as plants and stones, or such natural events as thunderstorms and earthquakes, are “animated,” or have discrete spirits and conscious life. Relatively little is known about African religions because few holy books or other written documents have come down from ancestors. Religious rituals are passed from one generation to the next by word of mouth.
African animist religions are apparently based on monotheistic concepts, although below the supreme god there is a hierarchy of divinities. These divinities may be assistants to the supreme god or personifications of natural phenomena, such as trees or rivers.
As recently as 1980, some 200 million Africans—half the population of the region at the time—were classified as ani- mists. Some atlases and textbooks persist in classifying Africa as predominantly animist, even though the actual percentage is small and declining. Followers of traditional African reli- gions now constitute a clear majority of the population in Botswana and half of the population in Angola, Benin, Congo Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mozambique, Togo, and Zimbabwe.
The rapid decline in animists in Africa has been caused by increases in the numbers of Christians and Muslims. Africa is now 46 percent Christian—split about evenly among Roman Catholic, Protestant, and other—and another 40 percent are Muslims. The growth in the two universalizing religions at the expense of ethnic religions reflects fundamental geographical differences between the two types of religions, discussed in the next key issue.
K E Y I S S U E 2 Why Do Religions Have Different Distributions? • Origin of religions
• Diffusion of religions
• Holy places
• The calendar
We can identify several major geographical differences between universal- izing and ethnic religions. These differences include the locations where the religions originated, the processes by which they diffused from their place of origin to other regions, the types of places that are considered holy, the calendar dates identified as important holidays, and attitudes toward modifying the physical environment.
Origin of Religions Universalizing religions have precise places of origin, based on events in the life of a man. Ethnic religions have unknown or unclear origins, not tied to single historical individuals.
Origin of Universalizing Religions Each of the three universalizing religions can be traced to the actions and teachings of a man who lived since the start of recorded history. The beginnings of Buddhism go back about 2,500 years, Christianity 2,000 years, and Islam 1,500 years. Specific events also led to the division of the universalizing religions into branches.
ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY. Christianity was founded upon the teachings of Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem between 8 and 4 B.C. and died on a cross in Jerusalem about A.D. 30. Raised as a Jew, Jesus gathered a small band of disciples and preached the coming of the Kingdom of God. The four Gospels of the Christian Bible—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John— documented miracles and extraordinary deeds that Jesus performed. He was referred to as Christ, from the Greek word for the Hebrew word messiah, which means “anointed.”
In the third year of his mission, he was betrayed to the authorities by one of his companions, Judas Iscariot. After shar- ing the Last Supper (the Jewish Passover seder) with his disciples in Jerusalem, Jesus was arrested and put to death as an agitator. On the third day after his death, his tomb was found empty. Christians believe that Jesus died to atone for human sins, that he was raised from the dead by God, and that his Resurrection from the dead provides people with hope for salvation.
Roman Catholics accept the teachings of the Bible, as well as the interpretation of those teachings by the Church hierarchy, headed by the Pope. According to Roman Catholic belief, God conveys His grace directly to humanity through seven sacraments, including Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, Anointing the sick, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and the Eucharist (the partaking of bread and wine that repeats the actions of Jesus at the Last Supper). Roman Catholics believe that the Eucharist literally and miracu- lously become the body and blood of Jesus while keeping only the appearances of bread and wine, an act known as transubstantiation.
Eastern Orthodoxy comprises the faith and practices of a col- lection of churches that arose in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. The split between the Roman and Eastern churches dates to the fifth century, as a result of rivalry between the Pope of Rome and the Patriarchy of Constantinople, which was especially intense after the collapse of the Roman Empire. The split between the two churches became final in 1054, when Pope Leo IX condemned the Patriarch of Constantinople. Eastern Orthodox Christians accepted the seven sacraments but rejected doctrines that the Roman Catholic Church had added since the eighth century.
Protestantism originated with the principles of the Reforma- tion in the sixteenth century. The Reformation movement is regarded as beginning when Martin Luther posted 95 theses on the door of the church at Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. According to Luther, individuals had primary responsibility for achieving personal salvation through direct communication with God. Grace is achieved through faith rather than through sacraments performed by the Church.
ORIGIN OF ISLAM. Islam traces its origin to the same narra- tive as Judaism and Christianity. All three religions consider Adam to have been the first man and Abraham to have been one of his descendants. According to legend, Abraham married
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